Veering Left Under Braking....

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

Finally collected my 205 from my welding mate, after changing the springs and sorting a knocking caliper on the hub.

 

Got a bit carried away with it all, as you would after not driving a 205 Mi for a long time, nailed it and consequently stood on the brakes for the fast upcoming bend. Got the scare of my life when the car decided to pull to the left. On several brake tests for the rest of the trip home, it did it every time.

 

I have not touched anything on that corner, but change the shock spring. On the drivers side, I had to push the pads back in after resitting the caliper centrally on the disc because the caliper was knocking off the wheel after I changed the hubs a couple of months ago.

 

I'll check the obvious tomorrow, but any ideas what it could be?

 

It seems strange that it was on the drive down to Wokingham several weeks ago, but now is all over the place. Surely just changing the springs wouldn't show this, as its pulling fine in a straight line.

[rapidcossie 0]

mines does this for a few days if I have changed the pads.

 

calms down after the pads bed in.

 

wonder if your calipers are same as mine?

 

maybe a sticky point right at top of travel?

Edited July 27, 2009 by rapidcossie

[welshpug 1,678]

loose bolt/damaged bolt possibly, especially if it's all been apart so recently and was fine previously.

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

Sort a knocking caliper... how did he do this?

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

mines does this for a few days if I have changed the pads.

 

calms down after the pads bed in.

 

wonder if your calipers are same as mine?

 

maybe a sticky point right at top of travel?

 

The calipers are Wilwood Dynalite 4 pots.

 

loose bolt/damaged bolt possibly, especially if it's all been apart so recently and was fine previously.

 

I'll double check all bolts.....thanks for the heads up.

 

Sort a knocking caliper... how did he do this?

 

He didn't, I did. To sort some knackered wheel bearings, I swopped the hubs over with known good ones back in May/June (I think!). The first time I drove the car was to drop it off for welding where I noticed the knocking. I decided to fix it before driving it back home today. Small tolerances in the hub to blame I think.

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

So the caliper hasn't been disconnected from the brake line at all?

 

Are the pads back in the same way the came out?

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

So the caliper hasn't been disconnected from the brake line at all?

 

Are the pads back in the same way the came out?

 

Nope. Pads never came out, managed to push them back in with a pair of those soft faced woodwork clamp things.

 

I do have a new set of Yellowstuff pads for the front anyway (the current ones are fine), so will try to rebleed the system too. I really am baffled as to what is wrong.

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

Did you clean the disc up with a bit of brake cleaner, as its possibly you got them a little dirty from handling them, but otherwise if the pads didnt get contimnated I cant see the problem.

[jimistdt 1]

I'd look at the wishbone clamp bolt for stretching, then the wishbone balljoint, then the hole in the hub for ovalling, check the shock top mounts and finally the tracking.

 

Does it do it on/off the throttle at all?

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

I'd look at the wishbone clamp bolt for stretching, then the wishbone balljoint, then the hole in the hub for ovalling, check the shock top mounts and finally the tracking.

 

Does it do it on/off the throttle at all?

 

Only does it under braking.

[jackherer 543]

I find with Dynalites that the pistons need to be kept spotlessly clean or they will brake unevenly and eventually wear pads unevenly. After they've been through two or three sets of pads I dismantle the calipers and clean each piston until its spotless which evens things up for a while. If they're neglected for too long the pads wear down into wedge shapes.

 

That probably doesn't explain your problem as its happened suddenly rather than gradually unless there is a dirty bit on a piston that is now causing a problem as you pushed them back in.

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

Has the tracking been done?

 

How long did you drive it for after you put the hubs on and before it went to your welder friend?

 

Any chance that you hadn't noticed it because you adjusted your driving style, and after jumping in the car again after a break it becomes apparent?

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

Has the tracking been done?

 

How long did you drive it for after you put the hubs on and before it went to your welder friend?

 

Any chance that you hadn't noticed it because you adjusted your driving style, and after jumping in the car again after a break it becomes apparent?

 

Tracking has just come to me as a possible, seeing as I've not had it done after swopping the hubs over. Can't believe it took that long to come to me as a solution!

 

I only drove the car about 5 - 10 miles maybe from here to Wokingham. And I drove quite gingerly too, considering the caliper was knocking off the wheel.

 

Might try and squeeze in a tracking session this afternoon, got to sort the rad fan and stop an oil leak first. MOT tomorrow afternoon.......

[Alastairh 47]

Check your tyre pressures while your at it aswell.

 

Al

[Anthony 1,003]

My money is on the offside (drivers) front caliper not braking properly since you pushed the pistons in and changed the hub - underbraking on the offside would cause the car to pull heavily to the left under braking.

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

My money is on the offside (drivers) front caliper not braking properly since you pushed the pistons in and changed the hub - underbraking on the offside would cause the car to pull heavily to the left under braking.

 

My exact train of thought, it has to be something to do with the drivers side braking but if everything is correct and in place then I cant see what without physically being there.

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

After i changed my hubs (on the 306) it threw the tracking out and veered either way depending on acc/braking and camber of the road.

 

Bit of a death trap if your not awake.

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

I think I know the problem now.

 

Just stripped the drivers corner down again, and rebuilt meticulusly (sp?). As I tightened the lower caliper to hub bolt, the caliper twists. Its not catching on anything and faces are clean. Turns out that the lower lug on the hub is slightly bent (you can see it), explains why the lower part of the caliper was catching the wheel.

 

Hard to understand how you bend a lug on the hub, only way I can think of is when changing the bearings and smacking the lug instead of the flange.

 

Looking at the 'new' pads, the inner pad is worn at the top and the outer at the bottom.

 

Plan is to replace the wheel bearings in my old hubs, which were fine otherwise. Handing them over to a garage this afternoon, and hopefully on the car this evening. MOT cancelled, and provisionally re-scheduled for tomorrow.

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

Managed to change the bearings on my old hubs this afternoon, and changed the drivers side hub during the downpour.

 

Had a scare when changing the bearings though, the ends of the circlip broke off leaving me with the only option of drilling a small hole in the side of the hub and using a pin punch to push the circlip out. Total bastard but got there in the end. Probably one of the worst jobs I've ever done on a 205.

 

No longer pulls to the left anymore, but does pull slightly to the right. 90% better though, so I shall swop the other hub over tomorrow, and rebook the MOT.

 

Thanks.

Edited July 29, 2009 by Alan_M

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

Waltzed through the MOT this morning with no advisories whatsoever. Only tiny glitch was the 11% front brake imbalance.

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

Nice to hear, do you drive it round much or just a track toy?

 

I think you saw my mate the other day in his cherry red 205 gti6. Pretty standard looking and thank god he took those ghastly 'M3' mirrors off!

[kyepan 291]

we all seem to be fairly local, we should link up!

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

Nice to hear, do you drive it round much or just a track toy?

 

I think you saw my mate the other day in his cherry red 205 gti6. Pretty standard looking and thank god he took those ghastly 'M3' mirrors off!

 

Only recently, I tend to take it off the road over the colder/wetter months nowadays. Got the BMW for the everyday slog.