Free off brakes after a short lay up help

[Tyre Smoke]

At the beginning of the year the wife parked her MX5 on the corner of our drive and we sorned it.

Stupidly I didn't check it and it's spent the last two months out in the rain sleet and snow with the handbrake firmly engaged. I've just started it up (no issues there at all) and released the handbrake. I've got one rear wheel to turn by gently rocking the car back and forth in first/reverse. I'm unsure how bad the brakes will be, so don't want to give it too much beans. One side of the car has been sheltered against a low wall, the other a bit more exposed. It's nothing too dramatic, just give it beans?

Front...




Rear...

[tapkaJohnD]

A hammer, soft headed or with a wood block between, might help. Hit the disc and or the caliper.
Or, with the wheel off for access, a hammer and a drift to tap on the metal backing of the pads.
Either may help loosen the pads, but beans will, eventually!

[Evoluzione]

Give it some revs and drop the clutch.

[Tyre Smoke]

Evoluzione said:

Give it some revs and drop the clutch.

Not quite what I did, because our drive is gravel! But close.

All good now chaps.

[Evoluzione]

Simple problem = simple solution

[anonymous-user]

My mk1 did that in the works carpark having just been parked up for the day. A right bootful sorted it out though, but from then on I always left it in-gear with the handbrake off.

[donkmeister]

How prone to seizing are the MX5 calipers? I once had the parking mechanism on a caliper (not Mazda) seize in such a way that you couldn't feel the brakes were slightly on, but it generated enough heat to discolour the caliper and toast the pads after however long I drove it like that (not long, but I don't know how long as I wouldn't have driven it had I known )

So after a gentle drive maybe check to see if the caliper is hot and if you can spin the wheel freely when jacked up.

[Tyre Smoke]

MX5s do like to have a sticking caliper it's true.

This one had just had new discs and pads and a new NSF caliper.

[Baldchap]

My GRY stuck after a week or two of no use. It knocked until I managed a really hard stop, then all was well.

If in doubt, give it some abuse.

[Krikkit]

donkmeister said:

How prone to seizing are the MX5 calipers? I once had the parking mechanism on a caliper (not Mazda) seize in such a way that you couldn't feel the brakes were slightly on, but it generated enough heat to discolour the caliper and toast the pads after however long I drove it like that (not long, but I don't know how long as I wouldn't have driven it had I known )

Yep, I used to do a 35 mile commute in mind, I got to mile 34 one morning, coming up to a roundabout on a derestricted carriageway, to find that the front caliper which was fine a mile before had now boiled the fluid and smoked the pad... Brown trousers fixed and a gentle drive home, it'd simply stuck on that morning.