TomZweifel

BTW: If you're waiting for $$ to replace the rear shocks and upper brackets, don't wait. KYB shocks off Amazon and the upper mounts were under $200 and minus penetrating oil soak time it was literally under an hour of under car time to get them done. So easy even I could do it.

I'm drinking my victory beer tonight. The punchline: right rear brake pads were installed backwards. Inboard was outboard and vice versa. That gave the outboard brake pad two anti-rattle springs and the inboard one had none. The pad that comes with the spring on the top is the inboard spring. The one that needs you to clip the spring on the outside of the caliper after you tighten the caliper bolts is the outboard. The longer version: the wife was in the hospital for two months, I found myself a single dad overnight trying to run a business and the kids and the household and deal with lawyers and police and court dates and in a moment of profound weakness I decided to let the local garage work on my car to try and lighten my load some. I usually never let other people work on my cars ever. I had posted in January 2023 how the rotors had developed unusual wear and corrosion because I was hardly using them trying to boost my braking score and driving like a saint. I knew the rotors would come off kicking and screaming and they sure did give those guys a terrible hard time. They earned their flat rate pricing that night. I clearly remember when I went to pick up my car the guy was swearing up and down at the last rotor he had to do that just would not budge. It was the right rear. He was good and worn out an hour after closing as he was putting the last wheel back on and clearly ran out of new swear words to teach me. In his exhausted state he got them reversed. As near as I can tell as the anti-squeak slowly wore out and rolled up into an orange booger and fell off the rattle got worse and worse and worse. I can't tell you how many times I inspected the brake pads to make sure they were not sliding fore-aft and they weren't. And when I checked them one last time today sure enough I found the culprit. If you pull the rear wheels off, look down in the top of the caliper. If you don't see the spring inside that top hole in the caliper, your spring has sprung, or you have the pads switched. Anybody in the market for a pair of slightly used but otherwise perfectly good rear swaybar end links and shock absorbers? 😉 At least I don't have to worry about the upper shock absorber mounts cracking for another 6 years.

I am at my wits end with this one. 2018 Hybrid with 100k miles 60% highway, just did the brakes and 4 tires about six months ago. The tires did start getting ill mannered, gradually getting louder and louder and finally the death knell was I just couldn't keep the right rear in balance anymore, it followed to the front left when I rotated at 90k and I put an end to it. About the same time I started getting a metallic rattle over slight bumps and cracks in the road at low speed, not perceptible over 35mph or so. What I can tell you for sure is it sounds like a casting that's doing it, based on the high pitch of the "clank", almost like a brake rotor or the upper control arm (that one is a casting, not a stamping) hitting something. I already did the rear swaybar end links using the Moog replacements, that wasn't it. I'm tempted to pull the right rear shock absorber and drive over a few bumps to see what happens. I'm afraid that because of the tire being out of balance for a little while it might have done the wheel bearing or the shock absorber dirty, although I can't find any of the usual wheel bearing related play or similar shenanigans. (not the one with the goofy sh!t on the walls and the mozzarella sticks). No obvious shocks leaking oil or abnormal braking manners or wear, etc. Literally zero indication of any problem that I can find other than the audible which is about to drive me insane. So here it is. Bets are open, first one with the right guess wins the internet. And if I figure it out first, well, the answer will be here for posterity.

I just did my brakes on my 2018 for the first time last month with 88k on the vehicle, and I can only say that it looks like I destroyed my brake pads by not using the friction brakes enough. I drive like a saint and I'm never on the binders at highway speed unless something jumps out in front of me. The corrosion and uneven wear on the rotors was horrible, you could actually see where there was only a very small portion of the brake pads actually making contact with the rotors. This is the Northeast US and they salt the roads plenty in the winter. The final straw came when I had to get on them pretty hard to avoid an accident and I could smell the brakes smoldering. I kept looking around for the tractor trailer that locked 'em up before I realized it was me. There was still about 8mm left on the front pads. I did all four corners, replaced the pads and turned the rotors down about 1.5mm total and it's as good as new. Just make sure if you get 'em done you take it to a shop that still knows how to turn rotors down, it seems like none of them want to be bothered with that anymore and may not even have a lathe or know how to use it. Re-using your original rotors will save you about $400 on the job ($150 each for the front and $100 each for the rear, less $100 to have them turned). I can't imagine how car manufacturers aren't going to have to start using more corrosion resistant brake rotors on EVs because they're not being used nearly as much. Then I have to imagine the lunacy of putting carbon ceramic brake rotors on a car that hardly need to use its friction brakes.

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Update: I had an unfortunate incident this morning with one tire, and it turns out the underhood terminals can drive this compressor just fine. At least I didn't have a problem with it.

For years, even when I was driving vehicles that do have spare tires, I would always carry a kit I put together with mushroom plugs and a Viair 88P compressor. If I had a flat tire, even at night on the side of the road I could always plug my full-size tire and re-inflate it myself in about 10 minutes. The compressor has alligator clamps to connect right to the battery terminals to provide up to 20A of current, and it typically takes about 2 minutes at 15-20amps to pump a tire back up. I'm wondering now on the C-Max how I'm going to connect the compressor should I ever need it. Can the positive jumper terminal under the hood supply sufficient current? Any preferences regarding a ground connection? Should I remove the plastic in the trunk and hook up directly to the 12v battery instead? Should I invest in a 300vdc compressor instead? (j/k on the last one, but it would be cool....). I'm actually pretty hesitant to even try using this compressor in this vehicle considering it doesn't have a traditional 12vdc alternator. I understand the dc-dc converter is fairly stout, maybe as strong as a conventional alternator, but I'm willing to bet nowhere near as forgiving. Thanks in advance.... https://www.viaircorp.com/portables/88p

Not south FL, but in need of one. Which one did you end up going with (Focus? Fusion? Volvo S60?)? What's the size of tire on it?