Scott,
I must agree--any reputable professional mechanic should have road
tested your car after the brake work was done and cured any squeal
problems before turning the car over to you. A mechanic at all familiar
with Healeys would have put in the shims in the course of the job as
SOP. For him to try to soak you for more $ for 15 - 30 minutes more
labor is also petty and unprofessional, and to me demonstrates that the
man doesn't take much pride in his work.
The available anti-squeal shims are very effective. Also good is caliper
grease, the best of which is made by Sta-Lube (it will even silence a
Volvo). Under no circumstances should the adhesive-type goop, like
Disc Brake Quiet or any of the blue or red ones that dry, be used. The
sticky types that dry to the pad work OK, but they also adhere to the
rubber dust cover for the piston. Then if the pad is ever removed the
dust cover gets torn, exposing the piston and necessitating a caliper
rebuild. The caliper grease, on the other hand, helps preserve rubber
bits and also fights rust on the caliper itself.
Doug Reid, 18G Motorworks
Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 04:08:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: "scott@scottjgraham.com" <scott@scottjgraham.com>
Subject: SQUEAKY BRAKES - DO I PAY FOR THIS?
Firstly - thanks to everyone for the clarification of what triple SU set I had
on my car. After talking to SU Midel it seems they are indeed Jag 420G type
carbies. Unfortunately they need to have the controls refitted (that were
excluded by design) if I am to get the idle sorted and the carbs running
smooth. Will live with the car as is until I have the $$ to cover this.
Secondly, my car has new discs and pads, yet is squealing awfully even after
three weeks "bedding in". I have read elsewhere of shims and other solutions
and called my repair shop to organize the work. He was adamant that this is
not a fix up of his prior job but a new job to be paid in full. Seems to me
that when he's overhauling the brakes that he should have given the car back
to me without this blood curdling noise. What do you listers think? Am I being
unreasonable in this?
Thanks
Scott J Graham
1962 BRG BJ7
1960 White Bugeye
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