car wont stop

[Zain]

so last week my bro rear ended another car 1997 corolla, cos the car wont stop
well it stops but you have to press the brake paddle all the way n still it hardly stops
anyways i had it checked today by a repair shop and they said
rear drums are fine but rotors need to be replaced
also they said that the caliper is jammed, it needs to be removed and cleaned and then reinstalled

and they are asking 500 todo this

now i will be getting it done by another guy who is way cheaper
the question is should i get new drums also
they are OEM drums and my car now has 187k miles on it
and the shoe pads from autozone are like 19 a pair
are they good enough?

n what about the caliper thing?
can i fix it my self
is it an easy fix?

and btw this is how my car looked after accident
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[Zain]

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[Woz2000]

Probably best to ask the mechanic. Brakes are not something to fool around with.

[cipher93]

If the car isn't stopping, odds are you have air in the brake lines and the brakes need bled. Also possible is the master cylinder has failed, though you should still have some braking power. If the caliper was seized/sticking, your car would have no issue stopping, trust me. My suggestion is to make sure the shop bleeds the brakes when they put in new pads and rotors and checks the master cylinder and vacuum lines out.

Rear brakes on these very, very rarely need servicing. Drums are a non factor unless they somehow rusted through or were used with no shoes for a long span of time. Since you need the brakes bled though, it may be a good idea to ahead and have the shoes replaced anyway unless they're almost new.

[Zain]

how do bled the brakes?

from what i think is to unscrew the brake line connection with the front brake and let the fliud bled itself?
or is there another way?

[Zain]

never mind i found it.
one last question about break fluid
how often do i have to change that? is it better to change the fluid too?

[Bitter]

change it every 2 years regardless of miles

[96coroll]

Pedal to the foor sounds more like you've got a whole in your brake lines, That's happened to me before. but i guess u've checked that if your fluid was empty

[Zain]

okey so i just brought my car back from mechanic
he said that rear brakes are like new, master cylinder seems to be working
he just flushed the brake fluid

now the breaking is much better
but i still have to press it half the way before i feel any stopping in my car
isnt there anyway to make it tight so i dnt have to press all the way

thanks

[TheNightWolf]

Originally Posted by Zain

okey so i just brought my car back from mechanic
he said that rear brakes are like new, master cylinder seems to be working
he just flushed the brake fluid

now the breaking is much better
but i still have to press it half the way before i feel any stopping in my car
isnt there anyway to make it tight so i dnt have to press all the way

thanks

Make sure its not leaking, as far as adjusting it theres no way I know of.

Re bleed them maybe?

[Bitter]

rears are maybe not adjusted.

[Zain]

how hard is it to adjust the rear brake
if i take the drum off
can i adjust it my self?

and mechanic said there was no leak

[sequoiasoon]

Rears are not hard to do with some basic knowledge but if concerned better to have a competent mechanic do it. If your still not getting decent braking until halfway down AFTER you got it back from your mechanic, probably time for a new mechanic.

The problem with the rear brakes is that the star wheels get corroded and rusted and don't self adjust anymore. They need to be fully disassembled (not just inspected), cleaned and greased/anti-siezed then reassembled. The star wheels need to move freely AND require regular use of the parking brake. For those with automatic trannies many never use it but there is a small tab that moves the star wheel to adjust them that only really moves when you use the parking brake. Many here have said that they had to tighten the cables on their parking brake to make it work but that's not the problem.

Mine was a manual tranny so brake was used everyday and I still had problems until I totally took it apart and did that. After that it never went more than 5-6 clicks max. The reason your back brakes looked almost new is that they were not being used and unless you fix it they still won't be.

[TheNightWolf]

Originally Posted by Zain

how hard is it to adjust the rear brake
if i take the drum off
can i adjust it my self?

and mechanic said there was no leak

Originally Posted by sequoiasoon

Rears are not hard to do with some basic knowledge but if concerned better to have a competent mechanic do it. If your still not getting decent braking until halfway down AFTER you got it back from your mechanic, probably time for a new mechanic.

The problem with the rear brakes is that the star wheels get corroded and rusted and don't self adjust anymore. They need to be fully disassembled (not just inspected), cleaned and greased/anti-siezed then reassembled. The star wheels need to move freely AND require regular use of the parking brake. For those with automatic trannies many never use it but there is a small tab that moves the star wheel to adjust them that only really moves when you use the parking brake. Many here have said that they had to tighten the cables on their parking brake to make it work but that's not the problem.

Mine was a manual tranny so brake was used everyday and I still had problems until I totally took it apart and did that. After that it never went more than 5-6 clicks max. The reason your back brakes looked almost new is that they were not being used and unless you fix it they still won't be.

Long post shortened-Take it to a shop and have the rears adjusted, no offense, but if you have to ask how to do anything on brakes, don't do it yourself.

[Zain]

thanks for all the replies
one of my caliper was messed up
i found out when on highway i saw a cop and slammed my brakes as i was 20 miles over the limit and my car just slit to the left side
one of the caliper was jammed due to poor brake job by my last mechanic
cost me $250 with labor
but now the car stops like anything

also i bought my self a 2001 camry and now will be working on that car

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