My Hoopty

[gp02a0083]

That's what's happening with my hubcaps. They're flaking away. I use the goop to try to keep things moisturized so it doesn't get to that point. I mean, once these plastic pretty bits are gone, they're gone for good because we can't get them new anymore. I'm not the first owner of the car, so a lot of damage happened before me. I'm doing what I can to preserve and restore it.

Yes, it only lasts a few weeks, and yes, I'm looking for something more permanent. If you look at the pics, my bump strips and back bumper were white. Not faded. Not grey. Bright white. It took a lot of goop to get them to a dark mottled gray and the goop would wash off with the first rain and they'd be white again. It was just horribly ugly and ate at my brain to know they weren't perfect. So yeah, I'm looking for a permanent restoration that I can smear goop on and preserve.



I've tried replacing guide pins before, which did nothing. The guide pins are only half the story though. You have to get the guide pin sleeves too. The sleeves don't always help either if the caliper seats are wallowed out, which I have encountered on the Suburban. Even so, the parts are cheap enough from Rock Auto, so maybe I will try rebuilding them.

Still, I can't get good pads and what I can get keeps dwindling. That's why I'm trying to move away from the OE stuff to reliable aftermarket suppliers who won't do that. Hopefully. But yeah, pins and sleeves are a lot cheaper than aftermarket calipers, so I'll probably rebuild.

I'm using the cheapest DOT 3 fluid, BTW.



I didn't bed the brakes per se, but I got them nice and hot on the downhill near home (so hot they faded), then let them cool down in the driveway overnight. So yeah, they definitely got bedded. The next day was when the real fun began. I've gotten the truck brakes so hot coming down the hill that they smell up the yard when I park. They've never faded though. With the old pads back on, I'm coming down same as always with no fade, and no wobbling so far. Maybe the trick is to distribute a nice thick layer of ceramic pad material onto the rotors before installing the OE pads!

that goop may be causing the mechanical adhesion to fail or chew up the plastic to a point. I had given up on all those fancy belt dressings, its all veggie oil or some silicone anyway. caused too many issues in the paint department.

Bedding in the brakes is a really easily overlooked thing. The hawk pads I've been using and even several other sets have some specific instructions for bed in procedures. The Hawks have several stops mild stops @30 mph with time for cool down in between then a few harder stops to finish. Overheating the brakes like that isnt a great idea, the guys with the exotics on the road course here chuck their tires so the rotors don't warp while they cool. also keep in mind that ceramics vs semi metallic will bite differently. FYI be mindful buying reman caliper brackets, I'd have a number of them cause pad clunk / slap being they were too worn even with new clips.

You know, I think we're getting confused on the paint issue. There are a few different trim/parts on the car that are showing deterioration. What's of most concern to me are the hard plastic hubcaps, the rubberized trim (turning white) and the steel window trims fading and flaking. Like I said before, I prepped the steel window trims to exact spec and that stuff is faded and flaking off now. Prep won't stop fading and whatever goop I slathered on the steel trim wouldn't matter, because it would come off with even a mild solvent. So no one will convince me that prep would make a bit of difference there. On the hard plastic hubcaps, I over-prepped, frankly. I sanded and soaped multiple times because I wasn't going to let my prep be blamed for another failure. Rattle paint always fails, and everyone always blames the prep work. There again, the paint is coming off in big chips. You can blame that on goop and I can't really argue. There might be a bigger issue though, as it looks to me like the plastic underneath might be disintegrating. So again, prep was immaterial. I wouldn't paint the rubberized trim because if I can't get rattle paint to stick to prepped steel, how will it ever hold to flexy rubber? I did dye the rubberized stuff and like everything else, that lasted until the first rain.

At any rate, you guys can rattle paint if you want, but I'm done with it. Any steel on this car is getting powder coated. The Bon Ami has worked spectacularly on the bump strips, so that only leaves the hubcaps. The solution there is to swap them out with a set of BBS rims. LOL

I don't know what happened with those other brake pads. The OE pads are back on now and I haven't had any further difficulty. As I was reassembling everything, I noticed how much slop is in my brakes though. They're still the original calipers from '89 to the best of my knowledge. They've been in service nearly 30 years. I've never done anything with them, and they're pretty wiggly now. Sadly, I can't get NEW calipers, so there doesn't seem to be much point in replacing them now. That goes against the new 'no reman parts' rule I seem to have adopted.

I'm thinking about this instead. https://wilwood.com/BrakeKits/BrakeK...ord&option=SEI

I'll still stick to it, Prep is prep and is a majority of the battle. if big chunks are peeling off / flaking off then the prep work was not as thorough as it needed to be. This is a mechanical adhesion issue. A coating will only be as durable / strong as the substrate underneath it. It was always said at any body-shop I've worked for that the best paint to paint over was OEM if it was not compromised.

When I had re-conditioned my hatchback moldings I had to remove all the flaking plastic / rubber until it was bare metal. Then I had to address the bonding of the rubber to the molding itself with a special rubber cement. All the moldings were wet-sanded and cleaned and sprayed with a light coat of adhesion promoter followed up by Etching primer / 2k primer. Wet-sanded again and cleaned and sprayed with rattle can SEM black. All moldings after 2 harsh daily driving winters and now brutal summers still hold up very well with minor chips ( the bumper lip obviously has some chips). Adhesion is ok that the peel test in the hot sun does not remove material.

[Dr_Snooz]

Bedding in the brakes is a really easily overlooked thing.

I did try bedding a couple times and it didn't seem to make a lot of difference. I used to keep an extra set of rotors around. When one set warped, I'd swap on the others, have the originals turned and ready for when it happened again. It was just something I'd learned to live with. The only thing that really works is using a harder pad compound. That worked on the BMW and both trucks. I bought the death brakes expecting it to work again, but it failed this time.

It's funny though. I ran those awful pads for a few days before swapping back to the old pads. Since then, I've had almost no problem with brake wobble. They wobbled before like mad. Now they don't.

It's given me a new hypothesis. Having a constant brake wobble problem means you get your rotors turned a lot. Whenever I've had that done, I never cleaned the machining oil residue off the rotors. I've always assumed that brake heat would burn it off. I'm wondering if the residual oil is reacting with the brake pad material to create a sticky residue that doesn't burn off, but smears around and causes wobble. It's a hypothesis and I'm going to hit my brakes with Brake Kleen before reassembling again in the future.

In other news, I did an oil change today. I have been running 15W/50 oil since the infamous Canola Oil Incident and I've noticed a lot of valve train noise too. This time, I screwed up and bought 10W/40 instead, the normal grade for here. I just used it because nothing is open today and I needed to get it done. My valve train noise disappeared! So I guess the morale of the story is that those charts in your owner's manual are important and shouldn't be ignored.

[gp02a0083]

I did try bedding a couple times and it didn't seem to make a lot of difference. I used to keep an extra set of rotors around. When one set warped, I'd swap on the others, have the originals turned and ready for when it happened again. It was just something I'd learned to live with. The only thing that really works is using a harder pad compound. That worked on the BMW and both trucks. I bought the death brakes expecting it to work again, but it failed this time.

It's funny though. I ran those awful pads for a few days before swapping back to the old pads. Since then, I've had almost no problem with brake wobble. They wobbled before like mad. Now they don't.

It's given me a new hypothesis. Having a constant brake wobble problem means you get your rotors turned a lot. Whenever I've had that done, I never cleaned the machining oil residue off the rotors. I've always assumed that brake heat would burn it off. I'm wondering if the residual oil is reacting with the brake pad material to create a sticky residue that doesn't burn off, but smears around and causes wobble. It's a hypothesis and I'm going to hit my brakes with Brake Kleen before reassembling again in the future.

In other news, I did an oil change today. I have been running 15W/50 oil since the infamous Canola Oil Incident and I've noticed a lot of valve train noise too. This time, I screwed up and bought 10W/40 instead, the normal grade for here. I just used it because nothing is open today and I needed to get it done. My valve train noise disappeared! So I guess the morale of the story is that those charts in your owner's manual are important and shouldn't be ignored.

15W-30 is really viscous, always stuck to 10w30 or 10w40 for these older cars.

I used to do the same thing with my front rotors, would have my father take them to work and get them turned. it always seemed that turned rotors warped easier, since then i ditched using the cheap rotors from advanced or autozone and went for the RK series EBC rotors.

did you check what the run-out was on the other rotors? maybe had a little play in the caliper pins?

[night]

Good read -> -Warped- Brake Disc and Other Myths

[Dr_Snooz]

maybe had a little play in the caliper pins?

Oh, I'm sure there's plenty of slop there. I really need to go through the brake system and replace everything. I'd like to put Wilwood calipers on the front, but I'm too poor and the siding is falling off my house. FML. Fortunately, the brakes are working well enough right now, so that project falls down the priority list a long way.

Thanks for the tip on the rotors.

[Dr_Snooz]

Good read -> -Warped- Brake Disc and Other Myths

That's the article that showed me it wasn't the rotors, but the pads. It's a good one for sure.

[Seth.copple]

Dang, I wish mine had EFI. I need to get rid of the Carb setup.

[InAccordance]

dang, i wish mine had efi. I need to get rid of the carb setup.

blasphemy!

[Dr_Snooz]

Well, apparently these cars are still desirable enough that people still steal the emblems off the hood....

Fack!

[conozo]

Are you sure it didn't just fall off?

[Dr_Snooz]

I suppose it's possible, but it was a new emblem from the dealer that I put on after the hood was painted. It was purchased back in the '90s after the first emblem got stolen and kept in the glove box for use at some future date. Half of the adhesive is still there.

[Dr_Snooz]

Hello. What's this?

[conozo]

are there wheels on those?

[B0CKS]

Hello. What's this?

16's? Oh daaaang!

When are the coilovers arriving?

[Dr_Snooz]

Me like shiny!!!!

[Dr_Snooz]

16's? Oh daaaang!

When are the coilovers arriving?

You got some good eyes on you, son. Coilovers weren't in the original plans, but they are now. Not sure which ones to get though.

[Dr_Snooz]

Doesn't look too bad really. I'm very pleased. I weighed an old wheel, which was 36 lbs. A new wheel weighs 32 lbs. So for well over $1000, you too can lose 16 lbs of unsprung weight!

I need to drop it some, so yeah, coilovers. The car came with an AT, which is 50 lbs heavier than the MT in it now. I never fixed the additional 1/2" or so that the front end lifted after the swap, so again, coilovers. Also, the struts in it now are the originals from 1989, so yet again, coilovers.

[Oldblueaccord]

Doesn't look too bad really. I'm very pleased. I weighed an old wheel, which was 36 lbs. A new wheel weighs 32 lbs. So for well over $1000, you too can lose 12 lbs of unsprung weight!

I need to drop it some, so yeah, coilovers. The car came with an AT, which is 50 lbs heavier than the MT in it now. I never fixed the additional 1/2" or so that the front end lifted after the swap, so again, coilovers. Also, the struts in it now are the originals from 1989, so yet again, coilovers.

Damn looking very hip there!

[Dr_Snooz]

And yes, the trim has turned white again. I'm beta-testing some tractor paint from Tractor Supply right now (on that back window trim that peels down to chrome). If it's worthy, I'll paint the trim with that.

[Shane86]

High roller

[conozo]

Nice, now you'll have to update your signature pic for the first time in years

[Dr_Snooz]

No way man. After 40, you stop updating any personal pics. Didn't you know that? LOL

For research purposes, here's a link to the warm restart issue I've been having.

https://www.3geez.com/forum/efi-tech...ml#post1212482

[Dr_Snooz]

Some of you know about my lifelong struggle with wobbly brakes. For whatever reason, the brakes on every car I've ever owned develop wobble. Recently, I've been experimenting with different pads to stop it. I put some Wagner QuickStop pads on the car yesterday. I've had really good luck with Wagner's Severe Duty brakes on my trucks, so I thought I'd try Wagners on the car. Keeping in mind that I've only made a couple test drives, the brakes work very well. They seem to be a harder compound, which requires more pedal effort to stop the car and produces more rotor wear, but prevents the deposits of sticky pad material on the rotors that produce wobble. My brakes are very smooth and quiet so far. I will have to put a lot more miles on them before I can recommend them, but preliminary results are promising.

[InAccordance]

I couldn't do much about the front raising up a little after manual swapping mine sadly. Have lowering springs so xant adjust.

[Dr_Snooz]

I measured today and learned I have 3" of gap over every wheel except the front passenger. That one has 4". OMG

The new tires are exactly the same diameter as the old ones and I have no rub at all. If I go with 55s instead of 45s for my next set of tires, it will add 1.5" to the diameter. That fills a lot of gap, gives more cushion to the ride and gives me better MPG to boot. I still need coilovers of course, ha ha, but I'll probably go with taller tires next time.

As for handling, wow! This new setup sticks like glue. My crappy, worn-out set of really old, off-brand Chinese tires set the bar pretty low, but still, these tires are amazing!