got kids vue to fix the bad serp belt pulley. as i drove it home i noticed it has an odd brake application feel? still cant get rear drums off as they are fuzed to the hub. got new drums but seems like no time and not enough force to get them off. the brakes feel kinda weak. if i stab the brake pedal i do not get a nose down sort of dive feel. the whole car just squats. almost like someone is pressing down on roof. hows that for a description? so, the front brakes feel like they are not grabbing like they should. discs look good. shiny. pad thickness? lousy pad material?
That suggest to me that the rear brakes are working well but the fronts are not. Try applying the e-brake and see if it feels the same. If it does, the front brakes are not working properly. Could be a failing master cylinder.
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If it is a Saturn Vue the brakes always felt useless to me. Release parking brake to remove rear drums. Remove retaining screw. If that doesn’t work, loosen lug nuts and drive around the block twice. If still too tight, drive the other direction. After that, use other recommended methods until one works.
no set screw. i have heard of the loose lug nut trick. never tried it. am playing with my noisy a/c clutch bearing issue now. i am under impression your motor should idle as quiet with the serp on or removed? as a test? if it is much noisier with belt in place and ac is off than there is an issue
Find a place w/a gravel surface where you can jam on the brakes safely for a test stop. The skid marks in the gravel will tell you if the front brakes are grabbing or not.
Removing the drums: Let us know how you get those stubborn drums off. That’s always a puzzler. On my Corolla there’s two threaded bolt holes in the drum that allows me to push the drum off with appropriate sized bolts. On my truck there’s no threaded holes in the drum so I have to retract the brake shoes quite a bit, then they’ll usually just pull off. Sometimes I have to give the drum a couple of little whops w/a 4 lb hammer first. Sometimes a little heat is necessary too. Loosening the lug nuts then driving/braking might work, never tried it. Someone here posted an idea where you push the drum off from behind using bolts/nuts/washers. That may have been for removing a rotor, not a drum, don’t recall. For that idea to work there has to be something behind the drum to push from of course. If all else fails, reciprocating saw.
Follow up.
Fixed bad crank sensor today and decided to change front brake flex hoses. Vue now stops normally. Stab brakes and front will pitch down. And when you stop completely and release brake pedal it actually rolls almost instantly, unlike before.
I went to store before I did hoses and drove 3-4 miles at moderate speed and when I took off wheel the lug nuts were HOT.