my car pulls to the left badly when i hit the brakes. i took it to a shop to have a brake inspection, they said the front brakes were good (and i can see that myself too) but my rear drums were bad, i have metal to metal contact and need new shoes and drums. they also said one of my wheel cylinders is leaking. The master cylinder is full, its been full ever since i got the car in june (makes me think theres no leaks). They told me my ball joints were really bad and i agreed because you could tilt the wheels and the alignment was all off. so i had them replace the ball joints and align it thinking that was my pulling problem. they wanted $500 to fix the rear brakes and i declined that (way too much money IMO). when i got the car back it still pulled to the left but not near as badly. i needed the ball joints anyway so im not pissed about that. today i drove the car (this is about a week after the ball joints) and its terrible, the car pulls to the left worse than before. One thing different about today is that it was 70 degrees for the first time and the engine got up to 220 degrees (it runs at 170 when its cold outside); so im thinking that extra heat might have something to do with the brake fluid. I tried stopping the car by just pulling the parking brake and it stops in a straight line. but when i stop the car using the pedal it pulls to the left. Im thinking my front passenger side brake line is pinched. When i was installing my headers last summer i had to put them on from under the car and i slammed the passenger side in past the brake line...that may have pinched it, but im not sure. Im pretty sure the car pulled to the left beforehand because i remeber thinking to myself "boy its gonna pull to the left even worse now"

what could my problem be? how hard is it to replace the brake line from the master cylinder to the left front? it goes under the engine on the cross member. will i be able to replace this myself?

thanks for the help, sorry its such a long post

 

Check the rubber brake line to caliper.

JamesC

 

i did and it is fine

 

Replacing that line isnt too bad, though it is a lot easier if you can get the car on a lift...but a jack and stands will work. How did you check the rubber hose? Sometimes they get constricted inside and will cause a pull but you cant really tell just by looking at it. Do a bleed on the fronts and see if its any easier from one side to the other...not the best way to check but might tell you something.

 

what if i get the car on stands and get under it and have someone pump the brakes (while the car is running)....will the rubber line expand then?

 

I got the same problem with my car pulling. But my metal lines are fine. So I just bought the 3 rubber lines for $54. I replaced the calipers/pads/rotors last year. Anyone think this will help my pulling problem?

 

anyone have any ideas what my problem is?

 

i have the same problem aswell... and i guess im going to try this

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/faq-...ulls-side.html

 

I had a serious pull to the right that gradually got worse and worse. My fix.... shotgun the front brakes. New wheel bearings, Calipers, rotors, Bendix pads, hoses, caliper pins, used a whole lot of the permatex synthetic disc brake caliper lube all over the pins, piston, and on any metal to metal pad to caliper contact. I changed the brake fluid starting at the rear passenger (most of it came out here, I used 2 pints of DOT4 pulling all the old fluid through this drum), rear driver, front passenger, front driver, used another pint on the other three brakes, topped it off with a bit out of a 4th pint and I was done. Problem solved. If that hadn't fixed it I was pretty sure I was going to burn the car down. I'm reasonably sure the problem was either in the brake hose or the caliper itself. Theres been some discussion on how the calipers corrode inside, and the corrosion can get caught up in the brake hose, thus causing barely enough fluid to apply the brakes and a pull to the opposite side.

 

hmmm very interesting. i notice how much worse it is when the car gets hot and heats up the brake fluid. the fluid kinda has some swirls in it and looks dirty. im gonna have a shop exchange the brake fluid for me (not something i want to do in my garage). if its cheap enough i will have them replace the rubber lines while im there

 

i had a Midas brake inspection yesterday. they said the right side caliper is sticking and wont return which means only the left side is actually working properly, causing it to pull to the left. i dont know if i quite believe that but he did seem like he knew what he was talking about and i made him show me on the car. He said he loosened the bleeder screw (on the right side) and barely any brake fluid came out. He told me the rubber lines need to be replaced. They wanted $441 for 2 new calipers and brake lines plus a system flush. im not paying that of course. what im going to do today is replace the rubber lines and see if that solves it. if its still messed up im going to replace the calipers later.

ive never done brake lines, is there anything i should look out for? im getting OEM lines too b/c i dont think its worth $70 for stainless steel lines...is this a bad idea? How can i test the calipers myself?

thanks guys

 

I've got Earl's braided lines--hey, if they help stop the car quicker, even a few feet, it's a good thing IMO.

JamesC

 

Sometimes the rubber lines look good from outside but are swollen inside and aren't passing enough floid.
I'd change them.

 

i replaced both lines with OEM. totally fixed my problem

 

Same here

 

Crap, I hate it when I'm right

JamesC

 

I also changed my fluid to DOT 4 fluid. Just happened to pick up that bottle. What's the difference between DOT 3 and 4 fluid? I did a gravity bleed on all 4 corners until the big bottle I bought was almost empty, so I'm fairly certain that all the fluid has been changed out.

 

DOT4 has higher boiling temp.

See Tech Tip: Brake fluid debate