Brakes & snakes

Had to do a 'non emergency' stop on a dual carriageway.65 down to 25.
The disco 'snaked' & nearly drifted to 2nd lane.Non abs 1994 300 tdi.
The tyres are British AT remoulds,correct pressure, each 5+mm tread.

Do the calipers ever partially seize or should I look elsewhere.
Replacement shocks/springs @100k
Mileage now 181k

sashtony said:

Had to do a 'non emergency' stop on a dual carriageway.65 down to 25.
The disco 'snaked' & nearly drifted to 2nd lane.Non abs 1994 300 tdi.
The tyres are British AT remoulds,correct pressure, each 5+mm tread.

Do the calipers ever partially seize or should I look elsewhere.
Replacement shocks/springs @100k
Mileage now 181k

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I can't help but wonder about the British AT remoulds in an emergency stop situation

Have you checked the current condition of all brake pads? I took my rears (steady gents ) out a couple of days ago to find that they were worn in a sloping fashion. New ones installed, will wait and see.

it's quite possible that one piston has siezed in a caliper, which can lead to what you have described.
pop into an MOT station and get them to test the brakes - that should point you to which wheel has the fault.

had a similar problem last Xmas, had to anchor on for some t**t on the wrong side of the road and it dragged sharply to the left nearly in a ditch!
took it for one of them free brake checks at ****-fit and they could find nothing wrong, stamped on them a few times after to see if it did it again but never has since so i put it down to the road surface and condition - give it a few tests see what happens-- but dont blame me if it goes tits up and you end up on ya roof!!!!

could open up a whole can of worms with what you are looking for, common one being ruts in the road surface, but you have brakes shocks steering damper bearing trackrods etc to rule out as there is definatly play somewhere

thebiglad said:

Have you checked the current condition of all brake pads? I took my rears (steady gents ) out a couple of days ago to find that they were worn in a sloping fashion. New ones installed, will wait and see.

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Funny that ......... mine had too ......... checked them last weekend and sure enough one pad had gotten stuck on some flakey corrosion in the pad mounts of the caliper and worn all wonky (please note the highly technical terminology used there)

A quick going over of the calipers with a wire brush and a good scrapeing out of the pad channels with a big flat ablade screwdriver saw things improve on the road

Checked the calipers at the back,the pads were 'jammed' into the caliper by the sides of the brake pad backing plate.
Very rusty caliper body (I only go 'light off roading' ) but after 14 years,I guess their due for reconditioning/replacement.

Have ordered new calipers,discs,pads from Paddocks.

sashtony said:

Checked the calipers at the back,the pads were 'jammed' into the caliper by the sides of the brake pad backing plate.
Very rusty caliper body (I only go 'light off roading' ) but after 14 years,I guess their due for reconditioning/replacement.

Have ordered new calipers,discs,pads from Paddocks.

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When I replaced the back pads on mine, the new ones wouldn't go deep enough into the caliper even after I have givenit a good wir-brushing.

In the end I modified them with the angle grinder - brakes feel like new now.

NB. Do not take too much off the sides of the pads otherwise they will tend to go too deep into the caliper and rest on the brake disc itself.

thebiglad said:

When I replaced the back pads on mine, the new ones wouldn't go deep enough into the caliper even after I have givenit a good wir-brushing.

In the end I modified them with the angle grinder - brakes feel like new now.

NB. Do not take too much off the sides of the pads otherwise they will tend to go too deep into the caliper and rest on the brake disc itself.

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I did the same with my mates disco But I used a square file to remove the corrosion from inside the calipers and then just filed the paint off the edge of the pads. and they went in fine.

sashtony said:

Had to do a 'non emergency' stop on a dual carriageway.65 down to 25.
The disco 'snaked' & nearly drifted to 2nd lane.Non abs 1994 300 tdi.
The tyres are British AT remoulds,correct pressure, each 5+mm tread.

Do the calipers ever partially seize or should I look elsewhere.
Replacement shocks/springs @100k
Mileage now 181k

Click to expand...

Course it could have been summat as simple as diesel spillage on the road.

I got a 1994 300 and the inner pistons on both the rear calipers had siezed, to the point that one pad looked new when the other was down to the metal.

New pads, Discs, calipers and brake lines fixed it!

had that same problem with my disco, found out that 3 out of the 4 pistons inside the calliper were seized up,took out the pads lots of wd-40 and swearing later managed to free them, fitted new pads, and bleed the brakes, hey presto working, i found that which ever way it swerves check the opposite side good luck.....