The Unofficial "Ask a Stupid Question" Thread

These days I'm buying powerstop carbon-ceramic. They don't require as much heat to work effectively as pure ceramic..
 
CDsDontBurn said:
For brake pads, do I want ceramic or semi-metallic pads?

This one is always hard to me for some reason, and IDK why...
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I rebuilt the entire brake system on my '97 Thunderbird Sport about two years ago, just because of age. Everything was still factory original, including the pads, but the car had only 70K miles on her. I don't know what the factory pads were on an almost 30-year old Sport, but I think they were some kind of organic pads way back then. If not, someone correct me.

I replaced all four rotors with new Motorcraft ones and installed high-quality ACDelco Gold/Professional Semi-Metallic pads from RockAuto, since Motorcraft no longer makes her pads.

Two years later, no brake performance issues or brake dust besides a very small amount.
 
MadMikeyL said:
I believe he meant “as well as picks to separate the hoses from the nipples”, as in get a pick between the hoses and the metal barb to make it easier to get the hoses off after you have removed the clamp.
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See he read it fast…
Damn Siri type.
 
While investigating front squeaks I found on the drivers side; the shock washer / nut on the top that bolts to the shock mount moves quite a bit up & down. Like the mount moves with the car, but the top of the shock moves independently.
How concerned should I be?
1. Driving her like that.
2. Removing the shock to have the mount replaced?
 
Kidd-7 said:
While investigating front squeaks I found on the drivers side; the shock washer / nut on the top that bolts to the shock mount moves quite a bit up & down. Like the mount moves with the car, but the top of the shock moves independently.
How concerned should I be?
1. Driving her like that.
2. Removing the shock to have the mount replaced?
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I had to put a spacer under my shock nut, but it's not "for" an MN12. It did move like you described, so maybe you need to add a washer or spacer? You can check that without even jacking the car up.
 
Same thing happened to mine, I stuck a 1/8”washer with a hole bigger than the sleeve under the stock washer and it’s been fine ever since
 
So can I remove the nut while on the car? I’ve always been scared of those compressed springs.
 
You need to put some weight on the front; I sit on the front, and then remove it. When you stand, the shock comes apart.
 
There is no risk of removing the nut if the car is on the ground, the springs are compressed by the weight, not the nut, at ride height.

Grog6 said:
You need to put some weight on the front; I sit on the front, and then remove it. When you stand, the shock comes apart.
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No, it doesn’t. At ride height the spring is compressed and the shock is roughly at mid travel, there’s no possible way for it to come apart with the nut removed unless you physically jacked the car up.
 
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Alright another stupid question related to the shock nut: how do y’all spin it loose. It’s 19mm and the top of the shock just spins. I got an 8mm wrench on the top of the shock but can’t get any leverage.
 
Kidd-7 said:
Alright another stupid question related to the shock nut: how do y’all spin it loose. It’s 19mm and the top of the shock just spins. I got an 8mm wrench on the top of the shock but can’t get any leverage.
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Hold the top in place with the 8 and use an open end wrench to turn the 19. Alternately if you have an impact that’ll work too
 
Kidd-7 said:
Alright another stupid question related to the shock nut: how do y’all spin it loose. It’s 19mm and the top of the shock just spins. I got an 8mm wrench on the top of the shock but can’t get any leverage.
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i struggled bad with my rear shocks. As XR7 has stated an impact will do you wonders.. getting those threads off before the shock itself has a chance to move. Alternatively find a vice grip and send it if it clears between the shock and upper mount. i didnt have a wrench that would clear it unfortunately
 
The 19mm wrench doesn’t have allot of room to move. I’ll try it again and see if I have a deep enough socket to get on my impact.
 
if you dont have someone to hold the top side of the shock or cant get leverage an impact is your best bet here. I stripped my vice grips leveraging them against the frame of the car trying to wrench off the top nut myself. I was able to get the shocks out and install the new but if i could go back in time i would of just zipped them off with the impact before touching the rusted shocks with anything else.. and plenty of pb
Kidd-7 said:
The 19mm wrench doesn’t have allot of room to move. I’ll try it again and see if I have a deep enough socket to get on my impact.
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Also i may be mistaken here i thought you were talking about the rear shocks. Ive honestly never done the fronts. just had quick struts/ shocks installed at an alignment shop
 
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