172 brake pad adjustment/autoheadlights

[mikeyman172]

hi im new here, im trying to get my 172 in shape its a bit poorly at the mo :dead: so im grateful for some help

Firstly, i have a rubbing from my back wheel driver side, which you can only really hear below 30mph. its a kind of rasping, and when you jack the car up, theres quite a bit of resistance from the wheel spinning freely, so i think the brake pad is rubbing on the disc? my question mainly is how do i adjust the brake pad closness to the disc?? (i do have a haynes manual on order!)

Also, my auto headlights seem to be on all the time, even in bright daylight... unless i turn the 'auto' off. any ideas from anyone appreciated

thanks for any input.

cheers,

mike :star:

 

[DrR]

What i would do is push the rear disk pads off the rear disk, then check the resistance, and do you mean they only turn off if you do the ignition thing to turn them off completely?

 

[Rob669]

I'd be tempted to strip the brakes down and just clean-up everything, bleeding the system and probably fitting new pads at the same time. You don't need a manual, M8. There's a guide on here showing you how to do it. One thing to check is that the caliper can slide freely on its pins (it should slide quite easily back and forth).
Cheers, Rob669

 

[mikeyman172]

hi! i have found this guide for rear brake changes http://www.fubarnet.com/rear_discs.html , is that the best one? When i push the brake pad off the disc with my finger, the rasping noise stops and there is no resistance for the wheel turning, so i think it is definetly the pad being too close to the disc.

As for the headlights, yeh they only turn off if i do the ignition thing so i dont know whats causing that :dead:

cheers!!

mike

 

[mikeyman172]

oh also, on ths rear brake area with the problem, in the middle of the disc, where there should be the bolt to undo, i have a kind of gold copper centre cap?! is this normal? i cant even see a way to get it off.

 

[edde]

oh also, on ths rear brake area with the problem, in the middle of the disc, where there should be the bolt to undo, i have a kind of gold copper centre cap?! is this normal? i cant even see a way to get it off.

Use a chissel etc to knock it off.

 

[JAY172]

follow peoples above steps for the brakes

for the lights have you accidently covered the light sensor up with a windscreen strip/sticker?