Today I was out running errands with my 1992 745 when I heard a grinding from the rear end as I backed out of a parking spot. Of course, the first thing that came to mind was the worst scenario, the rear end. It was still there, but not as loud when I got to my next stop, so I assumed it was the brakes. Just in case it was a sticky caliper, I tried some abrupt forward and backward stops in the parking lot with no change. But I did notice the right back wheel was warm, while the others were cold. When I got home I pulled the wheel and caliper and found the inboard pad had no lining left and the rotor had a groove on the inside face.

Okay, so I checked the FAQ and found I had ATE pads on the back. Called my local parts store (Canadian Tire) and came up against a brick wall. The parts guy needed to know if I had Girling or Bendix brakes and "ATE" meant nothing to him. He said I should call a Volvo dealer with my VIN to determine the brand of brakes. I did that and he said the VIN wouldn't do it, but after I gave him the year and model and no ABS, he said they were ATE, which I knew. He also had them in stock, but I didn't want to put the car back together with the bad pad and drive 100km round trip. The other option was to order the pads from FCP Groton and not use the car until they arrived. I was going to need to drive on the weekend, so that wasn't a good option in case they didn't arrive by Friday, which they probably wouldn't.

So here's what I did: I have various boxes of used pads in the garage from cars I've worked on, so I started going through them to see if there was anything I could cut down. Sure enough, I found some pads that had come off my daughter's '97 Sunfire a few years ago. Half an hour with a hacksaw, drill press and bench grinder and I had a little square replacement pad with almost 1/4" of lining to tide me over until I could do the job right with the correct parts!