Central Valley Classic Cars

A quick glance to the featured photograph reveals one of my new brake pads peeking out. Why then is this the only picture in an article about changing brake pads? Because, in a word (or three), I’m new to this and it didn’t occur to me to take pictures while I was preforming the work.

I’m going to try to make up for this though, and I’ve been studying. It seems many of my favorite automotive articles feature witty complaints. I don’t know if that’s because if the writer is complaining, he/she must know enough to find fault in something, or because many of us, myself included, enjoy complaining more than we should.

If you’re familiar with the BBC’s show Top Gear (if you’re not, I highly suggest you get acquainted) then you may have noticed that any review of a bad car starts off with all of the high points of the car before the presenters bash it into the ground for not tickling their fancy. But if the car does meet their liking they will start their review with all of its faults before they praise it for being the most important car of the year (a phrase they use weekly).

So here goes, and bear with me I’m new to this. Jag’s are too quiet. I’m not talking about engine noise, which they don’t have enough of either (and considering the fuel crunch couldn’t we all get better mileage with less muffled cars? Something to think about). No I’m talking about the world separating, sound proofing they feature. Sure you can better appreciate the nuance of classical music on the car’s premium stereo (unfortunately I listen to old delta blues recordings so all I get is excellent reproduction of old record hiss) but you may miss an obvious mechanical fault until its to late.

For example, you could be coming home from out of town (as I was) with the windows down for a change when along side a center divide, you suddenly hear the tell tale sound of brake pad indicators (they indicate that you need new brake pads). Being a man of sound mind, free of neuroticism (I’m not) I wasn’t too worried about it and simply made a mental note to check the pads when I got home.

That was the last time I drove the car for a week. What I found were pads that had no pad left on them at all. They had probably been squeaking for the past couple weeks and I just never heard them from inside the heavily crafted British interior.

Now I could lay out for you how I selected my new pads (actually I just ordered the cheapest, well reviewed pads I found at my most frequented internet parts store), and how I went about changing the pads myself. But I won’t and for a very good reason. There is plenty of information already on the web about how to change brakes. It’s not complicated. Even more so, I was looking at some illustrated instructions just the other day for a 93 GMC truck and you wouldn’t believe just how identical its disc brakes were to mine. Unless your car is sporting Brembo’s there’s just nothing super exotic about brake technology.

But let me give you the one embarrassing detail. As much as I try not to be pessimistic, it seems that whenever I do work on a car something unexpected HAS TO go wrong at some point. So after I had changed 3 of the breaks and was moving to the final wheel, everything running smoothly and my labor time down to fifteen minutes per wheel, I came to the caliper piston that wouldn’t budge. Now I’ll spare you the details of how I grunted and eventually prayed the thing into position except to say that in the process I opened up the brake line bleed valve and inadvertently introduced some air into the line.

If you know anything about brakes you know this is bad. If you don’t know, picture coming up to a stop and your foot takes the brake pedal to the floor, further than you’ve ever felt it go down before, but the car doesn’t stop so much as gingerly slows down. If there’s anything in front of you, that’ll be the end of it.

Luckily, being pessimistic, I was prepared for this eventuality and the front of my car is still intact.

But here’s my tip: If you’re going to work on something yourself, always consider the value of your time. I looked up the procedure for bleeding the brake lines and found that it would require two people and looked like it would take as much as two hours to get right. Then I looked up Sears. Turns out they’re open on Sundays and will flush your brake system for $35 flat.

So I had lunch at the mall and my brakes work wonderfully now. But let’s not forget about complaining. I don’t enjoy having my practical car (that’s right, my other car which shall remain nameless, is the impractical one) being taken off the road so I can fix something before it does real damage. I usually have fun things planned on a weekend to do, like sleeping.

And this brings me to my ultimate conclusion (and complaint): In the end the Jag is just too nice and I like it way to much. My XK8’s days are numbered. No really.