'91CamaroRS

The car sat for 11 years outside enduring all the elements of nature. I've been in the process of getting it drivable.

One of like 2-3 major issues the car has is the brakes are weak. I replaced the master cylinder last month. I DID properly bench bleed it,and I bled all the wheels till there were no more bubbles. I've done the "back up and slam on the brakes" process,and that didn't improve anything. I had the car inspected by a shop,and they said that the engine couldn't pull a proper vacuum which kept the brakes from working. I have corrected that vacuum leak (around the throttle body),and there's been no improvement. According to my father,who drove it around to give me another opinion, he said "there seems to be plenty of braking force to wheels,but they seem to be slipping." This makes some sense to me because the car rolls with the parking brake on. The brake isn't loose. Around the 5th click it becomes hard to pull. I've gotta really rip up on it to get a 6th or 7th click,and again the car rolls with it on. It does however,seem to struggle a little more when I've put 7 clicks on it.

Sorry for the long explanation,but I wanted to be clear. So would you say that this seems to be due to glazing? Is it even possible just sitting there for 11 years without being touched? If so,how do I go about fixing this?

Lurbie

iTrader: (3)

11 years of "lot rot" rust can ruin pads/shoes, rotors/drums. Glazing doesn't happen from lack of use, so that's not your problem. Have the discs/drums machined or replaced if necessary. Replace the pads/shoes, being sure to burnish them properly, and then evaluate your situation.

'91CamaroRS

Ok I'll check it out. Thank you.

mjdavis68

iTrader: (1)

The term Glazed is formed form High Heat over temp braking.

novaderrik

any rust that formed on the rotors will come off as soon as you use the brakes, but i can see it coating the pads and not allowing them to work..

a cheap and easy fix would be to take the pads off and hit the friction surface with an orbital sander with 60 grit paper on it... don't take a lot off- just get down to fresh material. do the same on the rotors. then spray everything off with some good brake cleaner and put it back together.. this will give things nice new clean surfaces to work against each other.

Thirdgen89GTA

iTrader: (5)

Short term storage yeah, just drive away and the first time you brake, even softly, the pads will clean up the light surface rust.

But if a car sat for 11 years? More than the rotors might be rusted/seized.

Lurbie

iTrader: (3)

I disagree. Sure a little rust will come off, but 11 years worth, not without machining them it won't. Here's a few pictures I found in Google of what I expect his rotors look like:
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Link 4
That last one is what I see when people do try to drive the rust off. The excessive pitting takes chunks out of the rotor. I've also had so much rust on rotors that it's given a spongy brake pedal as well. MAybe '91CamaroRS can post some pics if I'm wrong, but I am guessing this is what he's up against.

mmadden55

Rusty yes glazed no, run it up to 60 and jump on the brakes hard, rust be gone. Sounds to me like you may have some stuck wheel cylinders or calipers or both, Jack it up so all four are off the ground. Have someone mash the brakes hard and see if you can turn any of the wheels, if you can, even if takes considerable effort chances are the caliper or wheel cylinder is frozen on that wheel.

novaderrik

i've driven worse... put tens of thousands of miles on my Camaro with front rotors that looked worse than anything in those pics.. one rotor even turned out to be cracked when i took it apart for the LS1 upgrade.. probably should have fixed it sooner..

my idea of sanding the rust off is something that i've used before with success. it's something that costs nothing but time and a piece of sandpaper to do and will tell you if you have other issues before you start throwing big chunks of your paycheck at the car..

'91CamaroRS

They surprisingly look nothing like those. I live in a dry state in the southwest,so major rust isn't an issue,at least there isn't any rust that's visible where the pads ride anyway.

Lurbie

iTrader: (3)

Have you measured the drums (I'm assuming this is rear drum) and rotors yet to make sure they are in specs? You mentioned fixing a vacuum leak, have you measured vacuum at the booster since then?
When you bled the brakes, did you flush the old fluid out, or just bleed it enough to make sure that all the air was out?

'91CamaroRS

The rotors and drums are within spec. I don't remember what the measurement was. I flushed the whole system,so I've got brand new fluid in it. I haven't measured the vacuum sense then because I don't have vacuum gauges. I highly doubt there's a vacuum leak at the booster because it's easy to push the pedal down. My problem is with all the pedal travel. It goes down far,and when I can finally feel it doing something I've gotta mash it to the floor to get it to stop. To me it feels like they're slipping.

Lurbie

iTrader: (3)

Pedal feel/travel is largely related to the drum brakes being properly adjusted. Have you done adjustments to the rear brakes? There's a small oval plug in the backing plate, you pop that plug out to access the adjusting wheel.