Brake Trouble

[Dous]

Okay so recently I have been trying to resolve a lot of brake problems. Two weeks ago I looked at my rotors and noticed they were very badly grooved, and I felt it when I braked. The pedal moved around a lot, pulsated I'll say. Fast foward to today. I took off my brake pads and noticed the wear on one pad was uneven, on one one side of the pad there was a good amount of meat left, on the other side almost nothing. Keep in mind this is on the same pad. Overall all the pads were in terrible shape but this one more than others, and both rotors were in the same condition badly grooved. After that I popped off the calipers and took off the rotors. Then I was off to the machine shop to see if they could turn the rotors. No chance they said, too badly warped. Well I went to the dealership and got 4 OEM brake pads, pretty pricey but good quality. Then for the rotors they wanted 120 dollars a piece! No way, I went to Napa, maybe not the best quality but I didnt have a lot of money and I needed brakes today. They were 40 a piece, at least they were the "premium" ones. Got all this on, and went for a drive. The braking is much improved, although the brake pedal still pulsates badly, just as bad as before. And when I coast at idle it feels like the brakes are dragging, hard to explain but it will go fast then slow down, as the wheel rotates. It did this before as well. What the heck could be causing this? Thanks for any answers!

:hatsoff:

 

[notrayray]

Did everything that slides get lubed up front/cleaned?

What about the rear brakes?

 

[Dous]

I just had the rear drums replaced about a month ago, whether they are adjusted correctly or not I don't know. I really don't know anything about drum brakes. Everything got lubed up correctly, could having bad shims cause this? Mine aren't in great shape. I wanted to replace them, but the dealer wanted 50 dollars for a set of 4 shims!!!

 

[notrayray]

The shims are more for sound AFAIK, I don't think they should be your issue.

If they are feeling like they are dragging they probably could be, I've heard of a few people dealing with "stuck" pistons in their brake calipers.

Maybe they are not retracting as far as they should when you let off the brakes and not actuating the way they should when you are stepping on the pedal......does it pull at all?

Was it easy to push them back into their bore when changing the pads?

 

[notrayray]

Also you should look into using an online Toyota parts place like trdparts4u.com or 1sttoyotaparts.com

$75 each for the rotors....plus shipping.

 

[Dous]

Yea I knew I could get the rotors online for cheaper its just I needed the rotors today, and this is when I had the money! As for the pistons I am thinking that is probably the issue, I could get each one to retract properly but one of them was much harder to push back in than the others. The car doesn't seem to pull though.

 

[TheDurk]

Well, first thing to do is figure out if it is front discs or rear drums which are 'dragging.' Put it up on jackstands and spin each wheel by hand. You will be able to feel/hear where the problem is. Then go from there.

 

[LINY4Runner]

Well, first thing to do is figure out if it is front discs or rear drums which are 'dragging.' Put it up on jackstands and spin each wheel by hand. You will be able to feel/hear where the problem is. Then go from there.

I concur.

Start here and report your findings!

 

[Dous]

Alright I will see if I can do that tomorrow afternoon. So should the transmission be in neutral? I mean that sounds kinda dangerous, what kinda safety precautions should be taken?