DIY brake pad change fail
Discussion
I have a fiat panda which is my shed, tip run, runaround. About 2 months ago I changed the front brake pads, following a youtube tutorial.
All seemed well until around a week ago when I started to notice a scraping noise which is pretty much constant while driving. The only time it stops is when I use the brakes.
Upon inspecting the discs, they are red hot after a journey and a ring is starting to appear which wasnt there when i changed the pads.
Clearly something has gone wrong as they seem to be rubbing constantly. I can still pick up speed like normal and coasting doesn't seem to be any different either, but it's ever present.
I know it is perhaps a stupid question that cannot be diagnosed without seeing it, but is there anything obvious I've missed or forgotten to do?
All seemed well until around a week ago when I started to notice a scraping noise which is pretty much constant while driving. The only time it stops is when I use the brakes.
Upon inspecting the discs, they are red hot after a journey and a ring is starting to appear which wasnt there when i changed the pads.
Clearly something has gone wrong as they seem to be rubbing constantly. I can still pick up speed like normal and coasting doesn't seem to be any different either, but it's ever present.
I know it is perhaps a stupid question that cannot be diagnosed without seeing it, but is there anything obvious I've missed or forgotten to do?
It could easily be that you've done everything correctly but your caliper has now seized and isn't allowing the pads to back away when you release the brake.
As you sound uncertain you should probably hand it over to a garage at this point with a request to let you know what the issue was.
As you sound uncertain you should probably hand it over to a garage at this point with a request to let you know what the issue was.
That's a shame, I've grown rather attached to the panda in a strange sort of way but if I've knackered the callipers up I won't be DIYing that, nor will I be paying for a pricey repair that will probably include new discs.
I could do with a bigger tip run car anyway so me and the panda are probably coming to the end of our journey.
I could do with a bigger tip run car anyway so me and the panda are probably coming to the end of our journey.
ChocolateFrog said:
You'd scrap a car over a sticking caliper and a pair of discs?
If the price mentioned above is anywhere close to accurate, I would scrap a £600 car rather than spend more than that repairing it, yes. Especially when I'm going to be in the market for a bigger runaround soon anyway. Unlike the old days when we used asbestos in brake pads, discs are now sacrificial with a factor of 2 to 1 ie every second pad change, replace the discs as well.
New pads on old scored discs often won't bed in leaving you with hot spots, glazed pads etc.
If the rest of the car is good, replacing discs & pads to get it through the MOT is well worth it as the year's ticket gives it a floor value between £500 and £1k.
New pads on old scored discs often won't bed in leaving you with hot spots, glazed pads etc.
If the rest of the car is good, replacing discs & pads to get it through the MOT is well worth it as the year's ticket gives it a floor value between £500 and £1k.
You did most of the work in changing the calipers when you took them off to replace the pads!
It's basically just hydraulic unions and a bleeding on top of that. And you won't even have seized bleed nipples to fight with if you're putting new calipers on.
Get a price for having it done from a few garages, it really shouldn't be too awful. It's a real bread and butter job.
If you're insistent on binning it off just for that, hell, I'd consider taking it to fix.
It's basically just hydraulic unions and a bleeding on top of that. And you won't even have seized bleed nipples to fight with if you're putting new calipers on.
Get a price for having it done from a few garages, it really shouldn't be too awful. It's a real bread and butter job.
If you're insistent on binning it off just for that, hell, I'd consider taking it to fix.
Baldchap said:
My money is you didn't clean the brake dust off the calipers and now the pads are sticking.
Not so much brake dust on the calipers, it's the baked on rust/dust/scale in the pad carriers that causes the problem. Take the carriers right off the car and take them to the bench vice to scrape the channels back to bright metal, it cannot be done properly whilst they are on the car with a disc in the way! Take the calipers off again, remove pads, put some red rubber grease under the seals on the brake piston( no wd40 etc you don't want to squirt stuff in to it)
Push the pistons fully home ( brake fluid reservoir cap off)
Tray that , it may not work but it's what I do on my bike if I have a slightly sticky caliper
Push the pistons fully home ( brake fluid reservoir cap off)
Tray that , it may not work but it's what I do on my bike if I have a slightly sticky caliper
Whip the caliper carrier off, stick it in a vice or workmate and clean up the surfaces the pads slide on with a wire brush. Sometimes I give the surfaces the edges of the pad backing slide on a little tickle with a flat file if there's a build-up or corrosion. Little smear of copper grease on those same surfaces wouldn't go amiss.
Caliper sliding pins do sometimes need cleaning and re-greasing but if the protective boot is intact this is often not necessary.
If the caliper piston is sticking in the caliper then it's basically a new caliper.
Caliper sliding pins do sometimes need cleaning and re-greasing but if the protective boot is intact this is often not necessary.
If the caliper piston is sticking in the caliper then it's basically a new caliper.
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