brakes break!

so after the car sat for three months, the front brakes were totally warped since it was outside. i dunno i guess it is a common problem. good thing i've done a few brake jobs now. my arms and right leg were practically shaking out of their sockets when i used the brakes. not safe. i had to increase braking distances by at least two times just to be on the safe side.

so as it turns out, they were SO warped that the passenger side disc was difficult to get off, and the driver's side disc was next to infuriatingly IMPOSSIBLE to take off. i tried to use the 2 bolt holes to wind it off, but the bolts sheared off because of the amount of torque required...in fact, the face of the disc over top of the hub cracked...wow. i guess the disc had warped so much that the centre hole for the hub was not circular, but oval!!! this prevented it from coming off straight like it should have. so, after pounding on it with a big rubber mallet for a couple of hours and prying on it with an (albeit small) crowbar, it was not coming off. I slept.

next morning (this morning) i went downstairs...made some coffee (mmmmm....cofffffeeeeee....drooool) and thought about how i was going to get it off the hub. I thought the only way would be to buy an industrial angle grinder and grind off the disc. more money more money...

i thought about it some more and then thought "why don't i just try one more time." so i went out and used ALL my strength (which isn't much heh heh) and pried on it with my breaker bar which i braced against the caliper mounting point (a hugely thick piece of cast iron). after slipping off of it several times and working slowly and intently on one side of the disc it finally came off. i was sweaty, bruised, blistered and oily. but happy.

after that the job was like cake. the assembly went back together easily. phew.