Disco 2 Wobble at steering wheel when braking above 50 mph

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Bantam1

Well-Known Member
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1,627
Location
North Wales, UK
I've had a slight wobble at the steering wheel when braking from speed that disappears when the speed gets below 50 mph. Having put this down to warped discs I ordered and received yesterday some front discs and pads.
This morning I have therefore been changing them but what I found on the right hand caliper was that one of the pistons had all but seized up. This could be the reason why the discs may have warped in the first place because they haven't worn that much.
I have therefore bought a new pair of brake calipers and replaced them both. I'll pull the old ones apart and get some seal kits to refurb them later.
What I was told by the guy where I get the parts is that this is not an uncommon problem.
I should have asked how uncommon and how often does it happen?
Anyone know?
 
How long is a piece of string? Depends how hard it's driven,braked quality of parts so and so on ,.yes they do seize sometimes but so do all brakes
 
What I was told by the guy where I get the parts is that this is not an uncommon problem.

Yup, almost all cars will need calipers repaired or replaced at some point, unless prior owners have taken them off and serviced them a few times in the past along with actually changing the brake fluid regularly.
 
I've had a slight wobble at the steering wheel when braking from speed that disappears when the speed gets below 50 mph. Having put this down to warped discs I ordered and received yesterday some front discs and pads.
This morning I have therefore been changing them but what I found on the right hand caliper was that one of the pistons had all but seized up. This could be the reason why the discs may have warped in the first place because they haven't worn that much.
I have therefore bought a new pair of brake calipers and replaced them both. I'll pull the old ones apart and get some seal kits to refurb them later.
What I was told by the guy where I get the parts is that this is not an uncommon problem.
I should have asked how uncommon and how often does it happen?
Anyone know?

Calipers do seize, and maybe more on landrovers than other vehicles due to often getting more mud and crud in the works.
Seized pistons are often caused by the brake fluid not being changed for years, it should be changed every year.
And it helps caliper life if you change the pads before they get right down to the metal, because the pistons stay back in the cailper, instead of sticking out exposed to dirt.
I never changed the fronts on my D2, but I did change the rear calipers. On those, it is usually best to change the sliders that the calipers move on as well, but I can't remember what the set up on the front is.
Bearing in mind that D2s are ageing now, and the first ones lasted well, I would expect good service life from an all new set-up if you look after it.
 
OK so its nothing new and not unique to disco 2's.
That's fine I just wanted know if it had a time or regularity to the need to replace or refurb calipers.
When I sort the old ones I'll have a set on the shelf anyway.
 
OK so its nothing new and not unique to disco 2's.
That's fine I just wanted know if it had a time or regularity to the need to replace or refurb calipers.
When I sort the old ones I'll have a set on the shelf anyway.
I have a look at mine before mot every year just to give a quick clean etc changed discs and pads last year but calipers and sliders were good after a clean and lube.That was after 130 k and 17 year old d2 Don't know if they'd been done before ,must have I'd think.
 
I had a similar set of symptoms on my D2Td5 a while back, so first things first, check the tracking. Came back fine. OK, check the wheel balance.

Ah.

"The balance, Guv, on all four wheels, is somewhere in the orbit of Pluto. Want us to fix it?"

After they rebalanced the wheels, presto, no more wobble.

Never discount the simple solutions ;)
 
I've had a slight wobble at the steering wheel when braking from speed that disappears when the speed gets below 50 mph. Having put this down to warped discs I ordered and received yesterday some front discs and pads.
This morning I have therefore been changing them but what I found on the right hand caliper was that one of the pistons had all but seized up. This could be the reason why the discs may have warped in the first place because they haven't worn that much.
I have therefore bought a new pair of brake calipers and replaced them both. I'll pull the old ones apart and get some seal kits to refurb them later.
What I was told by the guy where I get the parts is that this is not an uncommon problem.
I should have asked how uncommon and how often does it happen?
Anyone know?
Warped discs will usually give a brake pedal pulsation at any speed, and most particularly at really low braking speeds.
Are you sure all the ball joints to the front axle are ok, any slop in the axle steering articulation ball joints can cause a wobble under brakes as well, the D2 has ball joints to the front hubs not the swivels on the front axle if I recall correctly, the same problem in a D1 can be caused by loose swivel bearings.
 
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