Hi,
I`m a 21 year old college student that loves volvos. I have an 1800 i`m fixing up, a 1987 740 turbo, and a 1995 850 GLT. My 850 has 110,000 miles on it. I had the dealer put new front rotors and pads on about 4 months ago for 400.00 dollars. Then every once in a while about 2 months later when i was braking the whole car would pulsate. It felt like i was going over a rumble strip on the highway. Other people told me it felt like it was hitting mach 1 and was falling apart. so i took it back to the dealer and they put new rotors and pads on in the rear. then about 5 days later it started squeaking when i was braking so i took it back and they did someting and it was fine. Then 3 days later they were sqeaking again and i took it back and they fixed it again. they said the first time they sanded the front pads down and the last time they sanded the rear down. That was last week, now the pulsating and sqeaking is back. None of the instument lights come on and the car does brake while its pulsating. Does anyone have any ideas what it could be. Your help is greatly appriciated.

Mark

hi all,
just got it back from the dealer and now they said one of the rear callipers has a piston that is half way stuck and that i need to repace both rear callipers for as they said "only 735 dollars", do u know if a stuck calliper can be replaced?

your help is greatly appriciated

mark

I had my rear caliper replaced too, but only one side not both. The piston was stuck and caused the brake pad to squeal. If the other caliper is good, why replace it?

Ching-Ho Cheng
1995 855, Bilstein Shocks, K&N Filter

Hello,

"Pulsating" bringst to my mind the function of ABS system, but I guess you can tell the difference between the pulsating you can feel in your car and the normal function of ABS? If it is not pads then perhaps something wrong with the ABS? At least my ABS feels something like a maching gun attached to the front tires (that are the first ones to slip if one hits the brakes on ice).

Petri

Was this a Volvo dealer? Sounds like they put on non oem pads or the wrong pads for the car--the harder aftermarket pads make the car vibrate like a jet slowing down on the runway. The pulsating comes from the rotors being warped. What is this "something" they did? Dealers are not supposed to turn (sand) the rotors or sand the pads. I am surprised that your dealer did this?

Advice: (my opinion) Take the car to another Volvo dealer and ask them to look at your brakes, front and back, and tell you what they find. After this, explain to them what the other dealer did and the problems you have. See what they say. If they say something is done wrong, have them put it into writing and then go back to the original dealer and show them the paper and tell them to fix the problem. It sounds like they have already tried, but might have an inept mechanic. If they give you a hard time, contact a local tv station and explain your problem. Dealers don't like bad publicity. TV stations love this sort of consumer problem.

My feeling tells me that the dealer is trying to soak you for money. They fix the front brakes, then when you have problems, "Oh, let's do the rears". If that doesn't fix it, "Maybe you have other problems we can fix". JMO