I arrived at work this morning to find that I had a sticking brake caliper.

On initial investigation, I? found that the front N/S caliper must have been sticking on for a fair bit of the journey (12 miles) since I could feel (and smell) the heat.

I noticed that the front N/S caliper has some discolouration to it, not present on the others, so guessing this isn't the first time its happened.

Can anyone advise on the slider setup on the car, just wondering if it needs stripped down and cleaned or if the piston is sticking....

Thanks in advance.

I arrived at work this morning to find that I had a sticking brake caliper.

On initial investigation, I? found that the front N/S caliper must have been sticking on for a fair bit of the journey (12 miles) since I could feel (and smell) the heat.

I noticed that the front N/S caliper has some discolouration to it, not present on the others, so guessing this isn't the first time its happened.

Can anyone advise on the slider setup on the car, just wondering if it needs stripped down and cleaned or if the piston is sticking....

Thanks in advance.

Hi, you'll need to take it off to find out if it's a seized piston. Take the caliper off, if it's the same setup as the VAG FSIII's (it might not be, i don't know for sure) then it's 2 hex bolts behind the dust caps, can't remember what size though, H6 most likely i'd think. Undo those bolts/guide pins them pull them out the back. The caliper should come away now fairly easily, but if not, then pull the whole caliper assy towards you -- you're effectively trying to retract the piston a wee bit here. Slow and steady, strong pressure does it, fast and sharp isn't really the best.

Once you've removed the caliper from the caliper mount bracket and the disk, take the outside pad off -- the only clipped into the caliper rather than the one on the piston. Pop the lid off your brake fluid reservoir and if it looks fairly full then get plenty kitchen paper stuffed around and in the neck of it to absorb spills. Get a C clamp on the pad and the back of the caliper, i use a medium sized joinery fast clamp - you know one of those one handed affairs, it's metal but cheap and not really up to the job but it's done ok so far.

Apply some pressure with the clamp and try to push the piston back it, it might not want to go == seized piston. If it does go, then clean everything else up and copper grease the slider bit on the caliper mount bracket after cleaning and reassemble.

If it's seized then you'll need to clamp the brake line and disconnect the caliper. Have a shot at stripping it down, if the piston wont go in the way it might come out the way -- feed compressed air into the brake fluid port. Keep fingers clear and lay a wee scrap of wood opposite the piston to save damaging it if it pops out under pressure. If the piston's damaged or it wont free, then either recon caliper or new caliper.

Thanks for the indepth guide, although I don't think I'll get time to do it myself (work away all week).

I'm hoping that the slider is just clogged up, but since I've done a good few thousand miles since winter ended, I can't really see this being the cause.

Checked Euro car parts and new Calipers are around £75-80 each for the front (Pagid).....

Thanks for the indepth guide, although I don't think I'll get time to do it myself (work away all week).

I'm hoping that the slider is just clogged up, but since I've done a good few thousand miles since winter ended, I can't really see this being the cause.

Checked Euro car parts and new Calipers are around £75-80 each for the front (Pagid).....

Could still be the slider, I've got a thread on here about 2weeks ago whining about the same thing, it turned out to just be in need of a clean. that's pretty fair for the caliper, it's £615 for one front caliper on exchange basis with BMW :-o