Or something else?

I've had no problems with brakes sticking until this morning (it was -3 & foggy) when the car felt like it was being pulled back and after 3 mile drive the OSR disc was noticeably warmer than all the rest.

Temperature hasn't been above -0.5 all day, but the damp fog had gone by my afternoon drive (school run) and I had no problems with brakes then.

I'm suspecting that moisture has got into the system somewhere and frozen so the caliper binds. Could it be the brake cable from the handbrake to rear or possibly just the cable to the one side?

Is there anything else I should consider?

Is there a way to stop this from happening (it did it once last winter at about -10)?

Spray some wd40 on the hand brake leavers on the calipers. They can have bad habbit of sticking had same problem on a mrk1 seat leon n wd40 did the trick.

Put in gear and leave the hand brake off. Like all the cold weather foreigners do.

Spray some wd40 on the hand brake leavers on the calipers. They can have bad habbit of sticking had same problem on a mrk1 seat leon n wd40 did the trick.

I'll get under the car at some point soon and have a look at where you mean. Worth a try.

Put in gear and leave the hand brake off. Like all the cold weather foreigners do.

Good idea - hadn't thought of something so simple and obvious. Thanks - I'll do this in the meantime.

Mine was the same this morning, wd40 and spray on the arm on the caliper and tap it with a hammer or use a screw driver to free it off

Copper grease would probably be a better long term solution once freed off? I bought some on eBay one of the other guys found on a different post recommending that some is put on the wheel bolts to stop them siezing- not got round to doing it yet as it's so cccccccold, but it arrived in a couple of days

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130795211936?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

cheers

Ade

Ah, now i've been putting copper grease on my wheel nuts for years for that very reason, but I definitely read somewhere about NOT doing that, but can't for the life of me remember why. Didn't go into any great depth so wasn't massively convincing.

OKay, had a quick google and nearly every forum and website with opinions says it's pretty much okay on the hub and is split 50/50 whether to put it on the threads. The only thing that has general consensus is that if you do and you use a torque wrench, you may struggle to get the torque to 'crack' on a greased bolt as there is a lot less friction in the screw thread. One site said that a manufacturer said to reduce to torque setting by 25% in that instance.

Personally, I probably will stick to greasing the threads a tiny bit and I have only ever put a wheel on using 'feel' as I don't have a torque wrench. Not had a problem so far.

I thought it was considered good practice to only used lubed threads to ensure greater consistency when torquing up fasteners? The type of lube shouldn't matter, but in this instance, something with persistence would be better.

I have used "a bit" of coppaslip on wheel studs/bolts and the centralising boss for decades. Never had a problem. Have however found where previous owners haven't, it can be horrendous to get the wheel off (impossible outside a workshop) when left to corrode.

I would be very careful about spraying WD40 or similar around brake calipers. The main constituent is paraffin type hydro-carbon, which will eventually attack the brake rubbers, and could eventually find its way into the main piston seal, resulting in loss of brake fluid.

Do not put copper grease on wheel nuts.

From Octavia2 manual:

• Thewheelboltsmustbecleanandmustturneasily.However, they must never be treated with grease or oil.

• Ifthewheelboltsaretightenedtoatoolowtighteningtorque, the rim can lossen when the car is moving - risk of accident! A tight- ening torque which is too high can damage the bolts and threads and this can result in permanent deformation of the contact surfaces on the rims.

If you have wheel bolts which have been in service for any length of time, then they will not "Thewheelboltsmustbecleanandmustturneasily" so you need to clean and lube them, otherwise how do you know they are tight and applying the correct clamping force? Do you run a tap in to the threads on the hub to clean them out?

Perhaps a visit to a site like ARP, a leading supplier of fasteners to the motorsports world and see their take on lubing threads. The difference is usually not that much %wise, the major reason is consistency.

Of course it is of no solace to find yourself stranded with a puncture and unable to remove the wheel:

a) because the monkey used a rattle gun, then checked the bolts were not looser, rather than do the job correctly. You see this all the time. Last tyre swop, I checked the torque (with Snap-on torque wrench) and it was about double what it should be. Impossible to move with the supplied wheel brace.

corrosion has caused the bolt to weld to the hub and/or inter-crystalline corrosion between the steel bolt and alloy wheel interface causing the clamping surface to fail.

Its your car and your life so you do what you like. I know it was thought a good idea in trucker world to let the nuts/studs get nice and rusty so they wouldn't vibrate loose, maybe that is their reasoning too?

Edited 13 December, 201213 yr by nickguzzi

Don't know where the smiley came from - I don't do emoticons.

Copper grease would probably be a better long term solution once freed off? I bought some on eBay one of the other guys found on a different post recommending that some is put on the wheel bolts to stop them siezing- not got round to doing it yet as it's so cccccccold, but it arrived in a couple of days

http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1497.l2649

cheers

Ade

You paid £7.64 for a tub of copper grease, and you ordered from the internet, you can buy that stuff from loads of different places even cheaper than tub price alone. i do under stand if you have never heard of it, as alot of customers i dealt with when i worked for partco aslo never heard of it. But buy it it from flee bay, even asdas sell it.

Anyone got any other tips for dealing with frozen rear DISC PADS / HANDBRAKE CABLE?

Anyone got any other tips for dealing with frozen rear DISC PADS / HANDBRAKE CABLE?

Summer?

Are you sure it's frozen? As in held in position by water in its solid state. Are you currently in Siberia?

Or could it be rusted?

Prevention, dear boy, prevention. On my bikes, I used to fill the cable with grease till I found STP worked better, if you can stop it oozing out. Probably not so easy in this case, but the point is to stop the water from getting in there in the first place.

Once frozen, working them on/off till they come free. Which may mean accessing the linkage and easing it through its working range. A smear of coppaslip should prevent re-occurrence.

On my mkI and swmbos Leon I had issues with the pads sticking due to a build up of crap and corrosion on the sliders. There are little stainless shims between the pad and caliper and these get gunked and stop the pad moving back when the brakes are released. This problem was worse on the outer pad as it floats, the inner pad is held on the piston by a spring clip thing. I also found the pad tended to press on the disc unevenly leading to corrosion around the outside of the disc.

Stripping them down and cleaning them was the solution.

Put in gear and leave the hand brake off. Like all the cold weather foreigners do.

That's a fact. I've driven in the north of Sweden most winters and was told the first time not to use the handbrake, and so never do when I'm there.

Sorry, nothing constructive to add I'm afraid!

Are you sure it's frozen? As in held in position by water in its solid state. Are you currently in Siberia?

Coincidence that the first misty morning with a temp of -3.5 @ 08:00 and my OSR brake is dragging on the disc...

I think it might be stuck due to the cold damp conditions!

It hasn't done it since as the weather has been just as cold, but not damp / misty.

I'm fairly sure it's frozen water AKA ice.

Prevention, dear boy, prevention.

That's what I was after - how to stop it happening again. Leaving the handbrake off & car in gear is only a short term solution.

I'm trying to ascertain where water is likely to have got in and what I can to stop it so that I don't ruin discs, pads, alloys, etc. due to excessive friction & heat.

If I'm wrong and someone can point me at something else, then I'll investigate and fix as I don't really want this happening again this winter .

You paid £7.64 for a tub of copper grease, and you ordered from the internet, you can buy that stuff from loads of different places even cheaper than tub price alone. i do under stand if you have never heard of it, as alot of customers i dealt with when i worked for partco aslo never heard of it. But buy it it from flee bay, even asdas sell it.

Thanks- some others may benefit from my example of excessive expendature and go to Asda instead! I have heard of copper grease as I've got a small tube I bought years ago but is almost empty now and as my rear wheels were difficult to get off on my blackline when I put some mudflaps on her a few weeks ago I though for a few quid this would be a good idea.

BTW the same size tub from Halfords is £7.99 and not all of us have an Asda or a relaible motor factors near by. I quite like fleebay and use it regularly, personally I find it saves me both time and money.

cheers

Ade

Having been using copper based greases when refitting discs/pads since my first car, so I am aware of it.

These pads & discs were fitted by me in the summer of 2011 with a suitable amount of grease in appropriate places and all the appropriate procedures followed (in excess of Skoda workshop manuals).

I'm not saying the caliper isn't sticking, just that I doubt it after 18 months & on the first misty & cold morning this year.

Once wear/corrosion start, it tends to be an exponential spiral. Pads can become cocked and then not retract properly for example. But we are now into distance diagnosis. A look at the caliper slide pins?

A small amount of coppaslip (I'm about 1/2 way through my second tin since 1968 btw) is good but not a big claggy blob. By its nature, muck, grit and general smerry stick to it and can act as a grinding paste, which is one reason why its use is not universally endorsed. It certainly is not a cure all. Having lots of bike stuff around, I used to have lots of little rubber and plastic boots to put over the various pivots and clevis's, or bits of soft tube over exposed handbrake cable inner. As an example, old minis would split the plastic sheath on the handbrake cable outer, water gets in and they rust, causing lots of problems, as by then they were in the hands of drivers who had no knowledge or money.

In the "old days", it was routine to clean off and lube these sorts of things during servicing , but now only things "on the list" are touched, if you are lucky. In order to trim costs for fleet users, only the bare minimum is speced. When it goes wrong for subsequent owners, why, Sir! Replace the lot!