I recently did a relatively extensive brake job on my 02 Cavalier. It has about 135K on it, mostly open 2 lane. This was the second set of pads I installed. The first may have gone longer if hadn't cut corners on the hardware. This time, I tried to do everything I should, pads, new caliper bushings, rebuilt the calipers, and cleaned everything up good and coated everything with Sil-Glyde. In the back it was new shoes, springs, adjusters, rebuilt the cylinders, and again Sil-glyde. I put a little antisieze on all the contact surfaces and the wheel studs, torquing them to 80 pound feet.
I had a terrible time in the back. OReilly's sold me the wrong hardware kit and wheel cylinder kits. I never did find anybody that had a kit with the clips that hold the shoes to the backing plate. I ended up reusing the old ones. Anyhow, I eventually got everything back together and the brakes bled. No matter what I did, I had a low brake pedal, not spongy, needing bled, just almost to the floor, then solid. I finally pulled one caliper off and put a block of wood in it and had my wife work the brakes while I watched. Each time she let off the pedal, the piston pulled back into the caliper. ???????????? I messed around and messed around. I don't think I could have made a hard stop to save my life.
Finally I went NAPA and bought 2 more caliper kits. I pulled the calipers off today and replaced the seals and o-rings. The old o-rings were clearly slightly too large, just enough to keep the piston from sliding freely as it must. After bleeding the brakes, I had the nice, high, solid pedal I have always had after a brake job.
??????????? Are Oreilly's a bunch of doofuses or is GM not building any 2 Cavaliers alike? Mine is an early LX model with the Ecotec and a 5 speed. I like to do preventative hydraulic rebuilds to avoid problems later.
I think you can only get so much help out of any one wife. By being sparing about it, I have managed to keep the same one for 40 years. She did get a break while our son was at home.
I had a terrible time in the back. OReilly's sold me the wrong hardware kit and wheel cylinder kits. I never did find anybody that had a kit with the clips that hold the shoes to the backing plate. I ended up reusing the old ones. Anyhow, I eventually got everything back together and the brakes bled. No matter what I did, I had a low brake pedal, not spongy, needing bled, just almost to the floor, then solid. I finally pulled one caliper off and put a block of wood in it and had my wife work the brakes while I watched. Each time she let off the pedal, the piston pulled back into the caliper. ???????????? I messed around and messed around. I don't think I could have made a hard stop to save my life.
Finally I went NAPA and bought 2 more caliper kits. I pulled the calipers off today and replaced the seals and o-rings. The old o-rings were clearly slightly too large, just enough to keep the piston from sliding freely as it must. After bleeding the brakes, I had the nice, high, solid pedal I have always had after a brake job.
??????????? Are Oreilly's a bunch of doofuses or is GM not building any 2 Cavaliers alike? Mine is an early LX model with the Ecotec and a 5 speed. I like to do preventative hydraulic rebuilds to avoid problems later.
I think you can only get so much help out of any one wife. By being sparing about it, I have managed to keep the same one for 40 years. She did get a break while our son was at home.
