I need your help!

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D3c0y

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So here's the deal, im mildly retarted as it comes to cars, but always loved the markviii's. finallyi was able to get my hands on one and its been my personal financial nightmare. that being said, i still love it too much to ever part with my dear natalia. Im looking to see if any of you fine gents are near the central coast cali (San Luis Obispo) She needs some love and im not qualified to do much about it. I cant however make myself bring her in to another know nothing ******* mechanic (i dont know anything either, but i dont charge people for it). I am still having a lot of problems with my front end (the previous owner decided to put her on rigid and kill the compressor) keeps wearing down my brakes unevenly, and has begun shredding my passenger tire. comes out of allignment fairly quickly, and i can hear the brakes rubbing when no pressure is applied. Also, the brake light on hud turns on in sharper corners, then back off when i straighten her out.. Anyways, tangents aside. Im looking for someone local on here that can help me out, with the actual repair work. i have no reservations about putting the money in to her that she needs to bring her back from near death, but also run a catering company if someone were wiling to do at least some of the work on trade. I imagine cash is king and that works for me, but putting it out there in case someone wants to look like a boss on valentine's day (we do private dinners) either is fine, i just want my baby back. With tax season approaching rapidly, I've decided i owe her some love, so, who in the Central Coast Cali area wants to make some money and save my girl!?!

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Wish I could help (in mn) she looks great with thoes wheels looks like she needs some hid lenses though.
 
The brake light is an easy fix... Add some brake fluid. It sloshing in the reservoir on turns is what is making the light come on.
 
DieselDan said:
The brake light is an easy fix... Add some brake fluid. It sloshing in the reservoir on turns is what is making the light come on.
Click to expand...

Or have the brake pads replaced. Worn brake pads is what causes the reservoir level to go down.
 
Well yes, there is that. I guess that is the root problem, potentially.
 
Yeah I keep filing the fluid but I can't figure why the pads are wearing so quickly and unevenly. Replaced calipers rotors and pads all together about 5-6months ago.
 
You've repeatedly filled the brake reservoir? That means you have a leak, I would get that fixed before driving the car anymore.
 
Its the only car I have, so I can't really just not drive it anymore. It had been a while since I last filled it, rereading my post that sounded worse than it is. Was in a rough financial spot for a while so she has been neglected. As of now I'm just not quite sure where to start as I'm almost sure that all of these problems are directly related
 
pad wear should only account for a fairly small amount of reservoir drop. and it should take a long time. not just months.

this could be a leaking brake pressure switch. it took me a awhile to find myself.
they are notorious for leaking, so bad ford recalled the cars and added a fused wiring harness to protect against fire.
could also be a leak anywhere along the brake lines.

d3c0y, i have a few questions for you.


does the car still have stock brakes? they look stock, but with painted calipers and aftermarket wheels, i can't be sure.
stock brakes could have stuck slide pins causing very uneven pad wear (somewhat common), but cobra brakes don't have slide pins.

what happens when you stand on the brake pedal? pump it a few times and hold it. what happens?
if the pedal drops at all, you've got a leak somewhere.

report back please.
 
Threw brakes are stock unless the previous owner changed to something else, he did a lot of odd things before I bought the car. The abs hasn't worked since I bought it, and we collectively decided there were better places to put my money first. Pretty sure the slide pounds were replaced but I have VERY little faith in the mechanic that did it. I have re repaired almost everything he had done so far. I will pump and holds them when I had out today and let you know how that pans out. Also can anyone identify the year of these rims they came with the car and one of them is bent from a recent "bump" little dud I know by bump, they meant cliff. A lot of the problem started after that impact. Broke a strut, u joint and possibly jacked up the bearing when I hit. In hindsight I should have reported to insurance but it didn't snap until the next day and I didn't put the two together until it was in the shop. Pardon my add. I'll check into brake pressure shortly and get back to you
 
they are Cobra R replicas.
the back side of the wheel would probably have info on the manufacturer cast into it somewhere.
 
Your brakes are wearing because your caliper is sticking, you can grease the slides but if its been that long you need new calipers. had the same problem on my crown vic. Its super easy to do yourself even if you don't know the difference between metric or standard lol. You can tell by checking your pads. If one pad is worn more then the other like inside is thinner than outside or vise versa your caliper is not centering or sliding properly. You can pick them up from your local auto parts store with a warranty for less than 100 bucks after the cores are returned. Get yourself some caliper grease and some new pads at the same time. problem solved! =)

All you need after replacing the calipers is a 8mm wrench to open the bleeders, have a friend pump the brake pedal 10 times and then hold it to the floor. open the bleeder and air will come out. close the bleeder and repeat until there is no more air. Your done my friend!
 
I replaced calipers pads and rotors less than 6-8 months ago, is it likely they would have gone bad so fast, if not any ideas what may have caused the to fail so quickly?

Didn't feel any pressure loss after pumping/holding brakes.

Theory: front end feels loose and hitches when making hard slow turns, could it be an issue with the stance or width of the tire causing it to rub?
 
Brake caliper slider pins need to be greased. If not, that could lead to premature pad failure. That's something to check.

As far as the front end being loose and hitching, check all your ball joints and bushings.
 
It actually depends on HOW the pads are wearing, if both inner and outer pad is wearing out too fast, problem could be bad hoses, or bad Vacuum Booster, or maybe just both new calipers were built incorrectly. Ive personally rebuilt 1000s of brake systems and I've come to learn that not all brand new parts work like brand new. In the case of a reman caliper, most of the time I found it was due to them not being lubricated during assembly.

There's much more that needs to be done during a brake job than just lubricating the slide pins
 
Any one know where to get there hands on a 17" cobra r replica? This only found one place so far and this clown trying to get 250 for it. ...
 
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