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fyi: 740 brake experience[ALL/1998] posted by Adam B. Dixon on
Wednesday, 26 March 1997, at 5:11 p.m.
Being a new Volvo owner and BrickBoard newbie, here is my attempt to contribute by sharing my first maintenance experience w/an '88 740GLE wagon.
The car had significant vibration during braking. The Volvo shop that did the pre-purchase inspection recommended replacing the front rotors, saying that there was plenty of front pad left. No comment about the rear brakes. I purchased rotors ($51 ea), Repco organic pads ($35) and bearing grease from Baker Import parts in Atlanta (mostly Volvo business) to do the job.
The Haynes manual indicated that I would need to repack the bearings. After two trips to the local hardware to determine that I needed a 10mm Allen wrench to remove the Bendix calipers (I bought a T-handle the first time and found that it interfered w/part of the steering gear, hence a 2nd trip), I discovered that the rotors came off w/out any bearing work (thankfully). The rotors were resurfaced w/plenty of thickness to go (the original owners had them replaced twice and these looked almost brand new). The pads went in easily and the job was finished relatively quickly. But the vibration remained (bummer). On to the rear brakes.
Caliper removal in the rear was more difficult. A 17mm crescent wrench to get at the lower caliper bolt and a 17mm socket for the top. The left rear rotor was horribly grooved! It took a lot of pounding w/a rubber mallet (another trip to Pep Boys) and some spray to break up the corrosion to free them. Went to get them turned at a Volvo parts store and was told not to. Went to Pep Boys and was told that there are problems w/the finish when turning Volvo rotors (don't know why), so I bought rotors ($35 ea) and pads ($11) (both Raybestos). Decided to have them turned at a local AutoZone before committing to the new ones. They looked good and the reassembly w/new pads went quickly......NO MORE VIBRATION! Yeah!
Returned the rear rotors at Pep Boys and had a friend take the front rotors to Baker Imports (40 minute drive from home). Total cost ~$75 for new pads and turned rotors on both front and back. Next time will be less time-consuming now that I have the proper tools (10mm Allen wrench) and know what to expect.
Adam Dixon
Re: fyi: 740 brake experience[ALL/1998] posted by Terry Bowerman on
Monday, 7 April 1997, at 10:15 p.m.
Here is my experience with front brakes on my 1990 740GL wagon. The brakes had a small vibration at about 82K. I lived with them until the pads needed replacing at 118K. I had the rotors turned at the local auto repair shop and put new IPD pads on. The vibration left only to return with a vengeance in about 5,000 miles. I drove the car to 127K at which time the brake vibration had becaome down right dangerous. I took the car to a professional Volvo mechanic. He replaced the rotors and replace the pads with genuine Volvo pads. This solved the problem. The car has 145K miles on it and the brakes are still fine. Both the Volvo mechanic and a Volvo dealer service manager told me you should never resurface Volvo rotors. I hope the resurfacing job works for you. How many miles do you have on the brake job?