Sticking caliper?

[ex-Chinese Dave]

A noise from the rear nearside that I’ve posted about in the suspension section as it sounds like a dodgy damper may have a new twist. Pulling away slowly from the golf club today that same corner made a loud banging noise several times over the first 20 meters or so. It sounds like a thick branch stuck in the tyre tread that hits the inside of the wheel arch really hard then stops after a few seconds. During the rest of the drive I heard nothing.
Has anyone else had this? Could it be a sticking caliper? I’m going to be jacking the car up tomorrow to fit a new o/s damper so I can have a good look, but to honest I didn’t see anything last week when I looked.

 

[Brigsy]

I fixed this issue on a 172 rear under braking. Im sure it was loose rear pads or seized sliders, i sorted it by changing the rear discs and pads.

Grease the sliders, check bolt torque on the caliper, check rear wheel bearing for play and maybe retorque hub nut. Take pads out and grease up the mating points/make sure anti rattle springs are tight.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

There's no play in the wheel bearings and no whiney noises at all. The calipers were new/refurbs fitted last year by Birchdown and new pads were also fitted. The retaining springs all seem tight but i'm wondering if a bit of copper grease on the pad backs may help. I did have an issue with the handbrake mechanism on one of the calipers and the lads changed it foc but I can't remember which side it was. I'll check the bolts are all tight tomorrow.

 

[Brigsy]

Refurbed calipers could be the issue, pads slack or whatever. Im sure @Bowz had issues with them on his

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

Agreed. On this journey of learning with a 23 year old car I'm finding out that 'refurbed' and 'OEM matching' are not as good as 'original' (see calipers, oil pressure switch, engine mounts).

 

[Brigsy]

Thats the downside to running older cars sadly..once oem parts dissappear your stuck with aftermarket parts which never last as long. Finding this on my clio dci of same vintage.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

Nothing appears to be loose until I take the pads out. Is this amount of play in the caliper normal?

 

[Louis]

Theyre sliders, they're meant to move. Pack em with more grease and it'll reduce

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

Okay, excuse the ignorance but how do I get grease in without taking everything apart?

I’m going to clean up the back of the pads and the locking slider bar and just make sure that everything has a little bit of copper slip on the back. I’ve just moved the caliper about and it does make a slight knocking sound which is similar to what I’ve been hearing. Don’t laugh if this was the cause of the problem and I’ve just been replacing two dampers that were okay. The bonus is I have two new dampers! Every day is a school day.

 

[Louis]

Where those rubber boots are behind, remove the bolt. They'll slide out, they're the sliders. Clean and repack with grease. People run them dry but I never found that ideal

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

The top bolt is out and it was really tight. Do I now put some grease into the hole where the bolt goes and re-fit the bolt or do I have to remove the whole caliper and put the grease in from somewhere else? If it’s the latter, I think I’ll be just putting the bolt back in as I don’t want to get into the hassle of having to bleed the brakes, etc. The only grease I have at the moment is some worm drive grease.

Edit: a quick Google search and it tells me not to use this kind of grease and also to remove the whole caliper. I’m not getting into that at the moment as if there are any problems I’m screwed.

 

[Louis]

The top bolt is out and it was really tight. Do I now put some grease into the hole where the bolt goes and re-fit the bolt or do I have to remove the whole caliper and put the grease in from somewhere else? If it’s the latter, I think I’ll be just putting the bolt back in as I don’t want to get into the hassle of having to bleed the brakes, etc. The only grease I have at the moment is some worm drive grease.

Edit: a quick Google search and it tells me not to use this kind of grease and also to remove the whole caliper. I’m not getting into that at the moment as if there are any problems I’m screwed.

It's only the carrier, not the whole caliper.

Get some red rubber grease

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

So what have I learned today? Well, I’ve learnt that I now have four dampers instead of two.

With everything reassembled and the handbrake off it’s fairly easy to move the pad carrier with your fingers through the wheel and get it to make a knocking sound. When I tried on the opposite side of the car, it was really difficult to make any kind of noise and even then it was very slight. As Louis has said, it seems likely that the slider needs packing with some new grease to reduce the movement. I’m guessing that the other side probably wants the same treatment also, but I have no noise from that side at all. I have now checked absolutely everything at the rear of the car for movement and this carrier is the only thing that has some free playing in it. So, I’m convinced I’ve found the noise from the rear of the car. I will fit the new damper in the next couple of days myself as it’s a fairly straightforward job and it will be having some new springs fitted, but not by me, at some point in the near future. I need to buy a breaker bar to undo the slider bolts as they were extremely tight and I didn’t have anything apart from my foot and a makeshift bar to undo them. Not ideal! Rubber grease is added to the shopping list

 

[MRBILLYUK]

The top bolt is out and it was really tight. Do I now put some grease into the hole where the bolt goes and re-fit the bolt or do I have to remove the whole caliper and put the grease in from somewhere else? If it’s the latter, I think I’ll be just putting the bolt back in as I don’t want to get into the hassle of having to bleed the brakes, etc. The only grease I have at the moment is some worm drive grease.

Edit: a quick Google search and it tells me not to use this kind of grease and also to remove the whole caliper. I’m not getting into that at the moment as if there are any problems I’m screwed.

The grease goes in the hole where the slider pushes in, not the hole the bolt goes through.
It might be worth getting a new slider kit and changing them.
They should be tight move freely.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331667793096

 

[MRBILLYUK]

The grease goes in the hole where the slider pushes in, not the hole the bolt goes through.
It might be worth getting a new slider kit and changing them.
They should be tight move freely.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331667793096

Tight but "move freely" it should have said.

 

[npt]

Sliders pins are/or the pad carrier is worn, grease wont help. Try a new slider pin kit first, likely originals still fitted