Brakes...again...

[Moonstone2.0]

Early last year, replace the rear pads - all is well

Mid December, my front brakes failed and I replaced the front pads and all was well again.

This morning, under heavy braking, the car swerved to the left and stopped once i took my foot off the brake...strange...did it even under light braking..

all of a sudden, car starts shaking at about 40mph from the front right as if im loosing a wheel.

Get out of the car, check the wheel, both the front and back alloys on the drivers side are coated/welded with brake dust (nice white alloys now power coated in black dust) front alloy is roasting hot but pads look ok, rear pads have disappeared. Other side is fine.
Jacked up front of car and wobbled drivers side front wheel about - clonks back a forth a tiny bit side to side.

Anyone got any ideas?

Loosing the will to live...

[Connor]

Sounds like a seized caliper

[Toms306]

Exactly what connor said!

Sounds like the front drivers caliper is stuck at a certain point...so pads wont waer anymore, rear pads trying to compensate fro lack of braking on that side....front pass wheel has more brake force so the car pulls that way....if that makes sense.

[Moonstone2.0]

and how would one un-seize a caliper?

[Connor]

The piston will need cleaning up and probably could do with changing the seal

[Jonny b]

Pain in the arse I just rebuilt a set of calipers and getting the pistons and the seals in correctly is a mare!!

[Midnightclub]

Basically.. it'd be easier to swap the calipers over, 266's shouldn't be very expensive as everyone swaps from them to 283's

[4WayDiablo]

Yeah if you wanted i have a set of 266 front calipers if you wanty?

[Hitchos]

4way is there anything you dont have lying about but back on topic defo sounds like the caliper mate and it would be simpler to buy another set rather the refurb the old ones

[Moonstone2.0]

The AA guy gave the caliper a mighty whacking with a large lump hammer (lol) and it freed up. Could this have been a one off? Ill take it all apart and have a good look.

Going to buy a new set of brakes all round (rear ones need done now) and having a look at how to fit calipers, its only the brake line that needs to be disconnected and refitted isnt it

[Connor]

No not a one off, callipers don't just seize for the hell of it, its cause there's rust on the piston and when you press through brake pedal and push the piston back out to where the rust is, it will eventually seize again

[mark_airey]

The AA guy gave the caliper a mighty whacking with a large lump hammer (lol) and it freed up. Could this have been a one off? Ill take it all apart and have a good look.

Going to buy a new set of brakes all round (rear ones need done now) and having a look at how to fit calipers, its only the brake line that needs to be disconnected and refitted isnt it

Big enough hammer fixes anything if applied correctly

As for swapping yeah, brake line and maybe the wear sensors if it has them

other than that its 2 bolts on each calliper (which will be tight as fook) or 4 if you split the callipers from the carriers (like for like brakes maybe leave the carriers attached to the hub...........after that it will just need them bleeding (check the bleed nipples aren't stuck before you fit them!!) and away you go!

[Foxy-jim]

Definitely check the bleed nipples! Sheered two on my rear ones!

[Moonstone2.0]

hmmm..all the ones on ebay look in worse condition than mine how to know!? going to have to have a good nosey tonight and make sure i get an exact model so that its a plug and play job

[mark_airey]

hmmm..all the ones on ebay look in worse condition than mine how to know!? going to have to have a good nosey tonight and make sure i get an exact model so that its a plug and play job

As long as you drown the in WD40 and then gently loosen them with a deep socket they are normally fine mate, its only if they were tightened by and ape the last time they were bled and haven't been moved for a few years that you get problems

Just make sure they are the same as there are a few variations of the callipers IIRC

[Moonstone2.0]

Got deep sockets and lots of wd40. all the others should be fine as i got the brakes bled by a garage when i replaced my beam.

[Jonny b]

Don't use wd40



Plusgas ftw

[Moonstone2.0]

So I got down to business last night:



And came across the potential reason for my brakes seizing:



But then couldn't get the brake line off - am I attacking this at the right place?



its a 14mm nut but its a bugger...soaked in wd40. will have to get a new gas flamer me thinks.

[mark_airey]

I think that may be a bit more than the potential problem

and yeah you are attacking the correct bit, drown it in WD40 and then leave it for a while and then get the blow torch on the job to warm the calliper a bit and make it expand

[Atterz]

Ive never seen brakes that bad :|

[Megamonkey]

Dam they are pretty bad! As I rememeber my brake lines were a biatch to get out as well tho, just be careful not to round them tho.

[Moonstone2.0]

You cant really stop them getting that bad though?! I dont do anything with them other than drive and brake :p

[mark_airey]

You cant really stop them getting that bad though?! I dont do anything with them other than drive and brake :p

Thats your problem, you should stop braking all together and they will look like new

[Foxy-jim]

No braking ftw!

[Jonny b]

No braking ftw!

Yeh but you drive a 1.4 your lucky to get up to a speed to have to brake ha ha

[Moonstone2.0]

No braking ftw!

Yeh but you drive a 1.4 your lucky to get up to a speed to have to brake ha ha

Owned :p

[Moonstone2.0]

I think this might do the trick!

[Connor]

If you didnt brake, the discs would get rusty as fook lol

[Foxy-jim]

Yeh but you drive a 1.4 your lucky to get up to a speed to have to brake ha ha

They aren't that slow! At least mine isn't now!

[Jonny b]

Ha ha yes they are!!!!










Just pulling your plonker