I just installed a set of cragar ss type wheels on my 66 cp and now the brakes are sqeeking.  Before I installed the wheels the brakes chattered at around 20mph and then it went away.  Now the chatter lasts from 20 to stop but is not as strong.

The sqeek seems to go away when braking.  I had the car up to 90 and the wheel balance feels fine.  I have manual drum brakes on the car.  Could the new wheels be affecting the drum balance?

Also how do you take the horn cover off?  I can see sparks comming from under the horn button at night when going over bumps or when it is pressed.  I think the contacts are worn out.

Thanks for any help  

The brake problems should not be associated with the new wheels.  Maybe the wheels are letting you hear what was there before.  I suspect you have a warped drum and a worn out or glazed lining.  As for the horn cover, disconnect the negative battery terminal, push the horn cover in at the center of the steering wheel and turn it left 20-30 degrees.  Off it comes.  

First, the horn. You will probably need a new turn signal switch. The spring loaded contact points wear out over time. At the end they start doing all sorts of electrial problems. Mine smoked and constantly blew fuses. Buy the better quality replacement cuz the cheap one often has a weak return spring and won't trip the turn signal completely off. The cheap one is the one that has the hard brass contacts instead of the more copper looking ones.

The brakes. I'm presuming that these new wheels fit ok and arn't rubbing anyplace. Squeeling can be caused by brake dust. When we "service" drum brakes very often all they need is to be blown out with air and cleaned. My guess is that when they put the new wheels on it disturbed the dirt and crap that was already in the drum.

Any immediate change in brake behavior must be considered serious though. Pull the drums and check the linings and stuff just to be sure. Clean the assembly with spray brake cleaner. If you can't do this, then get it done. With brakes, safe is always better than sorry.

Some brake designs are worse than others. Neon and Cavalier disc squeal and scrape and warp and it's pretty much normal for those. Older Chrysler procucts squealed even when perfect, though the new lining composits of today have greatly reduced this problem. I have drum brakes on all four wheels. I hate 'em and they suck, but after 28,000 they are still OK and have never brought me any trouble, except for an occasional "grab" or "pull" in wet or damp weather. They are about half gone. I plan to put new linings in before winter. Thin linings will squeal too. I get an occasional squeal these days.

Chatter is another issue. That usually results from some mechanical problem, such as hard places in the drum, worn linings, out of round drums, cracked drums, weak return springs, dirt, loose wheel bearings, worn suspension parts, glazed linings, leaking wheel cylinders, leaking axle seals, and more. Again, a complete inspection is really a good idea here. You might not have any problem, but I'd really hate to see your classic Mustang jammed halfway through a rice burner in some intersection. A friend of mine lost an insurence claim in court last year, even though the other guy was at fault 'cuz the court ruled that his 65 was a "museum" piece and therefore unsafe and should not be driven around "innocent" motorists. He had a wheel cylinder blow out, causing all four brakes to fail.

Be safe, not sorry!

PS, Crager SS are the coolest of the cool! They were what we dreamed about back in the day. Glad you chose those! I doubt the new wheels/tires have anything to do with the problem. What ever it is is in the brakes, for better or worse.

Harry  

Thanks for the input.  I forgot to mention that a shop check out the brakes a couple of weeks ago and said that they are in good shape.  Is some chatter considered acceptable?  If anything this gives me a excuse to upgrade to disc sooner.  

It is really hard these days to find new brake drums that don't have hard spots. Even on new cars (like the Jeep recall in 1998-2000), those with drum rear brakes and even rotors can have hard spots. These are castings and the metal can harden faster in one part of the mold than the other. That makes the consistancy of the metal different at different points around the diameter. At least, that was Jeeps excuse. The result is that it makes the brake grab a tiny bit on each rotation, sorta like a warped rotor, and the subsequent pulse is transmitted through the suspension. It can be 'lesser or worser' depending on suspension condition and the actual drum itself. It is "kinda'" normal, but when it happened to one we did a while back the wheels really jumped at high speed stops. We were able to fix it by simply resurfacing (turning) the new drums. When it happened on mine I returned the drums and got new ones. As you know,on a '65 the front drums are "staked" to the hubs by the lug bolts and the NAPA parts house provided the new staking free with the exchange. I thought that was only fair.

I too plan to switch to disc brakes as soon as I can raise the $$$

Harry  

I figured out the horn issue.  When I removed the wheel one of the wires came with it!  I just cut the wire down, who need a horn anyway.  Here in AZ honking your horn can get you shot  

upgrade to disc as soon as you can. they are safer and more relyable. when you do change over if you already dont have a dual master cylinder change that out also. the single bowls were common to give out and arent safe. i went yesterday to the salvage yard and believe it or not i found a set of front disc on a 69 rancharo. i took the rotors,spindles and everything else i needed to make the switch. i'm buying a new master cylinder though. salvage yard saved me money. i only payed 80 bucks for the discs and spindles out of the junk yard. you do the math if buying new aftermarkets. just check the salvage yards in your area and look hard. good luck with the brakes  

That is the best ultimate fix! Man, you guys are so lucky having salvage yards that still have stuff like that laying around. They bail everything here thats over ten years old!

Harry  

All of the brake parts to upgrade to Disks can be purchased at any parts store.  You don't have to spend hours and hours looking for grave yards to find parts that will need to be overhauled in the first place.  

Yeah, NPD has kits in several price ranges. I intend to use an NPD kit that includes the dual MC power brake set up. Winter project!

Harry