Flurry

Follow up to the original: - the shuddering was caused by the bracket that holds the speed sensor on the front passenger side wheel having corroded slightly, moving the sensor out of alignment and skewing the reading. This caused the abs to kick in momentarily, which is what I was experiencing as 'scraping'. Once the bracket replaced the problem has gone away (at least for now) - the squealing when in motion seems to have gone of it's own accord, hopefully to remain gone

I've read the above carefully and I appreciate your detailed explanation, but I think you're right in that it's probably best left to an expert. Thanks rotodiesel

This is beginning to sound beyond my somewhat limited mechanical abilities, I think it may be garage time. 1.) When you say inboard do you mean the inner face of the disc, or the edge of the disc closest to the axle? 2.) When removing the calliper body, are the pads and hydraulics all held in place? (I'm only familiar with mountain bike hydraulic discs) 3.) you mention removing the speed sensor - is this vital? 4.) as for "re-fit 3 wheel bolts with spacers to keep the disk true to the hub" - I had possibly foolishly assumed that removing the wheel would not loosen the disc or hub? 5.) when refitting the calliper is there any kind of alignment with the disc that needs to be done?

hmm, possibly back to the drawing board then, given there's no outer lip.

It occurred to me last night that I'd been looking at the outer edge of the disc when looking for a ridge/lip. Upon closer inspection last night there does seem to be a very slightly raised lip on the inner edge, so that probably answers that. As for checking the pad fitment, that sounds straight forward enough so I'll have a go at it soon

as far as a lip on the disc goes, I can't see any, and there really shouldn't be given the discs were changed along with the pads around 6k miles ago. It sounds like the squeak could well be caused by the pads not fully returning into the calliper then. If this is the case then I can live with the noise. How would I go about checking that the pads have been fitted to the correct hand? As for the scraping/shuddering, is this likely to be related, or a totally different issue? Grit in/on the pads?

Symptoms: - when the car is warm (driven for more than 20 minutes or so) and going faster than about 45mph there's a fairly intermittent squeal/squeak, which goes away if the brake pedal is pressed. - very occasionally at slow speed (walking pace) the brakes scrape/grate slightly, and if pressed harder the car shudders slightly. - I'd have said both the noise and scraping come from the front brakes, possibly the right hand side if I had to guess - I can't see any marks on the discs from something making contact, though I've only looked at the outside face of each disc - Other than the above the brakes perform fine, stopping well and not pulling to either side. They were fitted new about 6k miles ago, after the last set lasted around 50k miles. I'm struggling to locate the source of the problem here, as are the local garage, who've yet to be able to replicate the noise or scraping and have failed to find anything physically wrong with the brakes, though I'm not entirely sure how much they disassembled them to check. Does anyone have any ideas of where I should be looking next?

Tires at the correct pressure and tracking/alignment all okay? Have you calculated the mpg manually? The computer on my 1.9 reads about 6.5mpg under what the car is actually achieving, which is usually between 48 - 50mpg on mostly a-road commuting

I can't help much with 1 - 4, but as for question 5, I've had a similar problem with mine and found wiping the seatbelt down with a bit of furniture polish on a rag seems to reduce the friction and help a bit. I seem to remember I found this tip online somewhere, so you may want to research it just in case

I have a poverty spec model, so no electric seats, but I believe the only difference will be more electrical connections to disconnect underneath - I could be wrong though.

Forgot to mention, it's worth having something to remove the windscreen wiper arms with as it then allows you to take the plastic trim off the bottom of the windscreen - making removing the battery and pollen filter a whole load easier. Just be careful not to press too hard/sharp on the plastic trim when refitting it, it's quite fragile and so is the windscreen! As another side note, I had to reseal the door window carrier panels as I was getting water running out the bottom of the doors, onto the door sills and into the car that way - unless you're seeing water coming in like this you probably don't need to reseal the doors

Mine thankfully wasn't too damp, so I just let it dry naturally. There've been various posts on here about people lifting the carpet and using hair driers or moisture absorbing things (word begins with d but is escaping me and google isn't helping - like those little sachet things you get in shoeboxes to keep the shoes from going damp). How damp is the your carpet/underlay? The front seats are relatively easy to get out, just be wary of the airbags in the sides of them. To remove mine (for a different reason) I first disconnected the battery and then followed these steps here. so far as waterproofing goes I have (from memory): - removed the plenum chamber bung from under the battery - resealed the pollen filter tray seal - resealed the door window carrier panels

It's a bit messy if you're not careful, but can definitely be done without making a horrendous mess! I had a very similar sinking feeling shortly after buying mine about two years ago and finding water in the passenger footwell after heavy rain. However, once properly dealt with (and the other common faults with this model mentioned on this forum) the car will run to starship mileage, so it's worth the time spent in my view :-)

I suspect it may make the more mechanically proper members of the forum shudder, but I resealed the pollen filter by removing the original and using household silicon sealant - the stuff in a tube that you use in a gun, usually for tiling etc. It's been watertight for a year+ now and I've resealed all four door window carrier panels with the same stuff. Messy, but far cheaper.

I'd second dieselV6's identification - having removed those caps myself in the past it looks very similar