When Good Brake Conversions Go Bad, The Christian Coomer Story Options

[Coomer]

So tonight sucked bigtime. I just got home after spending five hours to drive six miles.

It all started at around 8:30, when I finally got my car back together and went for a drive. Around 9:00, I heard a sound from the rear, and then it occurred to me that I forgot to torque down my lug nuts. I'd tightened them with a wrench when the wheels were in the air but hadn't tightened them when I put the car back on the ground, so I immediately pulled over and had my dad bring me my wrench and wheel lock key to tighten them.

I tightened the lugnuts(which were fairly loose) and figured everything would be alright. I started the car up and started driving, then realized that the rear brake pads were now hitting the rear rotors, making the car feel as if the e-brake was on. Crap.

So I figured maybe letting the fluid out and driving home very slowly would solve the problem. Nope. So I figured maybe I could loosen up the lugs just a bit and see if the brakes would stop engaging. Nope.

It turned out that one of the lug nuts would not come loose. So I went home and grabbed some tools while my dad watched the car, and came back ready to take off the rear calipers completely and then slowly drive home. We ended up breaking off one wheel stud, destroying the threads on two more, and damaging the threads on the rest.

So I pulled off the rear calipers and bolted the wheels back on, then slowly started making the six-mile trip home at 5-15 mph. About a mile into the trip noises started coming from the rear. I figured it was probably a dying wheel bearing or something since I only had three lug nuts holding the passenger side rear wheel on. I checked the lug nuts several times on the way home and they were tight, but the noise got louder and louder.

Finally I made it home(about 15 minutes ago), pulled off the rear wheels, and found that my brand new right rear Brembo rotor is brown on half of it from friction(on what I do not know) making the rotor very hot.

So yeah, don't be retarded like me. Always tighten your lug nuts before you go anywhere. Or else you'll end up like me, with ten lugs and lug nuts that need replacing, a brand new rotor that may need replacing, and who knows what else.