Hi Y'all; techno-challenged senior citizen here again.

Well, my '72 Valiant four-doors daily driver is giving me a case of the low pedal until I "pump up the brakes". I guess its time for some brakes works. I confess that I have not done any real brake work since my '59 Fiat 600, and that was 1966. I did replace a master cylinder on my '65 El Camino and one on my '73 Catalina, but that was just replace parts.

The old man (RIP) had brake work front and back on the Valiant in 1994 which was 90,000 miles ago, so I can't really complain. Been working fine until lately. Plenty lining left, and the drums look OK, so I plan to just recondition or replace the master and wheel cylinders and any hardware that looks suspect.

I inspected and packed the wheel bearings last Christmas and they were OK.

Sticker shock at brakes parts prices. 80 bucks or more for a MC, 40 bucks for a front wheel cylinder, 20 bucks for a cylinder kit. Wow! No more $1.49 new wheel cylinders.

So the question is...which brand should I buy or does it matter? Raybestos, Wagner, Bendix. All brands I recognize, but who knows if they are off-shoring their stuff too?

Any recommendations on brands?

Also, how about reconditioning my cylinders? Does anybody do that anymore or is it just replace them. Please realize that I am a died-in-the-wool cheapskate.

ALso tires... I'm almost embarrassed to say that I have 79,000 miles on a set of four for $99 Sears Guardsman tires. Not much tread left, and it looks like the sidewall are beginning to separate on a couple of them. Was hoping to get 80,000 miles (nice round number). When I went to Sears website, I didn't see any more Sears Guardsman branded tires. I think Michelin was making them before. I called the local store in Tacoma, and they still have them, but the guy said made by Goodyear. Anybody know if they are still worth the money? I drive conservatively in a cool climate, so I don't need "performance" other than durability and economy.

Thanks in advance

Try rockauto.com for prices........

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

I've been useing Kragen for all my brake needs for my disc conversion('73 duster discs into a '62 v200)and have been haveing good luck so far. If you get the part numbers and prices off the CSK website(which has been much cheaper than in store prices)take them in there and have them price match it all and save ya quite abit.
-Jesse

I get all my brake stuff from NAPA, have for a long time, never buy the cheap stuff, always good stuff, and have absolutely no complaints. I'm not much of a fan of getting stuff mailed or shipped to me. I'd rather go in a parts store and buy stuff anyday. I've got some pretty hard to find stuff for brakes especially at NAPA over the years.

Frank