Which caliper seized?
Discussion
Hi guys,
I had a front caliper seize on my car (e46 318 touring) previously... dodgy pedal feel and ocassional vague juddering became massive horrible juddering with the steering wheel kicking all over the place, and eventually a slow trickle home once it'd cooled and freed off. The guilty wheel was hot hot hot.
Seized caliper replaced along with both discs and all front pads. It's not done massive mileage since then - a few thousand miles - as I use the motorbike a lot for commuting. It has been used regularly for the last 6 weeks though thanks to icy roads.
Had a bit of a feel of brake judder again a couple of trips ago, but nothing on the last one. As the bike's back in use again, i filed it under "have a nosey when I've got time".
Then yesterday, my better half decided to use my car instead of hers and had a wheel seize on the A48. She managed to wrestle the car off the main road and rung the RAC... car ended up in a local garage with none of the people involved knowing why it'd happened.
Collected it today, brakes were cold and free, and trickled home again on the back roads.
BUT now I'm stuck to know which caliper jammed in the first place... they were both cool when I got home.
I did look at them when I was at the garage... passenger side disc was surface rusty; the driver's was clean and shiny. On getting home, most of the surface rust had cleared off that side.
I can't decide which side is more likely to be the seized one:
shiny side as seized on tight, scrapping off all rust...
rusty side as maybe pads not being moved against disc properly by sticky caliper...
Both discs feel about the same wear to the thumbnail-on-the-lip test.
I'm not telling which side I replaced previously in case it biases the answers (I know it biases me!)
TIA folks....
I had a front caliper seize on my car (e46 318 touring) previously... dodgy pedal feel and ocassional vague juddering became massive horrible juddering with the steering wheel kicking all over the place, and eventually a slow trickle home once it'd cooled and freed off. The guilty wheel was hot hot hot.
Seized caliper replaced along with both discs and all front pads. It's not done massive mileage since then - a few thousand miles - as I use the motorbike a lot for commuting. It has been used regularly for the last 6 weeks though thanks to icy roads.
Had a bit of a feel of brake judder again a couple of trips ago, but nothing on the last one. As the bike's back in use again, i filed it under "have a nosey when I've got time".
Then yesterday, my better half decided to use my car instead of hers and had a wheel seize on the A48. She managed to wrestle the car off the main road and rung the RAC... car ended up in a local garage with none of the people involved knowing why it'd happened.
Collected it today, brakes were cold and free, and trickled home again on the back roads.
BUT now I'm stuck to know which caliper jammed in the first place... they were both cool when I got home.
I did look at them when I was at the garage... passenger side disc was surface rusty; the driver's was clean and shiny. On getting home, most of the surface rust had cleared off that side.
I can't decide which side is more likely to be the seized one:
shiny side as seized on tight, scrapping off all rust...
rusty side as maybe pads not being moved against disc properly by sticky caliper...
Both discs feel about the same wear to the thumbnail-on-the-lip test.
I'm not telling which side I replaced previously in case it biases the answers (I know it biases me!)
TIA folks....
mwcr85 said:
Personally I would replace the flexi on the caliper you have had replaced. Or even both, they can act as a one way valve causing the caliper to stick.
I could stick a set of braided on there while I'm working... 
I might just have to rag it up and down the local NSL until one starts sticking again, ten feel for the hot wheel, wait for it cool and drive home. Not ideal, but still.
The side that was rusty was sticking. Up until the point of siezure, it had not been coming on a all.
The time it was siezed would not have cleaned th rust off completely if the car was just stopped and recovered to a garage.
Ask your wife whether it pulled to one side under braking before it siezed.
The time it was siezed would not have cleaned th rust off completely if the car was just stopped and recovered to a garage.
Ask your wife whether it pulled to one side under braking before it siezed.
Couldn't put my hands on the receipt either, so had to cough for a new one... Gassing Station | Suspension, Brakes & Tyres | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff