What is wrong with my brakes?

My van [1992 or 1993 I forget, Chevy full size van, Explorer conversion] is having brake issues. At a particular speed while braking, the van starts to shake a lot and pulls to the left.

I don’t have much money [in fact I won’t be able to address this issue at all until October, no matter what it is] and I’m really scared of being totally scammed by repair shops…

Anyone have any insight that might help me when I take it in so I sound like I know what I’m talking about?

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGHHHH!

Oh hell. You know I even clicked on MPSIMS just so I wouldn’t post in the wrong forum.

Then I posted in the wrong window.

Your brakes (likely just the front discs) need to be serviced. They are ‘out of round’ and that is causing your van to pull to one side.

Servicing brakes requires the rotors be removed - and in a ten year old vehicle it’s likely they can be ‘cut’ to be flat again on a lathe.

The mechanics might try to convince you to get new brake pads. Brake pads are a layer of asbestos-stuff. If they say something like ‘they’re shot’ - go somewhere else.

The brake servicing should cost only about $100.

Brakes are important. Have them fixed.

Corbomite, that is the most mis-informed brake diagnosis I have ever seen. We are supposed to be fighting ignorance, not disseminating it.

On the contrary…if the disc rotors are worn, it’s also possible that the pads are wobbled as well…IOW, if you replace or machine the disc rotors, and use existing wobbled pads…the vibrating will continue.

You don’t have much choice…if they tell you the pads are wobbled but not necessarily out of material, then it makes sense to replace them.

Being that nearly everyone is gay these days…a sex offer may work in your favour…LOL.

Seeing as Opal’s a chick, she wouldn’t even need to be gay!

Whadda :wally

On the brakes, I have had my rotors replaced before and not had the pads replaced at the same time - and they did fine. However. that was a newer vehicle and the rotors had warped.

Because you have until October anyways, should probably drop into the service stations, smile a lot and ask around. See what sort of input they give you and check out their price list. If you get a good feel for a place, I’d say go for it (I like my current repair shop a lot, even though they tend to be expensive - but they make up the difference by doing some ‘favors’ for me on fixes.)

David Wilson, that was out of line. Knock it off.

Corbomite, while I’m no mechanic, I know your post is nonsense. Brake pads are not made of asbestos these days, and they weren’t in 1992 either. And another thing: brake pads wear out all the time. It is not unthinkable that a 10 year old vehicle (a heavy van, too) has worn them out.

Since it’s a Chevy, I’d say take it to a Chevy dealer and have them look at it.

Off to MPSIMS.

Coldfire, perhaps you’ve missed Wilson’s other crap in here.

Your problem could be an imbalance in the front - due to sticking calipers, sticking pads (they have to move within little grooves on some cars), or both. The caliper that sticks will not use as much force to brake on one wheel, and thus the other wheel will brake harder. If I’m thinking of this right in my head…if the car pulls to the right, it’s the right (passenger-side) caliper that’s off. Left, the drivers.

Now, if that’s it, there isn’t much to do other than have a mechanic rebuild or replace it. And check out the rebuild option if it comes to that - on some cars, it can save you a few $.

It could also be a bad pad on one side. The fact that the vehicle is shaking does indicate your rotors may be warped as well, although (and I admit, people here on the SDMB will disagree with me) you can drive safely on slightly warped rotors, if you absolutely cannot afford it. So you may not need to have them get turned.

But if neither of you is a mechanic, then the advice here is not going to help much anyhow. Brakes are, contrary to popular belief, very easy to work on for an amatuer mechanic - but they’re also somewhat nerve-racking too. So it looks like a trip into the mechanic’s might be called for…

I was just informed that it could be a sign of a severely worn/broken tie rod end/ball joint too. But diagnosing that is best left up to a mechanic.

There is a simple test to determine what is really wrong. Find an empty road where you won’t be a hazard to others. Drive about 20 mph and lightly depress the brake pedal just enough to activate the braking system. Does the brake pedal feel steady or do you feel pulsing? I am going to guess you will feel a gentle pulsing sensation. This means you have a warped rotor or two. The shop will measure the runout of the rotor and determine if it can be turned or if it will have to be replaced. You could also be having a problem with the ABS system if it is installed in the van. The cost of replacement parts will be determined by which chassis is under your van. If you have a ½ ton van (it has 5 lug nuts per wheel), new pads and rotors will cost about $200 then add installation. If you have a ¾ ton van (8 lug nuts per wheel), you can double the price for the parts.

Now while still driving 20 mph, stop as quickly as possible without locking up the brakes. Did the van pull to one side or stop straight? If it stopped straight, the calipers should be fine. If the van pulls to one side, you could have a bad caliper. Each caliper should apply equal braking force, if one is leaking fluid or bound up, it needs to be rebuilt or replaced. Rebuilt calipers cost about $100 each with exchange.

I am going to suggest not using a Chevy dealer for service. You will be charged an hourly rate (up to $96 an hour) and the clock starts ticking when the van is pulled in the shop. Check the local ads for brake specials at places that specialized in brakes such as Midas. They charge a flat rate per axle. And the mechanics there do a lot more brake work than the dealers and are more experienced. Another secret to save some money. Go out and buy the parts yourself. All auto repair shops charge the retail rate for parts, this is usually much more than the prices places like NAPA or Pep Boys charge. After you are shown the estimate for repairs, you can tell them to go ahead and do the repairs, with your parts. Lots of shops discount the labor because they make a lot of money on the parts. If you buy any parts not needed, they can be returned for a refund (Note: Do not do this with electrical parts, auto parts stores do not give refunds on electrical items).

I would also suggest checking your pad thickness immediately. If all 4 pads have at least 1/8 inch pad material, they will last for a short while. If there is less than 1/8 inch, I would not drive the van. If there is no pad left, do not drive the van for any reason. It would be very easy to cause a caliper to blow out a piston and you will lose all braking. If there is no pad, you will have to replace the rotors. Brakes are the most abused system on motor vehicles and probably get the least attention. Unfortunatly for a lot of folks, the brakes of their cars don’t get fixed till after they have run into something.

Usually a pull to one side means that the opposite caliper has gone out. Shaking can be warped rotors which will also make the brake pedal pulse, or the front end parts being out of whack as Anthracite mentioned. As racer said, I also recommend a shop like Midas. You’ll save a bundle and it will be done quicker.

As a person with experience working for a specialized brake shop, I want to point out that the advertised inexpensive brake jobs are usually “loss-leaders.” In other words, those shops attract people looking for a bargain brake job. Once the wheels are off the car, it isn’t unusual for the customer to be bombarded with hard sells for shocks, struts, front-end work, etc., etc. If the customer knows little about cars, these things can be made to seem life-threating and the cost of these “extra” repairs is usually outrageous. My experience was gained a LONG time ago, YMMV.

This statement is unsupportable.

There are companies that still, to this very day, provide quality woven asbestos friction materials. Granted most of them appear to be in Canada, where the majority of asbestos comes from, but all the same, they are indeed still out there for purchase, most especially for vehicles of a heavy-duty nature.

Interesting, when I have seen this happen it was because of the front nd alignment &/or balancing of your wheels.

Golly. My post was described as “Most mis-informed” - “nonsense” - in just seven brief sentences. One would think I’d suggested refilling the headlight fluid. :wink:

In short: The front brakes likely need to be serviced. Rotors cut and new brake pads likely (I was initially wrong about the pads).

Brake pads (and clutch pads) do often contain asbestos. It is a known hazard.

I do apologise: I was under the impression that asbestos was banned in the US, like it is in my country. Quite amazing that it isn’t, really.

I think it depends on the use. It is banned for use as a household insulation, but not for other uses.

I don’t know of ANY auto repair facility that charges by the clock other than for certain types of diagnostic troubleshooting (e.g. finding an electrical short) or non-standardized repairs (e.g. extracting a broken bolt). The norm, most especially at dealerships, is to charge by the job. There may be some confusion because each job is assigned a value called “flat-rate hours.” Nevertheless, a flat-rate hour is NOT a unit of time, and other than in very specialized circumstances, the billing is not by the hour.

Unfortunately, it’s still the same. My experience is that chains generally train their employees to sell–and often oversell–rather than training them to have good mechanical judgment. They try to appear inexpensive by advertising the loss leaders you mentioned–but hardly any customers get out of there paying for just the cheapo advertised service, and their prices on everything else are usually quite high. I would recommend a reputable independent shop first, and a dealership over a chain.

As far as the OP, the suspect items are brake and steering linkage parts, as mentioned. There’s a significant amount of danger potential here, so I’d counsel to have the situation inspected pronto.

I usually refrain from picking on people, but your cavalier dismissal of essentially correct criticism combined with your being mostly quite wrong worries me. Advice as bad as you gave can do a lot more harm than good. Let’s review it:

Your brakes (likely just the front discs) need to be serviced. They are ‘out of round’ and that is causing your van to pull to one side.
Brake rotors don’t get out of round, they get warped. The warping can cause pedal pulsation and/or steering shimmy, but virtually never pulling. Pulling is caused by uneven application of force (e.g. faulty caliper) or uneven friction (e.g. linings contaminated).

Servicing brakes requires the rotors be removed - and in a ten year old vehicle it’s likely they can be ‘cut’ to be flat again on a lathe.
Servicing brakes doesn’t necessarily require rotor removal. Replacing or resurfacing the rotors does, but that’s not always needed. While it’s certainly possible that the rotors on a ten-year old vehicle are thick enough to resurface, if they are the original ones I sure wouldn’t deem it likely.

The mechanics might try to convince you to get new brake pads. Brake pads are a layer of asbestos-stuff. If they say something like ‘they’re shot’ - go somewhere else.
This is egregiously poor advice. The pads are the normal wear items, and nearly always are due for replacement during brake repair. What they’re made of is irrelevant here, but my understanding is that the major U.S. manufacturers abandoned asbestos some years ago.

The brake servicing should cost only about $100.
Prices vary in different areas, of course. I would say this is typical for a good shop to replace the pads–only. Some shops will advertise a price like this for doing more, but they tend to do it poorly and/or high-pressure sell other often unneeded items. From the OP description, I would say it’s a virtual certainty her problems can’t be properly fixed for anywhere near this amount.

Brakes are important. Have them fixed.
Quite right. That’s one out of five.

the car talk guys offer up honest mechanics in your area (I had luck with it, YRMV) I’d try an honest local mechanic over one of those chain shops. A good mechanic would rather build a relationship and gain a lifetime customer than make a quick sale. Brakework is pretty straight forward, and any capable mechanic will have no problem with it.