| Our front brakes squeal when the brakes are off. Using the brake stops the squeal. The front disks look rusty and grooved, though there seems to be plenty of disk and pad left. So, skim them or replace them? Are Moss disks and pads OK? (6/00) |
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but how are the sliding pins.. this is the first point... Rust means they are only operating on the one side ... i.e the side on the inside where the piston is .. and the sliding pins are seized. ... or the car is seeing too much rain and not enough driving with braking :-) I say braking as the girlfriend's car loses the rear brakes from not aggressive enough braking .. even if she did use the front pads in 20k miles... me .. same mile/pad but more threshold braking to get those rears working.. and we had a salesman who did over 70k miles on one set of pads .. really bad test bed for a brakes company... .. as for scoring ... this is a question that I think is cosmetic.. unless the car pulls or shudders there is no problem .. you have just increased the area of contact on your discs for free .. and uneven areas at a low level are not a problem. Trouble is most people see scoring as a mechanical fault.. not me .. I stuffed new pads into metal to metal scored discs .. then end up having to use them too much too soon .. they cleared up fine.. no shuddering just some serious smoke due to inappropriate breaking in.. Now you don't want to look at my rotors .. the fronts had lumps of copper imbedded in them from the track day and one rear has a score from Mr Axxis Metalmaster .. no fade on the track .. they just get so hot the copper melts lumps into the discs and the central wheel trim falls off as the plastic legs curve in under the heat :-( .. lost one temporally on the track... So check those pins and use those brakes... (6/00) |
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The car is seeing a lot of rain and not a whole load of miles. :-( I've been out to give it a good talking to a couple of times of the last couple of weeks, but only about 10 miles and not much prolonged braking. Under braking everything is fine. I guess I need to strip the calipers down and get everything checked. But I really don't have the time so I suspect it might have to go to a garage to get this done. I just had four day off work (counting weekend and bank hols) but still had a huge list of jobs at the end. :-( Thanks for the advice. (6/00) |
| I took off the front wheels last night to check the pads and have a general scout around under the wheel arch and behind the front wing (no hidden celebs). I found that when I spin the hub, the pads are rubbing against the disc and stop the hub. There seem to be loads of pad left and there is no scoring on the disks. I just felt that this shouldn't be right and that the hub should spin freely. Am I right??? Or is this due to the ABS "clinching" the callipers a little when the car is switched off???? Am I talking nonsense? (6/00) |
| The hubs should spin relatively freely. If they don't this might be due to sticky sliding bolts. (6/00) |
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I have to report a brake problem; I would be grateful for
any advice. The symptoms are: This only started as I was leaving the airfield, but I have to say that my last session on-track involved a LOT more heavy braking. My best guess is that I have sh@99ed the disc in some way (scored/warped?), probably assisted by letting the pads wear down rather low - the effects only became clear after the system had cooled off properly. Current plan is to get some garage to look at it in the morning, with the most likely outcome being replacement of both rear discs and their pads. (9/00) |
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I had this on both my Roadsters; first one started after normal driving, the second, ahem, after lunacy on the IOM. Sticking calipers; relube/clean-up the slider pins (after the IOM, the copper grease on mine had baked to a hard resin-like substance). Watch out; I've heard of garages (including main agents) using WD40 to free things up. Ok for a little while until the WD40 evaporates. Garage then says he's done what he can, and its new caliper time. With a sticking caliper, pads can wear down in a shockingly quick way (I got through a set of new Apec pads in 2 weeks after the IOM until I managed to get to a garage). Your discs might have warped if after coming off the track you applied the handbrake, rather than letting the disc cool. Found out through helpful MX5-owning parts guy that Daihatsu Applause calipers are the same as 1.6 rear calipers, and a lot cheaper... (9/00) |
| Squealers .. cheap notification that your pads need replaced .. a little tag of metal that scrapes or vibrates to annoy you .. to tell you you need new pads.. they used to use electric wires .. Citroen still do .. but the wires break after 75k miles so the squealers solution is lower tech but works better... .. as fitted to front and rear of the 5/Roadster .. as not fitted to my rear EBC redstuff pads .. had to grind off and rivet it onto the pads.. (they did come on the PBR/Axxis Metalmaster pads) .. oh and the name is not really fixed in terminology .. so may be called many wonderful things ..like BPWI (brake pad wear indicators...) or other spurious names.. .. and you are lucky .. my front ones went missing before the end of the last track day .. yet to beg replacements off the dealer scrap bin! (9/00) |
| I've had my lovely BRG 1.8i for nearly two years and I've had no problems...well actually that's a lie. The only problem I have had is my brakes. They squeal. I had the front pads renewed about 8 months ago and it's not made much difference. It's something I've lived with, but now I think I should give my neighbours a rest and stop giving them an early morning alarm every time I go to work in the morning. The problem seems at its worst when it is real dry or when it's damp. Heavy breaking rarely produces a squeal, it's just when I lightly brake at relativley slow speeds. I'm considering getting grooved or drilled disks, would this help?? if so can anyone recommend a make as I haven't got a clue and would I need a new set of pads?? (4/01) |
| Squeal comes from the back of the pads, not the contact surfaces, so grooved/drilled discs won't help. Maybe your shims and /or springs are missing - have you had the pads replaced? Replacement shims are almost impossible to find (you can get the springs). One solution is to use Ferodo pads - they have the best energy-absorbing material applied to the pads. Another is to use a light coating of copper assembly compound on the back of each pad. (and between pad and shim if the shims are still there) (4/01) |
| 1. pad springs missing 2. non OE pads with missing pads on back - they come as clips on with the original ones 3. non OE pads ... some high performance ones squeal at low speeds and it can be hard to tell which wheel is doing it .. my EBC greens did it at the rear. 4. Grooved/drilled will not really solve the problem 5. Grease on pad back or pad there may help. (4/01) |
| How can I check to see if the spring is missing? As far as I am aware the brakes have only ever been replace by a Mazda garage so I would expect them to have springs. Also what's a "shim"? (4/01) |
| The springs are only on the back. They're M- shaped and they should be visible just above the top rim of the caliper body. Their ends hook into holes in the top front corner of each pad. There's one spring each side. You might be able to see them without taking your wheels off if you've got fairly open style wheels. The shims are thin pieces of metal (or metal like stuff), similar outline to the pads, and clip on the backs of the pads. You get new ones with OEM pads, but not aftermarket ones for some reason. (4/01) |
| Interesting, I've got 2 springs per caliper, front and rear. Maybe you lost some somewhere? (4/01) |
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Er - yes. I was going by the pics/specs in the workshop manual. Now you mention it, I think mine has springs on the front, too. Guess they were added after the workshop manual was produced - maybe to counteract squeal! AFAIR, the front springs are pretty much hidden until you rotate the caliper - then the pads jump out unless they're gummed in with brake dust and gunge. (4/01) |
| I've definitely only got one per side on the rear, but I know there are holes for them top and bottom. There were only two springs in the kit I got. The workshop manual shows one per side, and none at the front. More springs won't do any harm - equally the lack of them doesn't affect brake operation, but might cause squeal - not a problem I have. (Mintex pads) My shims are falling apart - the tags which fix them to the pads break off - I think I've got two missing, one each side at the rear. Brakes International advised me not to bother with them anyway, but they major Ferodo pads, which as I say have a thick layer of anti-squeal gunge (like rubberised paint) (4/01) |
| Thanks everyone for you're help. I've not looked at my brakes yet, but I will tonight. So I assume the worst and I'm missing both my shim's and my springs, what can I do to rectify things?? Can I perform some 'magic' on my current pads? (if so can you be quiet explicit as I'm not used to things mechanical) Are there other pads that I could use? If so can anyone recommend a brand? (4/01) |
| I'd try the copper assembly compound. You can get Copper Ease and various other products of a similar nature from Halfords - called Copper Grease (one is even branded as such) though it's not really grease and shouldn't normally be used as a lubricant. You'll need to take the wheels off and undo one bolt on each caliper to rotate them upwards, clear of the pads. The pads are then easily removed (in fact they often fall out) Put a thin smear of copper compound on the back of each pad and back of each shim if they're present. Not too much! (4/01) |