Got the brakes done today. They were pulsating pretty bad so I figured warped rotors. Pulled the rotors off. The pads still look like they have tons of life left so I decided to not change them. The rotors I decided to just get turned as I may eventually run some nicer zinc plated rotors in the future with some better pads. So this was the cheapest option to just get it back on the road.
Went up to O'Reillys and they said they'd turn the rears ($10 ea), but not the fronts because they were going to be less than the spec. I asked if they could just do it anyway and they said no. I said ok fine how much for new rotors, they said they'd have to have them delivered here and would be a few days. No can do, so I left my rears there to be turned and went to find somewhere else that'd do the fronts for me. They said it'd take about an hour.
Went to Quality Auto here in Blaine, they said my front rotors were still within spec, and they would turn them for me ($20 ea). Said they'd be done in 45 minutes.
Went back to O'Reilly's an hour later, they said they just got them started so it'd be 15-20 min. Said OK, went and picked up the fronts from the other place. They actually turned out really well. Their lathe somehow actually puts a cross-hatch pattern in them. I was happy with the results, paid and left. Returned to O'Reilly's 30min later, they still weren't done. Waited there for about 10min more and they finally had them done. They looked like typical turned rotors, just normal finish. He ended up not charging me for them since it took so long which was nice of him.
It sounded like the pulsating was probably coming from warped rears as O'Reilly's said they ones they machined were definately warped, while the Quality Auto said the fronts weren't warped at all really.
Anyhow, just got finished installing them. Going to go drive around and bed them in a little bit. Here's some pics! You can see the difference in the quality finish they had. Even though the other place was more expensive ($20 per rotor vs. $10) I would go back there in a heartbeat. The finish seems so much nicer, and much better service in my mind
holy cow! The machining on those rears I would not be happy with. Looks like they tried to turn them as "1 pass, 1 kill". Tried to take too much material off in 1 pass, rather then making 2 light passes per time. But, whatever works I guess. Fronts looks like they took a angle grinder to them after turning them too..
__________________ Black 1GB Mafia #1
744AWHP/526TQ-Shootout mode
639.6AWHP/452TQ-DB's dyno
I didn't read the thread, but why not just buy cheap chinese rotors?
That will be the case in the end I'm currently going through trying to just fix as many of the cars little issues as possible. One issue was the brakes pulsating badly. So for now I just wanted to get them turned, as a cheap way for me to verify this was the problem and it's fixed. I didn't change the pads or anything.
But it stops very smooth now, so check that issue off the list. Over the winter I'll more than likely get some new pads, and some ebay rotors that are zinc plated to help against rust.
wow. numbers aren't bad considering they push out 225hp(wiki/not at the wheel) back in the day. Damn, can't wait to see the quadruple dyno numbers man.
Just a small update. I got ahold of the chinese company that I bought the GPS unit from. They've been very supportive so far. Every email I've sent has been responded to within 24hrs. They are currently sending me a new GPS antenna for free, to see if that's the problem. They are saying it's possible it was damaged out of the box, or damaged during install, and are sending a new one to see if that fixes it. If not, then it sounds like I'll probably be shipping this one back and get a new one from them. So I'm actually impressed with their level of customer service! If I get this all worked out, I may be getting one for the Voy as well.
Just for my own notes, found a good online place to buy stock OEM parts. I will miss having awesome local OEM support like Brookdale Mitsu. This appears to be the online Toyota place however:
I know a guy that works as a mechanic at a Toyota dealership in the cities...I can't think of which one though, I'm sure he could hook you up with discounts on dealer parts locally. I do know he lives in Anoka, so he's right down the road from you. He's a supra guy, his screen name is toyotanos on supramania and supra forums if you ever frequent those. PM me if you want any more info.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scheides
I swing from the nuts of cold hard data. Anything less is a guess.
Decided to do a couple things today. The HID's the guy installed on this car sucked. One of them would do a little flicker sometimes, I don't like how he mounted them, so I decided to rip them out, and I will put in my own HID's eventually. So for now, it's just rocking the old Halogen 9006 bulbs out of my Envoy again for now
Also, the car is leaking some oil and P/S fluid. I went under the car and it looks like the oil might be coming from the oil pan gasket. and the boots on the Rack and Pinion are starting to tear on the passenger side. So I said screw it and am starting to yank the rack / pinion out. I'll look closer once it is out and decide if I'm just going to replace the boots, or if it's actually leaking a bunch and get a new one. Just gotta source the parts and I should be good to go.
Also, I really need to find some time to put these headstuds in as well...
Also trying to freshen up the suspension since pretty much every joint is shot. So just ordered a few things on RockAuto.com (fyi, enter code 40876371104707 into the How You Heard About Us box and get 5% off!!)
- New front and rear sway bar end links (Rock Auto)
- New tie rod end links (Rock Auto)
- New front motor mounts (Carson Toyota)
I'll probably remove the LCA's soon also and bring them to John. Nobody can seem to find a replacement ball-joint for them, so you have to buy completely new LCA's for around $250/ea (booo). So John's going to see if he can't figure a way to get some universal ball joints in the stock arms for me