If you have a car with asbestos brakes and you want to change them what precautions should you take?
nah, just rinse them real good with water
If you have a car with asbestos brakes and you want to change them what precautions should you take?
I doubt your vehicle has asbestos brakes unless it's an antique. I arced brake shoes in a small room back in 1970 with out any protection. At times the vacuum would mess up and the room would fill with brake dust. Now 30 some years later I am still healthy.
If I were you I'd be more concerned with the fact you don't have any experience with the things that cause rookie back yard mechanics to screw up their brakes. You are more likely to die from messing up your vehicles brakes then from brake dust exposure.
Regardless of what type of brake dust you have, spray them down real good with a garden hose. Don't forget that you can't safely work on the brakes without a shop lift or proper jack stands to support the car after you've jacked it up. Also you need to chock the wheels to keep the vehicle from rolling even on the level surface you should be working on. Change the pads or shoes only on one wheel at a time so you can use the other wheel to remind you how to put things back together again. For rear wheel calipers, you'll need a special tool to rotate the piston back into the caliper to allow space for the new pads. The front caliper pistons just push back in with a C clamp.
there you go ! wear that mask to protect your lungs and eye protector . gloves ! well you could but i never could work with gloves on. you could always wash your hands good after you get done but as for your lungs and eyes you don,t want that stuff in them.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/39333263/How-Much-Can-You-Expect-In-Your-Mesothelioma-Settlement
Though asbestos brake linings have been mostly phased out, contrary to popular misconception they have not disappeared altogether. According to one original equipment brake supplier, Ford was still using asbestos linings as recently as 1993 on the Crown Victoria to cure a brake noise problem. The same supplier also said asbestos linings are still used on some high end import vehicles such as Land Rover because of their good braking characteristics. What's more, asbestos linings are still readily available in the aftermarket.
Though asbestos linings were one used on virtually all vehicles, the arrival of front-wheel drive in the 1980s required semi-metallic front disc brake pads that could withstand higher operating temperatures. But the vehicle manufacturers continued to use asbestos linings on the rear brakes as well as the front brakes on most rear-wheel drive cars and trucks. Why? Because asbestos was and still is an excellent fiber for brake linings. It offers good strength, temperature and chemical resistance, and is cheap compared to other materials that are used for the same purpose. But the physical properties that make asbestos such a good fiber also make it a hazardous substance.
Asbestos fibers are long, thin and extremely small. Exposed fibers easily shred into thin needle like strands that can drift in the air and be inhaled. The size of the fibers are such that they are not easily filtered out by the mucus linings in the nose and lungs. Hence, the fibers lodge deep in the lungs where their sharp needle like presence becomes a source of constant irritation. To make matters worse, the human body cannot rid itself of these fibers because they are impervious to biochemical assault. So over time, exposure to asbestos dust may result in lung disease or cancer.
The asbestos hazard is associated primarily with those who work in the asbestos handling and processing industries. But once the asbestos fibers are encapsulated in other materials, they pose little danger to workers in brake, clutch or gasket manufacturing plants.
There is a danger, however, to brake technicians and do-it-yourselfs who change their own brake pads and shoes because of the dust that is generated as brakes wear. As the linings wear, asbestos fibers are exposed and released as dust into the air. Some of the dust clings to brake parts and some of it is blown away. If you use an air hose to blow out a brake drum or to blow dust off brake parts to %26quot;clean%26quot; them, the only thing you will succeed in doing is blowing billions of asbestos fibers into the air. This will expose not only you to dangerous concentrations of asbestos fibers, but everybody else in your shop or garage, too.
brake dust fibers can also cling to clothing, posing a possible hazards to other household members when work clothes covered with brake dust are washed with other laundry. Work clothes should be washed separately to prevent the spread of fibers to other clothing.
Asbestos is friable when used as brake shoes or pads. That means that not only can it cause you harm by breathing it but it will also penetrate your skin. Asbestos is a metal. When I worked for the school board many years ago and asbestos was being removed from the school heating pipes then full a full body suit is needed as well as a respirator and goggles.
