brake problem

[myslon]

when press brake pedal the front wheels skid forword
any heelp

[shorod]

Welcome to the forum!

What car are you referring to here? Does it have Antilock Brakes (ABS)? How aggressively are you braking? More details please! Based on what you've posted so far, this could be completely normal for a car without ABS.

-Rod

[Will Help]

Could be the rear wheels are not brakeing and throwing all the load on the front brakes. Might need to check this out. Sometimes the self adjusters just don't do their jobs.

[myslon]

thanks guys u r the best forum

[shorod]

Yep, and the forum information would be even better if we knew details about the subject vehicle!

Care to share the make, model, and year of your car, as well as if it has antilock brakes?

-Rod

[bigshot82]

same problem here... i own a mazda protege '01, non-ABS brakes... rear break used to make a noise... replaced the shoes... noise remains, and front wheels skid forward on hard brakes (never skidded before servicing rear brakes)

- what could be source of the noise?

- when servicing the brakes, are they supposed to to anything more than replacing the shoes?

[UncleBob]

IMO, when you try to do your own brakes, and they are worse than when you started, you have two choices that would be best

a) find a friend that knows what they are doing, to find teh problem, and learn how to do it properly next time (learn by your mistakes with a mentor)

b) immediately take it to a shop and let them solve it.

Learning curves can be very very steep on brake systems when you don't have someone to help you with it in person. Such as....crashing.

[bigshot82]

it was done at a shop indeed!

[Will Help]

Sounds like bigshot 82 is stopping with front brakes only.

There are alot of possibilities here.

If you have rear disc, they may have not adjusted out yet to work properley. If you have drum brakes, they need to be adjusted out when put on.

Could be the brakes need to be bled or you have a damaged brake line to the rear. Just repaired a Taurus that had rubber lines from the frame to the rear calipers. One of the rubber lines had a damaged inner liner that closed of the flow of fluid to the caliper. If you have a dual line master cylinder, the rear line cups could be bypassing.

[bigshot82]

Originally Posted by Will Help

Sounds like bigshot 82 is stopping with front brakes only.

There are alot of possibilities here.

If you have rear disc, they may have not adjusted out yet to work properley. If you have drum brakes, they need to be adjusted out when put on.

Could be the brakes need to be bled or you have a damaged brake line to the rear. Just repaired a Taurus that had rubber lines from the frame to the rear calipers. One of the rubber lines had a damaged inner liner that closed of the flow of fluid to the caliper. If you have a dual line master cylinder, the rear line cups could be bypassing.

I got drums... how would you adjust those? I was expecting them to step down on the pedal or something while doing that but they didn't...

[Will Help]

Drum brakes need to be adjusted when brakes are installed. They have an adjustment wheel that expands the shoes apart. After the shoes are installed, slip the drum on and turn the drum. If it spins freely you need to adjust the adjustment wheel. If you can't get the drum on, you may have to back the adjustment wheel off. This can be done with a brake tool through the backing plate hole which eliminates the need for pulling the drum off and on, or by pulling the drum off and making small adjustments, put drum on, hit brake pedal once or twice to center the shoes and spin the drum. You do this process until you start to here the drum/shoes start to rub a very little bit. The only draw back to this is if there is a ridge worn at the edge of the used drums. That will limit/stop you from adjusting too far as you will have dificulty trying to slip the drum on and off as you get closer to the setting. If this is the case, you should have the drums turned to remove the ridge or purchase new drums. There is also a brake shoe/drum gage that lets you measure across the drum and then adjust the shoes to fit the gage.

The rear brakes then can adjust themselves, typically everytime you brake while backing up.

Front disc never need adjusting. It is automatic with fluid back fill.

[bigshot82]

thanks... I wish i could find a mechanic as good as you!

[J-Ri]

There is a "starwheel" adjuster. It has a bunch of teeth on it that are tapered one way with a bar that goes up against the teeth. Depending on the design, it can be on the top or bottom of the assembly. One thing that some "shadetrees" don't do is ensure the lining is clean (eiher by covering it with masking tape prior to assembly, or by cleaning it with brake cleaner afterward). If there is grease on them they won't do much but the pedal will usually feel ok. If the pedal is low, they probably need to be adjusted.

To find a good technician/mechanic, ask around. There are shops with good reputations, and shops with bad reputations; usually neither are a secret. Stop in any top-end parts store in your area and ask one of their delivery people if there is a shop they would reccomend. They go in and out of shops all over town and they see what happens.

[UncleBob]

Originally Posted by bigshot82

it was done at a shop indeed!

then why didnt you take it back to them and have them fix their screw up? It would most likely be free

[Will Help]

I guess if you get burned once you don't want to touch that stove again!!!