Type-S Tourer Sticky Rear wheel

[Osiris]

Hi All,

I noticed a slight rubbing noise coming from the rear of my car the other day when i had the window down. After jacking it up it seems the driver side rear wheel is not spinning freely. Took a fair effort to turn the wheel and it wont free-wheel at all when jacked up.

Looking at the brake pads there is also a lot more wear on the driver side, to the point where the pads are marginal on that wheel. So it't probably not a new thing :blush:

Anyway, i am ***uming that the caliper piston is not retracting properly when the brakes are released, leaving the brakes on that wheel slightly on? I'm a mechanical novice so dont really trust myself to mend my own brakes, so I am just curious if anyone has experianced this before? Will this mean a new caliper or is it more of a case of freeing it up and then replacing the rear brake pads on both wheels to even it up again? I think regardless of the root cause I need new disks and pads on the rear but it would be nice to be armed with a bit more knowledge and a ballpark price in my head before I take it to the garage.

Car is a 2004 Type-S Tourer 2.4.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[Jon_G]

It could be a stuck caliper, but more likely to be sticky pad sliders. It's easy to check the caliper on a tourer by seeing if you can push the piston back in by hand (and maybe a lever). If the caliper piston is free enough then make sure that the news pads are not an excessively tight fit, file the edges of the sliders to make them properly free and use copaslip or molykote grease on the sliders. And, unless the disks look really bad, I wouldn't bother changing them.

 

[whereami]

Good advice Jon, agree fully!

 

[Osiris]

Thanks for the advise Jon. I'll take a look at the caliper in more detail before i get the new pads on. Hopefully it's just the sliders.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[vile]

Good advice from the guys and also agree.

 

[tbourner]

Jack it up, push the brake pedal down hard then check the wheel to see if it spins. Leave it for an hour and then spin it again. If it's freed up it's most likely the flexible hose feeding the caliper. At least that's what it was on both sides on mine!!

 

[Osiris]

For those interested - this did turn out to be a siezed caliper piston. As a result of a previous owner bodging some new brakes onto one side at the rear both sides were barely braking all.

Anyway, 1 new caliper and a pair of disks and pads later and i'm back in business.

Thanks again for the advise.

Tom