Please take it easy on me, I'm a newbie.

Last year I had my front rotors and brake pads replaced. My mechanic told me that he had to cut off bolts that locked the wheels on. I didn't think anything of it until now..............................

My back brake pads are squeeling and seem shot. So I just tried to change the pads. As we all know, nothing is easy with the 97 TL. I realized that my mechanic was actually refering to a strange seal located behind the rim cap. He removed those seals on the front wheels and did not replace them. I assumed this would be ok and removed the first seal from one of my back wheels. Now I'm still unable to pull the rim off because there are some little spacer discs still holding the rim/tires on.

Does anyone know how to remove these so that I can pull the tires off?
Did my mechanic screw up my car by ripping those seals off?
Are there any other hazards headed my way with these back brake pads

Please help,
Snow Hater

 

can you take a pic of what you are refering to??? i am having a hard time visualizing this...

 

to take the wheel off, all you need to do is take the lugnuts off. Sometimes the wheel can get stuck to the rotor/hub because of rust, but that just means you need to kick the rim a bit from perpendicular to the car. It should release and allow you to take the rim off of the car.


sometimes i wonder what people would do if they had a flat tire on the side of the road. Now i know why AAA is still in business.

 

There are no seals involved in a brake pad change.

 

The tire must just be frozen on with rust. The seal that I referred to is the hub dust cover that protects the sealed wheel bearing in the hub assembly (i just bought a chilton's).

My mechanic tore these covers off last year should I replace them?

Thank you for the help.

 

Yes replace the cover and replace your mechanic.