Civinfo - View Single Post - Brakes Binding caliper

camshaft · 10th May 2008, 23:24

Well, I'm no mechanic so I may be wrong in some of these assumptions but I'm pretty sure that it isn't just normal wear and tar. First of all, in Feb service at 37.5K miles the front pads were 50% worn and the rears were 40% worn. I know that this is low for the number of miles but I'm pretty light on the brakes and I do mostly motorway driving. It seems really weird that in the last 3 months and 6000 miles, the brake would wear away to the metal if it's only worn 40% before that.
Secondly, it's one rear pad that was worn - my understanding is that front pads always go first and if your rear pads do go then they should both go at the same time. In this case, the other one was still 50%.
I was never able to physically see the sticking caliper but I noticed that when I was getting the grinding noise under braking, it didn't go away immediately after releasing the brakes. I think I could hear it all the time. This suggested a binding caliper to me and it all added up with the strange brake wear.
They told me that they've cleaned it up rather than replacing it - they obviously don't believe me and think it's just normal wear and tear. I'm hoping that the clean-up will have been enough to stop any repeat as I don't want to have to pay for another set of pads and disks next week.

10th May 2008, 23:24	#4 (permalink)
camshaft Valve Cap Join Date: 31st October 2006 Posts: 5 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts iTrader: (0)	Well, I'm no mechanic so I may be wrong in some of these assumptions but I'm pretty sure that it isn't just normal wear and tar. First of all, in Feb service at 37.5K miles the front pads were 50% worn and the rears were 40% worn. I know that this is low for the number of miles but I'm pretty light on the brakes and I do mostly motorway driving. It seems really weird that in the last 3 months and 6000 miles, the brake would wear away to the metal if it's only worn 40% before that. Secondly, it's one rear pad that was worn - my understanding is that front pads always go first and if your rear pads do go then they should both go at the same time. In this case, the other one was still 50%. I was never able to physically see the sticking caliper but I noticed that when I was getting the grinding noise under braking, it didn't go away immediately after releasing the brakes. I think I could hear it all the time. This suggested a binding caliper to me and it all added up with the strange brake wear. They told me that they've cleaned it up rather than replacing it - they obviously don't believe me and think it's just normal wear and tear. I'm hoping that the clean-up will have been enough to stop any repeat as I don't want to have to pay for another set of pads and disks next week.