Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 12:34:19 -0500
Reply-To: The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM>
Subject: Re: replacing rear brakes on 80 vanagon
In-Reply-To: <D1616C75C3DBD21199AA006097CB8FB9859E03@dfsmttayz019.hq.af.mil>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Brake squeal is typically the result of a vibration induced between the pad
& rotor or, less commonly, the shoe & drum. This can be caused by worn parts
(even just a slightly stretched spring), missing parts (i.e. that damping
plate), improper installation, or poor parts quality/fit. Replacing brake
hardware when you do your brake job is a good way to minimize this risk, as
is buying good parts. Our brake shoes and pads are genuine German made
Pagid (original supplier to VW). Best you can get, and not expensive since
we import directly. We have both Italian and German wheel cylinders
(Italian ones are under $10 and in my experience are every bit as reliable
as German). Can't speak for what rotors or drums Parts Place sells, but ours
are either German (Zimmerman) or Italian (ATE, Brembo, Bradi), again very
high quality. Watch it, there is plenty of garbage out there, such as
"no-name" Chinese made Vanagon rotors that were offered to me recently at a
"bargain price" (no thanks). My rule of thumb is that I won't sell
anything I wouldn't put on my own Vanagon, even if it might save a buck or
two, so I try to offer "good parts cheap" rather than "cheap parts."
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot, Inc.
http://www.busdepot.com
(215) 234-VWVW
> I have the same problem. In May of 98, I replaced the drums,
> shoes, rotors, and pads and ended up with the worst ultra-high pitched
squeal I have ever
> heard. Most of the noise is from the discs, but the shoes squeal once in
a
> while as well. I inquired about incompatibilities between the components
> but received no conformations of such a thing(drums, shoes, pads from Bus
> Depot, Rotors from Parts Place).
>
> Anyway, I cured the problem temporarily by reversing the pads so the rotor
> moves against them in the opposite direction. This helped for a few weeks
> at a time, but hasn't helped lately. I also tightened the front
> hubs, which helped for a while.
>
> I do know I am missing (due to previous work by an autoshop) the metal
> damping plates that go on the back of the pads, but I have not
> had them for 10 years, so I initially ruled them out(I am now
reconsidering that
> assumption).
>
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