RE: IML: Am I getting screwed?

["Joe McGuire" <fanbladeus@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Meg,

Hmm it sounds to me like that Midas is bad news.  Its experiences like this
that made me learn everything I can about brakes so I can do them myself.
I'm not a master mechanic or anything but I've run into problems like these
before.

As for the wheel cylinders, if they were fully functioning before, they
probably weren't "bad" as they called it.  Pretty much a shop will look at
them and see if they're leaking or if the boots are brittle and if either is
true, they'll want you to replace the entire cylinder.  If the boots are
just brittle you can simply replace the boot.  If they're leaking, it will
give you all kinds of problems down the road.  In which case, a quick honing
and seal replacement is the way I would go.  Shops usually don't want to do
this because its time consuming and they can make the same about of money by
selling you new cylinders.

As for your mushy problem... it sounds like there's air in the system.  I
don't think their claim of the master cylinders sometimes going bad during
the bleeding process is accurate.  I could see them somehow sucking air into
the master cylinder.  A simple bench bleed to purge the master cylinder of
any air would do the trick.  One thing a lot of shops don't so is make sure
the master cylinder is level when they are bench bleeding it.  If they're
leaving it on the car, they have to jack up the rear end or whatever it
takes to get it level.  Otherwise there is a chance that the trapped air
will never escape.  

Sidenote: if you still have the original all drum brake setup there is a
little valve in the master cylinder that keeps a small amount of pressure in
the lines, this keeps the cups in your wheel cylinders seated properly.  In
my experience, even removing this valve keeps you operational and you don't
really notice a thing until you run into wheel cylinder problems down the
road.  I've you're up for some upgrading, check our AAJ brakes.  He can set
you up with adapter plates to switch over to disc brakes.  He can also get
you a list of parts you can pick up locally to complete the job.

I've seen my share of brake bleeding issues over the past couple years.  One
common problem I've ran into is that the shoes need to be adjusted out
during the bleeding process.  If this step is forgotten you won't get a good
bleed.  Aside from that, doing the wheels in the right order helps quite a
bit and speed the process immensely.

I'd recommend picking up a factory service manual for your car.  It should
go into all the specifics on how to do the brakes.  This way you can read up
on it before taking it to a shop... and even let them use it so they know
what they're doing.  Or you can try it yourself.  Sounds like a beginner
with brakes couldn't mess it up more than they did.  The experience will do
you well.

Anywho, that's just my take on it.  Everybody jump in and expose my
misconceptions.... I can always learn something new.

--Joey M

-----Original Message-----
From: mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of *MEG*
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 11:36 AM
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: IML: Am I getting screwed?

If I wrote out all the details and the whole story it would take pages,
so here is the brief summary.  I took my '63 Custom to get new brake
shoes on the front and the rear at Midas. They called me and said that
I also needed 4 new wheel/brake cylinders.  I don't know anything about
brakes really, so when they told me I was leery. I mean, the car was
stopping, granted it sounded like hell, but it was still stopping...if
all of my cylinders had gone out would the car still stop?  Whenever I
went to pick her up last night I felt really uneasy about the whole
situation, they just weren't giving me the comforting feeling that they
knew what they were doing or that something was going on.  They took
her off the lift and had me test drive it because the brakes seemed
mushy to them.  I was scared to death, she wouldn't stop and we almost
wrecked. I took her back and they came up with some crap about while
bleeding the brakes in old cars sometimes the valve in the master
cylinder will go out and that I needed a new master cylinder.  The
master cylinder was fine whenever I took it in there.  That, and I just
payed $846 for new shoes and the 4 wheel cylinders.  I believe I was
already screwed on the price, but I just want the input, advice and
insight any of you may have.  My boss told me that there wasn't a valve
that they are speaking of.  Please help anyway.  I want to be prepared
whenever the guy calls me about Ms. Pearl today.
Megan


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