Well heres my deal. Recently I changed the front shocks, polyurethane bushings, new control arms, fresh allignment, & poly end links. The brakes were also worked on last year, Midas just did a bunch of stuff to them. So recently its just been stopping horrible, when I put my foot on the brake to slow down or stop it turns a little bit to the left, so.. it doesnt stop straight. I want to find out why, also want to upgrade my rotors, there stock and probably dont have much umph left in them. Let me know what you guys think, thanks... graemlins/hurray.gif

I think you should take it back to the butchers at Midas and tell them to get it right.

EDIT: Or better yet, get your money back.

I think you should stay the hell away from
Midas and bring it up to me-I'll fix it.

What type of brake system do you have? 4 wheel drum? Front disc, rear drum? Did you have it aligned? No offense, but why did you choose Midas? Try a independent shop.

Stay away from Midas!!! I work in a dealership and fix the crappy jobs all the time! Stay Away!!!
Rob

I dont even give Midas a second look, this was 2 years ago when I got it. Close and cheap, had no money. Needed to stop this thing one way or another. Eff Midas, I agree. I have front Disc and rear drum. I had it alligned about 5 months ago, after I redid all the suspension, including 2" Drop springs, a so called reputable shop here in town did it, not some POS like Les Shwaub. Who knows. Something needs reworking.

Could be a variety of things, but a piston sticking in the caliper bore on one side would cause it to drag on the other and pull to one side. I'd get a helper to apply the brakes with it up on jackstands with the wheels off and you can observe a little better what might be going on. Try to rotate each rotor and see how much resistance you feel. Just a start.
You could also have junk/rust in your lines or whatever and its clogging one line and preventing it from applying full fluid pressure. Have you checked to see if either the steel or rubber lines are leaking?

I'll try bleeding them for starters. That sounds like a strong possibility the more I think about it. Brakes are probably the only thing on this car Ive yet to toy with, ive got a pretty minimal knowledge of brakes, just the basics. Im sure I could learn it quickly once I get into it. A little scary though, something that stops the car and all smile.gif

If the car tugs the steering wheel when you apply the brakes, it is a front brake problem. If the car drifts to one side without pulling on the wheel, then it is a rear brake problem. The front brake can suffer from a sticky piston or sticky caliper, while the rears are more likely to be harmed by a leak of brake fluid or axle lube.

brake pull can also be and usually is suspension related. UCA bushings are very common, when they deteriorate and you apply the brakes the UCA will twist in it's mount and cause a large caster change.

Hmm ok this is getting good now. Ive never heard of a UCA bushing, must be in the braking system? My front suspension is all rebuilt, I cant think of anything that wasnt replaced. Its definately the front brakes giving me hell. The rear I don't even want to think about now. Blown air shocks, rear drums, It needs a full rearend makeover soon.

UCA = Upper control arm bushing

Thanks Dale, yes UCA is upper control arm. Even though the bushings were just replaced, maybe the shop that did them made a mistake. Double check them.

Thanks Dale, yes UCA is upper control arm. Even though the bushings were just replaced, maybe the shop that did them made a mistake. Double check them.

Make sure that one of the flexable brake lines are not collapsing also. that would cause it to pull.

If it pulls right the right is working,and is pulling that way . Same holds true for the oppisite.

Crap (rust & dirt) in the lines on our older cars is VERY common and over looked often as well.

Originally posted by robseg:
Stay away from Midas!!! I work in a dealership and fix the crappy jobs all the time! Stay Away!!!
Rob Agreed, I used to work at Midas a few years ago and they are a joke. I wouldnt bring my car to them if they were offering thier goods and services for free.

Chris.

I would also mention to bring it back to them to fix it right before you try anything yourself.

They may try to claim you screwed something up if they find out you did something to it. Then no more warranty.

Chris.

PNUT,
Learn to do your own brakes. Once you learn how you'll wonder why you didn't learn sooner. Its actually easy, and there is manuals to follow as you go along. Its cheaper and when you learn how, it can be fun.

Yeah I always yell at friends for taking there cars in for things, cleaning, oil changes, radiator flushes, all that easy stuff. I wont let anyone touch my engine, well no shop, friends yes. Very very right. Brakes are my new mission here. Check this out, my allignment that I paid extra for because its dropped in the front COMPLETELY came appart. I called them, its been 5 months, there warranty is 90days. The spacers I guess fell out and the bolt rocked itself lose and is completely gone on one side and the other side is almost completely off as well. (Upper control arms) both sides to come off the same way in 5 months? He basically told me to screw off and hung up on me. Someone reccomended me here too! Errrrrrrrrrr.... Linville Brothers Sacramento, bad news. I don't know I can put it back together pretty easily bit it won't be alligned anymore. ::sigh::

Pnut,
Anytime you let someone work on your Ride, theres a good chance of your Ride coming back to you with a nick, scratch, damaged, work done wrong , parts falling apart etc. Even the BEST shops screw you up sometimes. Thats why I learned how to do all I can do myself. But there are things that I can't do, and have to put trust in a shop, and hope for the best. Like I side, even the best shops can accidently mess you up. And I'm sure guys out there will agree with that. But, you got to do, what you got to do.

Phillip, not as bad as you think. You need to get some shims and stuff them as tight as you can in the now vacant gap between the cross shaft and frame. Then tighten the cross shaft nuts real tight. If you do that I'll bet the alignment will be damn close to where it was. It takes a whole lot more than a 1/16 shim to make any huge changes in camber and you can squeeze all but that last 1/16 back in there.

Like I offered before, get it mobile and I'll straighten it out for you, just have to get it up here.

Very true, about the best shops. Thats what I told the guy too on the phone. I told him, I know you guys are a good shop but mistakes happen... blah blah, he wasnt cool with me at all. No biggy, eff that place :D I shimmed it up, it drives exactly like it did before! Talk about lucky with the shims. Now to fix my new idle problem graemlins/beers.gif