Hi all!

Here's my problem...

On the way to work this morning, I got cut off on the highway. As I started easing more pressure onto the brakes (didn't jam on the pedal) the rear tires locked up. I'm assuming that the reason this happened is because the rear brake pads (Autozone Duralast Gold, which I replaced not too long ago) are overpowering the rear wheels. The tires up front will not lock up even if I try and make them to (not sure what brake pads are up front) so I'll be putting the same model pads up front to try and balance out the problem.

I don't know what else it could be...the car did not nose dive (the struts/shocks are all fairly new), the tires are all-season Yokohama Avids with at least 50% tread, and the air pressure is about 32 psi all the way around. I also bled all the lines and replaced with fresh fluid just a few months ago.

Coming down my driveway this afternoon, I stepped on the brakes fairly hard doing ~25 mph as a test and the rears STILL locked up. I'm hoping that new pads up front will fix this. Could this also be a proportioning valve or master cyclinder problem?


Anyways, what I am most concerned about is that the car completely died immediatly after I locked up the rear tires and then let off the brakes @ 70 mph on the highway today. What the heck could have caused that? All the dash lights came on and I coasted onto the shoulder. Put the car in "Drive" and it restarted without a problem. It was a scary morning to say the least...

Suggestions?

If it helps, my car is a 1990 Volvo 740GL, Non-ABS, ATE rear brakes, (not sure who makes the front calipers yet), etc.

Thanks for the help!