Rear brakes have been binding on the mk1 vRS. My techy mate found the rear n/s mechanism needing freeing off. Did it and it was ok for a few weeks, but it's started playing up again.reckons I'm going to need new calipers, but I'm wondering if I should have a go at stripping it down to clean and free off myself, as I have a feeling I could be talking fairly big £££'s otherwise.

 

Anyone else had and resolved this problem with a bit of diy'ing?

Difficulty level?

Haven't started it myself, yet, but have read some guides, watched some YouTube clips and chatted to OET (member on here) about it and doesn't look too hard for a novice like me.

I paid something like £30 for the seal kit from bigred (will do both callipers) and another £20 odd for the piston if it needs replacing.

So far I have stripped the calliper down, ran out of time, so bought new callipers and have put them.... I will get around to it one day

Hello Mr Ree

I have Roomster which I gather has same rear suspension and (disc) brakes as Mk 1 Octavia, bought mine used in September, OSR caliper was sticking, my local guy freed it up, but handbrake was a bit stiff and not good holding at top of hill where I join main road.

 

Second time around, he diagnosed friction in the offside handbrake cable, barely working, AND binding a bit, so probably fraying inside the sleeve.  New cable assembly fitted, handbrake now strong and positive, rolling-resistance reduced, MPG improved.

Don't know it that might apply to yours; my previous car was 04 plate 1.4tdi Fabia Mk 1, rears were drums, had handbrake trouble there too!

Richard

Haven't started it myself, yet, but have read some guides, watched some YouTube clips and chatted to OET (member on here) about it and doesn't look too hard for a novice like me.

I paid something like £30 for the seal kit from bigred (will do both callipers) and another £20 odd for the piston if it needs replacing.

So far I have stripped the calliper down, ran out of time, so bought new callipers and have put them.... I will get around to it one day

Brand new? Main stealer? Price?

 

Just don't want to end up chasing my tail here.

Hello Mr Ree

I have Roomster which I gather has same rear suspension and (disc) brakes as Mk 1 Octavia, bought mine used in September, OSR caliper was sticking, my local guy freed it up, but handbrake was a bit stiff and not good holding at top of hill where I join main road.

 

Second time around, he diagnosed friction in the offside handbrake cable, barely working, AND binding a bit, so probably fraying inside the sleeve.  New cable assembly fitted, handbrake now strong and positive, rolling-resistance reduced, MPG improved.

Don't know it that might apply to yours; my previous car was 04 plate 1.4tdi Fabia Mk 1, rears were drums, had handbrake trouble there too!

Richard

 

 

I was wondering if it might be the cable tbh. Lever has become quite slack...again.

Rear o/s wheel gets very hot, and fuel consumption well up.

 

Stop on a slight slope with the handbrake off, and the car remains stationery.

I did this job on Saturday, mine was sticking handbrake mechanism. A bit of lubricant and working the lever up and down many times loosened it up and it's now returning again. 

 

You can tell this is happening from the feel of the handbrake: With the button pressed in, lift the handbrake. If there's no resistance for any of the travel then handbrake mechanism isn't returning.

 

I've ordered some springs to aid with returning the mechanism and stop it happening again.

 

It only took around 20 minutes, no reason why you can't do it with the wheels still on either.

 

Hope this helps!

Brand new? Main stealer? Price?

Just don't want to end up chasing my tail here.

I purchased the Octavia vRS rear brake setup from eBay instead of replacing with the same ....

281238982999

The same seller sells the carriers too.

I did this job on Saturday, mine was sticking handbrake mechanism. A bit of lubricant and working the lever up and down many times loosened it up and it's now returning again. 

 

You can tell this is happening from the feel of the handbrake: With the button pressed in, lift the handbrake. If there's no resistance for any of the travel then handbrake mechanism isn't returning.

 

I've ordered some springs to aid with returning the mechanism and stop it happening again.

 

It only took around 20 minutes, no reason why you can't do it with the wheels still on either.

 

Hope this helps!

That is exactly what my matey did just before crimbo, and your symptoms are also exactly the same

Sadly, the same problem has come back.

 

Can't quite understand why he says the calipers need replacing then?

Had the same problem perpetually on my Mk1 Octy. Cured one side by putting on new handbrake cable (£10 from main dealer: couldn't believe it was this cheap!) Things better after that but it now needs the other side doing too. For comparison, new caliper on that car was around £180, so my immediate thought would be to give it a new cable plus refurbish caliper by removing corrosion round the piston and fitting new seals. If you can clamp off the brake hose and avoid having to do much fluid bleeding afterwards it's a nice little weekend morning job - admittedly best done in the summer!

That is exactly what my matey did just before crimbo, and your symptoms are also exactly the same

Sadly, the same problem has come back.

 

Can't quite understand why he says the calipers need replacing then?

 

Possibly the easiest solution but also the most costly to replace them. I spent a good 10 minutes lubricating and freeing off each caliper as you don't want to be doing it again a few weeks/months later.

 

Do this and get the helper springs for the caliper ((search the forum for these (less than a tenner for the pair)) then this should hopefully solve your problem and you'll see your MPG climb again!

I had this problem on mine shortly after buying it. When the rear pads/discs had been changed by a Skoda garage, they hadn't properly cleaned out the callipers.

 

As a result, when I had new pads/discs fitted, it was still the same. Garage (independent) cleaned them out properly removing any corrosion/gunk and it's been fine ever since (almost a year).

To properly answer this there are two main and very common faults and known cures!

 

1. the piston to calliper bore rubber seal (not the visible dust skirt) goes hard with age & heat & needs replacing. You can get a full set of seals & dust skirts for both the front & rear callipers (£30ish total) from the dealers. BUT the job takes time to use 1000grit & 2000grit W&D paper to polish the crud off the piston & use a calliper bore honing tool on the bore. Also fitting the new seals & piston is a tricky job. I've done all 4 callipers on my car, it just takes patience, if you don't have that then get a new calliper as quicker to fit!

 

2. the handbrake return lever on the calliper does not fully return to the stops thus leaving the piston slightly "on" all the time! This is mainly on the drivers side calliper because the internal return spring in the calliper for the lever arm gets weaker with age. There is a very easy way to fix this with a linky here for lots of info  

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/137832-handbrake-cable-issue-on-my-vrs/page-8

 

If you don't want to mess with refurbing callipers yourself, why not check up on Pagid refurbished callipers from ECP, you pay a surcharge and get it refunded when you hand back the old callipers. I did this to one side of my old B5 Passat.

Edited 6 January, 201412 yr by rum4mo

AVS spares do brand new TRW calipers for under £50 quid + VAT its a no brainer.

TRW(LUCAS) are the OE for rear calipers on our cars and some of the materials used have now been changed to stop the seizing.

They even come pre filled and bled so much easier to fit.

http://www.vwspares.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1588

The factory green and red ones are a lot more tho.

I have some to fit when weather better

spud31, that price kind of knocks my "good" discount buy right out of the water, good to know about these genuine brand new ones though! (for the future)

Yeah TRW are really keen priced if there the OE on the car, even new pad carriers are reasonable.

Pity the ATE stuff for the 312mm are silly priced.

Found something out today too, Pagid dont make discs or calipers its just ECP using name they own rights too for `complimentary` products

Yeah TRW are really keen priced if there the OE on the car, even new pad carriers are reasonable.

Pity the ATE stuff for the 312mm are silly priced.

Found something out today too, Pagid dont make discs or calipers its just ECP using name they own rights too for `complimentary` products

 

Are you sure about that, I would not put it past them (ECP), but as far as I know, Pagid are still part of the TMD group that includes Textar, Pagid and in UK Mintex and maybe Don ( and they are a BIG group supplying directly into big car factories in Europe, so a bit too big for ECP to manipulate). ECP do, or did own sole rights to import ATE aftermarket parts into UK. I think that I've checked on the Pagid website and at that time the catalogue had not been updated to include these latest additions.

 

Edit:- yes ECP seem to have some agreement with Pagid, to the extent that if you bought a complete set of brake parts for a vehicle by ??/??/2010, then you coukd get a pair of Pagid overalls. Also they do now mention that they provide rebuilt callipers, so they will be proper quality, but like ECP probably mainly sold by ECP in UK.

 

On the subject of who makes brake discs, yes, I'd doubt if Pagid or ATE manufacture brake discs, but they market them so underpin the quality with their name.

Edited 13 January, 201412 yr by rum4mo

Info direct from Pagid TMD uk themselves. I rand them due to not finding Pagid discs listed on there own site

http://i977.photobucket.com/albums/ae254/Silver-vrs/Springfitted.jpg

 

Clean up that black mechanism with a wire brush and plenty of spray. Then fit the release springs as shown in the picture. 

 

Worked for me...