Hi all,
Earlier this week I bought a 1995 Legacy LS Wagon from a user in this group (he told me is username but I forgot it). He pointed me to this board, which I'm grateful for. This is my first Subaru, but the car is great, and he did a lot of work to it. I just spent the last couple of days cleaning the exterior and interior. I've mostly had Volkswagens (when I was younger anyway), but don't plan on going back.
When I test drove the car I thought it had a bad wheel bearing (loud 'wum-wum-wum' noise), but by chance I discovered last night that the rear driver side wheel area was super hot as I passed by it after going out (which seems like it would also explain how it seemed like the car was getting terrible mpg). Compared it to the passenger side, and it was much hotter, so it seems pretty obvious to me that that caliper is toast (and probably the rotor and pads, too).
I knew the rear brakes probably needed to be done anyway (the rotors were looking pretty rough, etc), so not a huge deal. I've already ordered new rotors and pads, but have some questions. I'm mechanically inclined, but it's been a little while since I've worked on a car:
- Any obvious gotchas on a rear rotors/pads/calipers job like this?
- Does anyone have any recommendations for a basic brake bleed tool (best/cheapest on Amazon, etc)?
- Are remanufactured calipers from Auto Zone generally thought to be ok? (I don't really think rebuilding these are in the cards for me.)
- Is one brake fluid better for these cars than another of the apparent same kind/type?
- Anything I should be doing with the e-brake while back there?
Feel free to drop your wisdom on me. Looking forward to getting to know y'all more and learning about these cars!
