The Joys of a Brake Job
 

As the title said :rolleyes:

I got all the parts for a brake job, front and rear pads and discs and all the little bits that go with it to do a full 4 corner brake job on my V60 when I got back from my holiday.

Now back and started the job on the front and while the calipers and discs were a bit corroded the fronts when to plan and jobs done in and afternoon.

The rears however have turned into a little bit of a saga.

I could see they were a little dodge through the wheel, very corroded, pads down to the bone and discs shot. Discs came off with no bother. Someone had been in before me and slightly rounded off the caliper bolts on both sides, though I got them off with a little heat and taking it slowly. Pads on one side fell to bits when removed, the other side were not as bad.

Inspected the piston in the calipers and both looked ok to start, but one had a little split and the other piston had a little weep. Tried the battery method to wind back one of the pistons with the split and its won't move back, it actually wobbles, also took the motor off and tried the manual wind back and again this is not budging. So with that and the condition of the calipers the best course of action is to change both calipers.

Got the part numbers and tried to sort a pair, left rear not a problem, right rear, nope. Want calipers without the handbrake motors? Its more expensive than ones with (I don't understand that either) and by a tidy sum.

I think it will be sometime next week before its all done, and a new MOT a week later hopefully.

The upside to this saga, the extras I have to do are still well within the Volvo quote I got for a 4 corner brake job and I got some new tools past the wife as its an important safety job and who doesn't like new tools :icon_smile_lachuh:

Buying tools
 

Having turned 60 last year I'm a bit more cautious buying tools. I ask myself how many times I am likely to use the tool in the next 15 years. (Assuming that 75 is the age of enfeeblement when i will no longer be up to working on cars!). I did once know a guy in his 80s who actively worked on cars though, so maybe there is hope for me yet.

Also, the move to an all electric Volvo is somewhere on the horizon in the next 10 years... Maybe with an all electric car it will only be brake and suspension work left for the home DIY person (and allegedly brakes need doing a lot less often on electric cars due to regenerative braking generally doing the slowing down as opposed to brake pads.)

Sounds like a business opportunity. Buy a whole load of calipers with EPB motors, then split them and sell separately on Ebay!

I did find this too when a few years ago I needed to replace an EPB motor on my V70 at the time. Just bought the caliper with motor attached and swapped the lot.

I hear you, this is possibly the last time I work on a car to be honest. I'm in my late 50's with a duff knee and its getting to be a pain working low down. As for the next car in possibly 2/3 years I'll be looking at a lease deal and probably electric.

Little update on the joy's of it all.

It got even more fun as I also had to replace two flexible hoses and one brake line :tounge_smile:

The flexible hoses because the locating pins snapped while removing the hose from the old caliper and the hard brake line as it the joint to the flexible hose had seized in place. Most of this was due to a previous repair by some other owner/garage.

HAHAHA

I think I've had enough of brake calipers to last me a lifetime :icon_smile_lachuh:

Some of the motor factors I visited couldn't understand the price difference either, just one of those things I guess.

Similar on the V50 when I bought a vacuum solenoid for the boost control. Solenoid on its own was £58 from Volvo. Solenoid complete with all its vacuum pipes including elbows and NRV was £30 from the same dealer. It was actually the parts guy that told me.