This is a close-up of the problem wheel.
Something(s) very wrong with that picture.
1. Wow. Things sure do rust up badly in the NE.
2. You're losing quite a bit of braking capability because you're not using the full disk width that's available to you. That outer rusted ring might look small, but there is quite a bit of area there as the area of a circle is proportional to the sqr of the radius.
3. DO NOT put new pads on THAT rotor. Don't even think of it. Further, for it to look like that, somethings FUBAR. Are the pads down to the rivets ("cutting on the pass. side")? Are the pads, rotor & brake fluid original?
4. If the rears look that bad, what do the front's look like? You might be in for pads & rotors on all four corners.
5. What color is the brake fluid in the reservoir? Even if its clear or deep amber, it might be BLACK or BROWN in the calipers, which indicates the presence of water and rust. And in the NE, it's cold enough to freeze water...anywhere, including your brakes.
6. Not sure when your inspection is due or how stringent inspections are in MA., but you might not pass with brakes like that. However, what's more important is your life & your friends, driving a car, at speed, with brakes like that! That makes you dangerous.
There is a reason many got on your case for buying a car like this with this many miles, and particularly in your area (harsh winters, salt on roads, lots of rust)
without a thorough check-out before-hand before you 'fell in love with it'. Meaning, you led with your heart instead of your head.
In music, acting & drama, that may work, but not so
wise with mechanical devices driven in all types of weather, particularly in the NE. You don't want to be hitching your wagon to someone elses negligence, poor maintenance, and abuse because NOW you're the one (and your friend) who will be financially & emotionally burdened with the previous owners neglect.
Since you don't know much about cars & wrenching, let me give you some advice. In the future you'd be wise to take any vehicle you & your friend are considering to a
trusted mechanic and pay him for an evaluation
before you fall in love with it.
It also would be a good idea for you to take a piece of paper, draw a long vertical line down the middle, write "HEART" on the left side and "HEAD" on the right side. Go wild with abandon on the left writing down your dreams, passions, why you love it, etc. On the right side, though switch to head mode. Write only reality. Here's where your mechanics inspection notes belong. Include cost to fix. Include ALL major systems: Brakes, Cooling, engine, transmission, tires, fuel, etc. Then add all that up.
NOW you're giving each side its due. HEART and HEAD both have a place on your check-sheet. Neither is being ignored. Now YOU have to deal with the reality on the right side of your chart, realizing that what's written there WILL affect you emotionally AND financially while you own it.
In other words, if you ignore what's on the right side, you'll pay for it. In more ways than one.
Make sense? That's the best way I know how to explain it.
Finally, we're car guys. Gear heads. This IS a site about motor oil after all. Yeah, we actually drink beer and discuss motor oil and not think twice about it. (And most women would roll their eyes, walk off and go 4x4 to the ladies room..)And we love cars. Driving them, thinking about them, washing them, making them shine and taking care of them.
So it breaks
our hearts to see them abused, mistreated, and neglected by idiots who use them and then dump them (usually on someone else). That's a shame to us and we get mad about it. In addition, we don't like to see people like yourself get ripped off by said idiots. So when someone asks, we throw a ton of questions at them, hoping (hoping) for all the right answers (yep, checked that. OK. No worries. My indy said good deal, etc.) because we get upset when we hear stories like yours and don't like to hear about people getting ripped off, taken advantage of, suckered, dumped on, etc.
Instead, we'd like to find the idiot who didn't change his brakes, oil, etc for 10 yrs and crown him.
Since we don't know who he is and you spoke up, you get dumped on for buying someone else's neglect. So do yourself a favor when buying anything used that's mechanical or structural (ie house) and fill out the right side of that sheet and weigh it against the left side. You'll save yourself a world of hurt AND a car-load of money.
Thus endith the lesson. . .
