Sticking brake calipers

ganesh

ganesh

ganesh

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Wiltshire
Hello chaps,

My girlfriends car (2001 civic 1.6) has what I suspect are sticking front calipers, the wheels get hot and sometimes make a whistling noise on longer journeys.

My question is, am I likely to be able to fix them by a bit of disassembly and lubrication, or would that just be a temporary fix and I'd be better off replacing them?

Thanks.
 
That would be a temporary fix in all honesty. I did this on the 330d, and whilst it got me a few more months, the problem soon came back.

Just plump for refurbished calipers.
 
They are not particularly complicated things, but someone like biggred will refurb them to factory spec fo less than 100.

Is it both wheels? How hot do they get? Same amount of brake dust on both wheels?
 
Defcon5 said:
They are not particularly complicated things, but someone like biggred will refurb them to factory spec fo less than 100.

Is it both wheels? How hot do they get? Same amount of brake dust on both wheels?
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After she came back from a 50 mile drive both front wheels were too hot to touch and were also making a slight whistling sound whilst driving. Can't comment about the brake dust though. Have already found the calipers on eurocarparts, just need to have a proper look and find out whether they are Lucas or nissin.

Is it going to be worthwhile replacing the pads at the same time?
 
Callipers are quite straight forward once you have them off the car to work on.
Only this past weekend I bought a genuine subaru kit to rebuild my 4 pot callipers.
two pistons in each calliper had seen better days and were sticking/seized.
Before:

068d3572.jpg


You can see the pitted pistons, this doesnt have to be too severe to cause the brake to stick and stop working. It can also cause overheating of the disks and pads which can warp and damage the discs and cause poor MPG.

8119d5f0.jpg


Trial fitted the new seals, springs and pistons

c745c3ba.jpg


After:

1c473f76.jpg


Brakes are much sharper now and next up is a set of HEL braided brake hoses.
 
It depends on the caliper design, and what part is sticking. If the actual piston (s) are sticking, I'd generally get them refurbished. If they are sliding calipers and the sliders are sticky then it's far more sensible to just buy a slider kit and change them.
 
If they are sticking at all, wheels do get hot under normal use.

Jack the car up both when cold and after a long journey and see if the wheel spins freely.
 
http://www.brakesint.co.uk/

£60 per caliper for your car, assuming I got the model correct.

They charge you more initially and send you refurbed ones, you send yours back in after and they refund you the difference.

I've used them before for my Integra, I had a Nissen from them, and my original was a Nissen too
 
dalin80 said:
If they are sticking at all, wheels do get hot under normal use.

Jack the car up both when cold and after a long journey and see if the wheel spins freely.
Click to expand...

Too hot to touch after 50 mile journey in Honda Civic 1.6. Definately not normal!

Berger said:
Red rubber grease and plenty of it.
Click to expand...

This! and plenty of it. Both sides of the discs and really pile it up in any little cubby holes around the caliper. After that - no squealing and no sticking calipers! Gauranteed*







*This is a joke. Liampope accepts no liability for injury, loss of life or damage to property in the event of any accident caused by a vehicle's failure to deccelerate upon depressing the brake pedal or operating the handbrake due in whole or in part to application of grease to a component or components of the vehicle's braking system.
 
Liampope said:
Too hot to touch after 50 mile journey in Honda Civic 1.6. Definately not normal!
Click to expand...


You can overheat brakes in 5 minutes if you give them enough grief, doesn't matter whether the cars is a 1.0 or 6.0 mass converted to heat still gets things hot. I had the brakes on my rover 200 1.4 almost glowing on a 8 mile trip from college back in the day, wasn't that difficult.

The chances are slim that both front callipers have seized at the exact same time to same extent, iam not saying it hasn't happened, I personally have replaced callipers two at a time due to both being worn but people seem to be jumping to the fix without worrying actually 100% diagnosing the fault.

Also if the brakes have overheated to that extent you are probably going to be into pads and discs as well.
 
Ok, I have had a good look today, I took the pads off, reset the piston and greased the slide bolts which has helped a little, but I think it's the pistons which are sticking as you can still hear the pads rubbing when you spin the wheels and there is still a fair bit of resistance. So I'll be buying a couple of refurbed calipers from brakesinternational and a new set of pads, do pads come with new shims or are they a separate item?
 
What are the chances of both front calipers sticking? Could a fault with the master cylinder put pressure on both sides?
 
I'm not sure, after i took them apart and back together again the offside wheel was a fair bit better, whereas the nearside wheel was still quite stiff afterwards. So i don't think it's something else affecting both wheels.
 
Philz0r said:
sorry i loled.

is it deffinatly comming from the front wheels? maybe the handbrake cable just needs adjusting.
Click to expand...

I don't think the heat could be coming from anywhere else, besides the handbrake operates the rear wheels.


Can anyone answer the following please - do brake pads generally come with new shims?
 
Ok, update:

Fitted two new refurbed calipers and new brake pads yesterday. However, all is not well, upon using the brakes with the engine on the pedal just sinks to the floor, when the engine is off and you pump the pedal a couple of times then it will firm up. I have bled both calipers several times so my thinking is that either the master cylinder or vacuum servo is knackered. How do i distinguish which is broken?

I have no idea how this would have happened, i was very careful when bleeding and only partial pedal travel was used as i know this can possibly break the master cylinder seals. Anyone know what could have happened?
 
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