Hi all! We got our daughter a nice little '04 ka, previous owner was a family member and the car is well looked after. The previous owner said that the brakes weren't working aswell as they had done just before they got their new car. When i drove it, the brakes were rubbish! I've looked at the front discs and pads, there's no contamination and both discs and pads look like new! I've taken the rear drums off and there's very little wear on the drums and the shoes and cylinders are good, I am going to replace the shoes with new ones anyway!. I'm also going to make sure the back plates and new shoes are moving freely once I put them on. I can't see why the brakes aren't performing as they should?! Any advice will be greatfuly received! Thanks!

 

Siezed caliper, hoses collapsing under pressure (common but hard to spot), contaminated brake fluid, air in the system, wanky chinese special pads, brake servo failed to name but a few, could be a lot of things!

 

Cheers Rich! I've fitted the new rear shoes and it is slightly better!.. But it still isn't perfect. I reckon I'll bleed the brakes just to eliminate that aswell, and I might take the pads off the front and make sure they're working as they should! I hate it when it's something that's not obvious! Proccess of elimination sucks!

 

How long ago were the pads and discs fitted? Thats assuming they were new, may still be bedding in or whoever fitted them didnt clean the discs before fitting and have contaminated the pads. Or they may just be cheap shit! I'd throw a set of pads and discs on then bleed it, no second chances when it comes to brakes!

 

Yeah, don't really like budget brake stuff! Not sure on when they were fitted but i'm gonna have a look at them tomorrow and try and bleed them aswell. The daughter doesn't start learning to drive for another month yet, but the ka's booked in for an mot in 2weeks just so I have time to sort anything that needs sorting!

 

The ka doesnt have the best brakes in the world.

Puma 1.7, is a good upgrade, zetec-s/sportka also bolt on.

I ran ST170 discs and calipers on my sportka and it stopped rather well!

 

Can't afford other brakes ATM! Trouble is we've had 2 other ka's before this, a 2002 and a 1998 and neither of them had brakes as bad as this one!? I took the calipers off to check the pads and they're all good except they were a bit stiff in the calipers so I cleaned them up and re-assembled and they do seem a bit better again. We'll see what happens in a couple of weeks at the mot!?