Binding Brakes? Very Hot!

[Guest MiamiBlueOli]

just fitted new pads on the back (both sides) and now the brakes seem to be binding/rubbing...

 

with the handbrake off I can push the car easily and it seems to roll/drive without any noticeable difference but when I get out the car it stinks and the back discs are red hot (not literally!) but too hot to touch.

 

Does anyone know do you need to use the brakes hard after fitting new pads to bed them in?

 

Oli

[hengti 2]

usually best to bed them in gradually

 

presuming the pads have been fitted properly - as per Haynes comments about winding the caliper pistons in, then i'd guess your overheating problems are due to sticking handbrake arms on the calipers - maybe due to semi-seized cables

 

just slacken off the h'brake cables, make sure the arms on the calipers move ok and are pulled out as far as poss. then take it for a run (don't forget not to bother using the h'brake!) and see if that sorts it

[Anthony 1,003]

Chances are you didn't wind the rear calipers in enough.

 

Wind them in slightly too far, making sure the "peg" on the back of the pad matches up with the groove in the piston, and then fit to the car. Lift and release the handbrake and pump the brakes a few times to reset the mechanism, and then it'll probably be alright.

[SamGTi 0]

Exactly the same happened to me although mine was so bad that it completely locked my rear brakes and I had to literally drag the rear wheels home (not far thankfully!). The above advice is what I did and now it's okay again.

[Guest MiamiBlueOli]

yeah i did do the piston winding thing but obviously not enough as the pads were still a very tight fit. I'll try winding in more 2moro. did notice the handbrake had got less slack too but seemed ok, i'll slacken that off too

 

 

cheers for the help

[Guest MiamiBlueOli]

yeah i did do the piston winding thing but obviously not enough as the pads were still a very tight fit. I'll try winding in more 2moro. did notice the handbrake had got less slack too but seemed ok, i'll slacken that off too

cheers for the help

 

well had both wheels off and wound pistons in more (further than the surrounding rubbers) then back on again and went for a drive after pressing brake/handbrake etc to centralise things.

 

Right side is now fine, but left side is still getting very hot, including the wheel! the only differences between the two sides were -

 

on the left i didn't seem to be able to move the caliper outwards when turning in piston, and when i put wheel back on and span it, it did not spin quite as freely as the other side which had no resistnace at all

 

any ideas? could the self adjusting mechanism be seized?

[hengti 2]

should be easy to check the h'brake mech (as per prev post) - slacken off the adjuster nut on the h'brake lever; use pliers to pull the nipples on the ends of the cables free of the caliper arms; check that the adjuster arms aren't seized and move freely throughout their range of travel - use a screwdriver to gently(ish) lever them away from the caliper if needs be; take it for a decent run : check for heat

 

if that fixes it, it's either a seizing h'brake cable (replace) or sticky caliper arms (work it with some grease)

[Guest MiamiBlueOli]

should be easy to check the h'brake mech (as per prev post) - slacken off the adjuster nut on the h'brake lever; use pliers to pull the nipples on the ends of the cables free of the caliper arms; check that the adjuster arms aren't seized and move freely throughout their range of travel - use a screwdriver to gently(ish) lever them away from the caliper if needs be; take it for a decent run : check for heat

 

if that fixes it, it's either a seizing h'brake cable (replace) or sticky caliper arms (work it with some grease)

 

 

tried taking the cable out and moving the adjuster arms, they weren't seized at all so that's not my problem, and when I drove it the brakes/wheel still got hot so it's definately not the handbrake, unfortunately.

 

Looks like i'm gonna have to have the whole caliper off to have a good look at it. One thing I did notice is it doesn't have the bracket that goes between the main caliper bolts like on the other side (haynes says something about this stopping the caliper rotating?) and the old pads are worn quite unevenly. Maybe this is somehow related!

 

all I wanted was new rear brake pads! looks like I've got more than bargained for...

[hengti 2]

they're a never ending story these cars!

 

going by the Haynes description, you'd have to assume that the missing part isn't helping if it allows the caliper to twist

 

if that doesn't fix it, only other thing i can think to suggest is taking the pads out and (with the help of a careful assistant) depress the pedal slightly to make sure the piston isn't sticking

 

good luck!

[Guest MiamiBlueOli]

they're a never ending story these cars!

 

going by the Haynes description, you'd have to assume that the missing part isn't helping if it allows the caliper to twist

 

if that doesn't fix it, only other thing i can think to suggest is taking the pads out and (with the help of a careful assistant) depress the pedal slightly to make sure the piston isn't sticking

 

good luck!

 

when i put the handbrake cable back on today I jacked up the car and span the problem rear wheel and it didn't seem to be sticking! took the wheel off, put handrake connection back on and span disc which also seemed much more free than before. Put the wheel back on and went for a drive and guess what, no heat! driven the car a few times today now and haven't had any more problems so I'm going to leave it as it is. Maybe whatever was sticking was freed by driving the car with the handbrake disconnected?

 

I think this one will remain a mystery but at least now I can concentrate on my next mission of changing the wishbones as the handling of the car is decidedly dodgy at the moment, I can steer the car left and right with the wheel dead stright by applying/releasing the throttle!! fairly sure it's one of the ball joints but neither have any noticeable play by leverage.

 

cheers for your help Hen+others

 

BTW anybody had any experience of Black Diamond discs? I was thinking of upgrading the front to crossdrilled and grooved combination. I like the look of the discs cuz they're black and the coating means they dont rust on the outer edges like normal ones.