Pontiac Repair: lug nut on tires & emergency brake., aluminum wheels, disk brakes

Question

  Hi I am wondering if you can please answer 2 questions I have about a 1989 Grand Prix SE...

I was wondering if you can explain to me how I would repair a emergeny break. I step on the break and nothing happens it is not working.  Can you please tell me what steps I can do to find the problem.

Also I wanted to check the brakes out and I was able to get 4 lug nuts off but the 5th kug was different than the other four. The out side of the nut was rounded with small spaces on the out side of the nut. Is there a special tool for getting this nut off? What is the name?

My friend just purchased this car and I want to give it a look over.

Any help would be appreciated...

Thanks PEGGY

Answer
No problem Peggy, first the emergency brake. That particular car has disk brakes at all four wheels and the emergency brake pedal actually has to be pumped 2-3 times to fully set the e-brakes on. If it still does not hold the car the most usual suspect with this particular car is that the rear calipers are no good and need replacing. This is an extremely common occourance because the only way to keep the calipers working properly is to use the e-brake every time you park the car and nobody is warned about this when they first buy a Grand Prix of this era. I will also warn you that repairing these brakes takes a few specialty tools and some patience not to mention they are not cheap to fix. Most brake shops will charge approximatly $500-700 for rear calipers and rotors for this car. Second question about the lug nut....that is called a lock and it requires the matching "key" to remove it. This is usually in the car, glove box...trunk..console, and is specific to that lock. If you cannot find the key than most tire shops can get them off for you or you can try the old fashioned method of pounding a socket onto it and then taking it off with the socket, but this is kinda hard and ruins tools and if you slip, aluminum wheels. Hope this helps you and good luck :)