Sticking brakes - help required

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
9,160
Took my car to a garage the other day to have my tyres swapped over and they noticed that my drivers side brakes are sticking. This may be the source of my poor fuel economy as the brake is always slightly on. I also get a slight vibration when braking and the car pulls very very slightly to the right.

He gave me a quote for £306 for new pads, discs and calipers as a worst case scenario. Having read various guides online it looks very simple to do, the new discs and pads won't cost anymore than about £60 so I will attempt to do it myself.

The only thing that has confused me slightly is he mentioned the sliders may be the source of the problem and may or may not need changing. How would I know if they do need changing? Shall I just buy a new set of calipers and change them anyway? How easy are calipers to change?
 
Associate
Joined
3 Jul 2004
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1,203
Location
Reading
you should be able to buy a new caliper seal kit, clean up the caliper and free up the piston, what car is it on? a new caliper is extreme as there is nothing wrong with the casting etc, garage's will say you need a new caliper as it would be more expensive for them to strip and rebuid an old caliper (plus i doubt a lot of the monkeys they call mechanics have a clue how to do it anyway) than for a new fitted caliper(labour charges). let us know your car and i am sure someone here will have some knowledge on it. Although unless you sare handy with a spanner and understand how it works i would not reccomend you to touch brakes etc could be dangerous.
If it is sliders, they are quite easy to fix, you can get new ones or just try cleaning the old ones.Most brake componants have a hard life, heating up cooling down and getting covered in crap.
and as a shot in the dark sliders sticking im guessing its a vauxhall :)
 
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Soldato
OP
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
9,160
Sorry should have mentioned. Its a Renault Megane Coupe 1.6 Monaco with 280mm brake discs.

The garage suggested the car may have been sitting around a little while before I bought it and the brakes have got gradually worse. If it was just a case of replacing the discs and pads I wouldn't hesitate to change them myself, just not too sure of the slider problem.

Im guessing if the slider is to blame, fitting new brake discs will take me back to stage 1?
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
8,016
First off, jack the car up, take the wheels off, loosen off the calipers, and inspect the brakes for yourself. This will take no longer than 30 mins per side, and that's if you know absolutely nothing!

There is a great guide by Lopez in the Motors Archive on how to change discs/pads, it'll help you to get them off and inspect them, and change them if necessary.

If you do it, and take some pictures, then i'm sure people here will be able to tell you if you need new pads/discs! :)
 
Associate
Joined
3 Jul 2004
Posts
1,203
Location
Reading
if they are sticking the problem is not discs and pads, although these are likely to need changing due to the problem, the discs are likely to of warped due to overheating thus causing vibration underbraking. The problem is the componant that is siezed, it needs freeing so that it slides easily or replacing.
Freeing it can be as easy as just cleaning the sliders, spraying some wd40 and moving it back and forth just to get some travel in them.
 
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