Drivers side rear brake sticking

[ultra_joel88]

Hello all.

I had my rear discs and pads changed 3 months ago and I've had nothing but trouble with them since.

The car went in for service around a month ago (with a different garage) and I mentioned that the handbrake didnt seem to engage properly on the one side. So that was sorted (turns out the lever hadnt been re-engaged properly).

He also mentioned that the rear brake on one side was sticking slightly, although he had stripped it down, cleaned it and now the sticking was minimal.

However now, since about the past 2 weeks the sticking has got worse, and there is a horrible rubbing/ low pitched mooing noise from the rear brakes when reversing or coming to a halt, especially when the pads are damp/ cold.

I drove home today around 40 miles and touched all 4 wheels after stopping - the front 2 and the passenger side rear were barely warm to the touch however the drivers side rear was red hot - confirming my suspicisions.

Will it be case of having it stripped down again or will I need a new caliper?

Is this a common problem?

Thanks in advance.

[rum4mo]

Right first you need to buy a no-contact thermometer thing - that will keep your fingers from feeling just a bit sore! Seriously, my O/S rear calliper does suffer from the handbrake mechanism holding on a bit much - I think that I have been told that it is a calliper fault (internal return mechanism for the handbrake) - also or due to this, this side is prone to sort of siezing up a bit. I just clean up both sides every year and make sure that the handbrake lever can still move back to its stop - it stays okay for a while and does not seem to cause excessive on the pads - still originals at 55,000 miles - 6 years. Not ideal but cheaper than replacing the calliper - I tried to find external handbrake return springs that fit these handbrake brackets but so far I've been unsuccessful.