Volvo Brakes

I swapped new rotors, pads, and hardware onto the 244 this weekend, replacing the old stuff which was pretty well frozen. This is actually a common problem with the 240 and 740 series cars, due to the exposed slider pins that Volvo saw fit to design into the calipers. Over time, the pins get bombarded by road debris and moisture, they rust, and then the tops of the brake pads are stuck.

For those of you who drive these cars, you’ll notice (aside from a gradual inability to stop) that the shiny swept area on the rotors gets progressively skinnier. Because the brake pistons are still shoving on the backs of the pads, the frozen pins act like hinges and force the pads to swing slightly when you apply the brakes, moving the swept area farther and farther down the rotor towards the center of the hub.

Catch it quickly enough, and you can probably get away with just yanking out the old pins (hammer, vice grips, and drifts) and putting in new hardware. They come as kits, four pins and four retaining clips, which is enough for both front brakes. I ordered mine from FCP Groton for about $7.

On a related note, the overwhelming majority of 240s have Girling brakes. The ATE systems were mainly for the diesel models.

Hardware replacement is easy, and changing pads is fairly simple if they’re not rusted in place (whistling…). But if you want to put on new rotors, there’s a catch: you need to disconnect the calipers from the HARD LINES that plug into them. Volvo, seriously, WTF?

Most manufacturers have flexible lines running from the body of the car to the brake calipers. This allows you to unbolt the calipers and hang them up out of the way while you change to new rotors. Volvo, however, has flexible lines running from the body to the suspension, then hard lines from the strut to the caliper. All of a sudden, a rotor change means that you unhook the brake lines, which means you have to bleed them. That’s a two-person job.

Oi. If anybody has a logical reason for doing that, I would love to hear it.