Beware of the IPO

[SteveJ]

(IPO - Idiot Previous Owner)

I just finished changing the calipers (with loaded calipers), rotors and soft hoses on the front brakes on my 260Z. I just have to issue this rant.

I purchased the 260Z in early 2008. My garage looks nice with a 73 & 74 parked next to each other. By sheer coincidence, they are the same color, too.

Anyway, I noticed the 260 pulled to the right under braking. I figured it was dragging a caliper. I put it on my round-tuit list and waited for my wife to stop spending money long enough for me to buy brake parts. After a year and a half, I finally got clued in to the fact that she wasn't really going to slow down, so I decided to just go ahead and get the parts.

The parts arrived today. My nephew is spending the week with us, and to my good fortune, my brother has been doing an excellent job raising the young man. He was an excellent third hand, tool retriever, etc., and the parts swap went off without a hitch, and the brakes feel nice and firm after a thorough bleeding.

So we start cleaning up, and I happen to put the pads from the passenger side up against the driver side pads since earlier I noticed the shims looked different. The pads were different shapes, with the passenger side having more surface area to make contact with the rotor. I stacked the passenger side pads on top of one another and did the same for the driver side pads. The driver side pads were noticeably thicker. I guess I found the reason for the pulling.

Now I have to replace the dry-rotted tires and u-joints. I'm surprised the IPO didn't kill himself with that car.

Edited July 21, 2009 by SteveJ

[DougN]

In the British car world, they are usually referred to as DPO's Dumbarse (or another D-word of your choice) Previous Owners ;-) It is amazing the things some folks end up doing to keep a car on the road in some fashion.