So I was going to write about my last police practical day (basically a police dress rehearsal used to test you in a safe but realistic environment - i.e. driving a real police car, in a real police uniform, responding to real calls involving police volunteers following a script), but I'm still a bit overwhelmed by it. The first two were pretty similar, but this third one really upped the ante. Basically, I had to arrest this guy who took off while I was distracted checking his identity over the radio. When he refused to stop I cuffed and searched him but failed to find the gun in his back pocket (it was one of those compact pistols that fit in the palm of your hand). In short, for training purposes - I died. Dang. I'm sure my training officer was biting his tongue as I was bumbling my way through the scenario, but he sure let me have it once we got back in the car. In my defense, however, about half of the other trainees in my group also got killed on that call. We'd also never done anything even close to that call on any of our other practical days; it was a real curve ball. I guess that's to be expected given the nature of the job, but that's what training is for - make your mistakes in a safe environment so you learn from them for the real deal. Anyway, on to the bright side.So the last few times we've taken the Mazda in for its oil change and check-up they've been telling us that our front brakes were getting low and our belts needed replacing. I was a little hesitant to do it "myself" on the brakes since the instructions I found on line reminded readers that "the braking system is perhaps the most important system on your vehicle from a safety standpoint...For this reason, many people leave brake work to professionals." Still, I called Alex and he sounded confident enough so I decided to set up a time with him to go to work. I started calling around to get price quotes on parts and managed to get the front brake pads and two serpentine belts for $50. That's especially sweet considering that the high price quote I got for the same parts was almost $20 more (or $40 if you got the "fancy" brake pads). Oh, what a little time on the phone can do.
We drove over to Alex and Anna's house on Saturday to go to work. Mitzi got to play with baby Mycah and watch "The Hills" while Alex and I went to work on the car. We hit a snag when the rotors were rusted onto the wheel bearing and we had to hammer on them to get them off. We also decided to leave the caliper connected to the hydraulic brake fluid line so that we wouldn't have to worry about flushing the fluid or anything. Alex finally got the rotors off and we took them down to the auto parts store to get them "turned." I'd heard that term before but I never really understood it. Essentially what it means is that as the brake pads squeeze against the rotor (that's how your vehicle stops) they wear down the rotor. Additionally, dirt and rocks can get between the brake pads and the rotors and cut grooves in the rotor when you brake. All of this wear can decrease the effectiveness of your brakes. Over time, your rotors may need to be smoothed so that the grooves and troughs worn by your brakes will be repaired. Doing this prevents your braking system from being damaged or ruined.
Unfortunately for me, our rotors were so worn that there wasn't enough surface left to smooth out the grooves and still have enough rotor left for effective braking. Translation = buy new rotors. Fortunately, the auto store sold us rotors for $20 a piece, and they can be as much as $60 each or more. We took those puppies back and threw them on and we were off to the races. Here's where I really started learned the finer points of brake replacement.
#1 - Brake Hydraulic Press. If you don't remove the brake hydraulic line from the caliper, then the brake hydraulic press has to be manually suppressed in order for the brake pads to fit on the rotor. In other words, the brake hydraulic press is what presses your brake pads against the rotor when you push on the brake pedal. The press is contained within the caliper, which also holds the brake pads. So when you take the old brake pads out, the press expands since it's not pressing against the pads anymore. In order to get the new pads in place you have to depress the press so that the new pads will fit on with enough space between them to fit over the rotor. Anyway, we had to do that, and Alex managed to do it by hand, so no biggie.
#2 - Brake Rods. You have to lubricate the brake rods because the brake pads slide along them when compressed by the hydraulic press/caliper. However, you need to be careful not to get any lubrication on the rotor surface because that can cause "hot spots" on your rotor and then it will wear unevenly = Time for turning. Anyway, it turns out those are the only things you need to lube up, so that simplified things and kept them from getting really messy.
#3 - Brake Springs. These dinky looking things actually serve to keep your brake pads pressed evenly against the rotor so that they wear evenly. There's not much to them as long as you get them on right and don't throw them away thinking they're so small and simple that they probably don't do anything important.
Once you get all the pieces in place and get the caliper bolts back in to hold the whole system together, you're pretty much in business. You can throw the tires back on and put the nuts back in place. After you get in and give the brake pedal a push it will move the brake hydraulic press back against the brake pads and will set them flush against the rotor, just where they should be. Then it's time for a test drive. We drove the Mazda around the neighborhood and braked at different speeds and everything felt smooth and sweet.The bottom line: We just spent $69 ($25 brake pads, $43 rotors, $1 brake lube) to replace the brakes on the Mazda - a job that probably would have cost at least $250 in a shop (remember, brakes are usually left to professionals = they can charge whatever they want)!
We didn't get around to fixing the belts because the brakes ended up taking us about 3 or 4 hours, what with the rotor pick-up in town. Job for another day. We did however go spray down the engine because it was filthy! I was always nervous to do this because I was afraid I would short circuit something important. Alex told me that you need to be careful not to get your spark plugs wet, or your alternator, or some other stuff. But then he said that it probably wouldn't be a problem. So we went to the car was and sprayed down the engine real good, and then the car wouldn't start. Doh! Then we remembered, "Hey, if you leave the car running while you wash the engine, you won't have to worry about starting it when it's wet." After a few minutes, however, it started up just fine and we drove it around for a few minutes until it heated up enough to evaporate all of the water from those sensitive parts.
You should've seen it before (i.e. I should've taken a picture before),but this is one clean looking engine baby!
The moral of the story is, I'm really happy I have a brother-in-law with automobile savvy because it's already saved me about $300-$500 on car maintenance costs. And I'm finally learning about cars the way I never thought I would.
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