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Overheating front brake mystery



  172 Cup
Sorry this is so lengthy, I'm getting cheesed off now. 172 Cup, n/s pads began wearing unevenly a while back and smelling really hot - so took the pads out and found the inner (piston side) pad had begun to crumble away to nearly nothing on half of the pad. Some phone calls and pondering later, decided it was probably a seized slider, so cleaned out and regreased both sides, neither was stuck solid but one on each side was a little sticky.

N/s pads were knackered so bought new pads (from G 172 of course) and fitted with new discs I've had lying around for ages (Brembo HC's / d2500's). Took all the sliders apart again and thoroughly cleaned up etc. Pistons pushed back by hand fairly easily so discounted a seized piston. Drove the car back down the motorway to flat and brakes seemed fine again.

Another motorway run later and the n/s brake & wheel was noticeably hotter again :(. More phone calls and head scratching later the culprit appeared to be an 11 year old wheel bearing chucking out the heat. Although no movement, it has been making the usual noises at motorway speed for a good while, so had these done down in Manchester today. Garage showed me the old bearings, which looked ominously fine. Low and behold, after another short motorway run, the left front brake is still hotter than the right, doesn't feel like its pulling while driving or braking although the bearing noise seems to have disappeared. So not a complete waste of money! Although they did put four sizey dings in one of my newly powder coated wheels :mad:

Please help me out guys! I've only one theory left now, which is that the heat being put into the new disc and pads on the left side before the bearings were changed has caused the new brakes to bed in faster than the right, meaning its producing more friction and thus more heat until the other one beds in properly?? - planning to swap the discs and pads over at the weekend to see if this makes the problem swap sides.

Any thoughts much appreciated. Cheers folks
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  dan's cast offs.
sticky pad, sticky piston, loads it could be. fiver says your carrier is caked in rust;)
 
  172 Cup
I'll be having that fiver then! Cleaned it all up with a wire brush and kurusted when I changed the discs/pads, far as I can tell everything moves smoothly and evenly...
 
  172 Cup
Not sure, but it pushed back in pretty easily by hand when swapping the pads so discounted it..
 

_WILL_

ClioSport Club Member
  172 Cup
Did you fit the pads? Did you modify their length when fitting? Did you refit the shims?
 
Seen a similar problem to this on a customers car... Turned out to be master cylinder! Lots of trial and error and head scratching to get there though lol
 
  172 Cup
Quick update, I had the offending brake apart again at the weekend, greased up the piston which seems fine. Noticed one of the sliders has a hole in the rubber boot which lets air out when the slider is pushed in, then stops it springing back out like the other ones do - could something this simple be the cause of the pads not retracting fully?? I'm ordering a new set of sliders anyway to see if it does cure it
 


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