Hi All,

Today my MK 5 escort failed its MOT as the front right brake was 26% less powerful than the front left. The guy in the garage said that it could be a sticky piston or something to do with the brake pads. I have had a look at both of the front brakes and I noticed that both of the outer pads are much more worn than the inner pads - by about 50/60%! What could be the cause of this? Also I pulled the caliper off to have a look to see if there was anything jammed or siezed. The pads dont slide on any pins - (which i have never seen before) they just sit in some curved grooves and a pin holds the caliper in place. I am guessing that the piston(s) must need a over haul. So my question is - is getting the piston out difficult, ie do you need any special tools and can you re-use the seals or should i get new ones, if so, where can i get new ones from? I am new to the country at home(NZ) we had a shops that have everything for cars but I have yet to see one here (apart from halfords but i dont think they will have caliper seals) I am based in south london if anyone knows a place near by.

Thanks in advance
Brent

 

www.biggred.co.uk
sells the seals, but tbh I would forget the seals just try with an assistant pumping the pedal, take the pad out on the piston side and pump the piston out a bit and spray WD40 around it, then lever back in, do this a few times if there is no improvement might as well just get a pair of recon calipers, saves any hassle, and cheap enough on your car, I would guess around Ł35 each.
The caliper is a single piston sliding caliper, the sliders are not the best things ever, and don't slide as well as they should, due to the design the force exerted on the brakes when the pedal is pushed cause them to try and twist, this causes the sliders to bind to a certain degree, the pad wear you describe is TOTALLY NORMAL, piston side will always wear more.
tabetha

 

As said, try working the piston back and forth a bit to get it moving. Clean the caliper carriers up and stick some new pads in, greasing up the contact areas of pad to carrier with some copper grease. That should do the trick!

 

Hi,

Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a good today. Where is the best place to get nice/re-con capliers? The cheapest I can find is 58pounds. Cheers

 

Scrap the last comment - i just noticed that the biggred prices for calipers is for a pair and you get the rebate when you send your old ones in. This makes them 40pounds each.

 

well, i have done the brake pads and lubed up both calipers. After a bit of levering and back and forward a few times I could push them back in with my hands - it wasnt easy though. From my experience replacing pads this tells me that they arent sticky or seizing. Would you agree? On my other cars I could never psuh the calipers in with my hands! I took it for a drive to brake in the pads and there was no puilling at all so i will be stumped if they say it is still out when i take it in on monday for a re-check!

 

Should be alright then!

 

Sounds like a result!!
tabetha