Hi

 

Went to get my Fabia out of the garage earlier this evening, only to find the rear passenger wheel's brakes stuck on. Happens occasionally and normally a few revs will release it, but tonight was different. The wheel wouldn't rotate and the tyre was skidding. 

 

As we're going away to Devon at the weekend I didn't want to leave this unsorted, so I rang Skoda Assistance and after an hour the RAC turned up. He couldn't knock them off either, so had to remove the wheel and do some hammering before he could. 

 

From chatting with him it transpired that because I'd been to the hand car wash on Sunday, which is just a minute's drive from my house. I'd put the car away with wet brakes and so they'd glued hard on. He recommends I go for a longer spin after the car wash in future. This diagnosis and solution would never have occured to me in a month of Sundays!. 

 

Since been for a 10 mile drive down the A1 and back and all seems well. Only thing RAC chap said was to check the wheel nuts after 100 miles. Anyone else come across this, and should I get my dealer to do anything too?

 

Cheers

 

Rob

 Same thing happened to me, but on a Monte with rear drums, I had to call Skoda assist, as like yours they were seized solid, he told me the same as you , said it was common , and  that it was the jet wash getting water in the drums, never had this on any of my previous non vag cars.

Ive never had this on any of my other cars ever. Even after washing the car on the drive and leaving it there. Not happened to the fabia as yet either.

Might this be a weakness of the drum design generally? I put the jetwash back in the garage for good. Was taking off the suds other week and blew water right past the rear window rubber at the top. I was about 4 feet away with the end of the thing too. It was on mist blast not laser beam.

Your really want to take the Drum off and check, the return spring can break.

 

You really want to take that wheel off anyway and get some Copper Slip between the wheel and drum.

& the other side as well.

Just before maybe needing to put the spare on sometime, if you have one.

 

george

Well at least I know I'm not the only one! Will see what happens after the next car wash I guess.

This happens to mine on a regular basis   - Im probably one of the members on here with an older Fabia Mk 2 (August 2007). It even happened on a Skoda dealers forecourt - I went to get them and after 10 minutes of trying to free it they managed it - leaving plenty of skid marks on their forecourt. :clap:

 

As a rule I leave the handbrake off whenever I can. Its parked on my (flat) drive way just in gear, no handbrake. I was sick of the rear brakes getting siezed on previously. It has happened at work a few times, although I just have to keep going until it releases when it happens there. The car is always parked on a slope at work so the handbrake it always on.

 

Not sure what causes this except poxy Skoda drum brakes! :(

Edited 21 May, 201412 yr by richardsfavorit

The RAC guy did lubricate the wheel drum for me before putting the wheel back on.

Happens on my 59 plate mk2 also. In fact a few weeks ago I had washed it on the Sunday, parked round the corner overnight and the rear offside was stuck solid come going to work on Monday morning. Tried to free it by driving forwards and backwards etc and it wouldn't budge. Called out the AA who arrived in 15 mins and they reversed it with somewhat more aggression than I did (not having the heart to do it myself). It broke free with an almighty clang and deposits of brake dust were left on the road. AA said the water had caused the dust to dry solid and suggested I take the drums off and clean them up. Now I leave the handbrake off when washing and chock the rear wheels, and leave off overnight (in gear and wheels turned towards the kerb)

I must admit I don't tend to do much with brakes on my cars - always leave the garage to do it. Is it difficult to do? I need to paint the outside of mine as well - going terribly rusty and I only had them painted by the garage two years ago!

Yes good way to remedy this, is to remove brake drums. If stuck on, remove wheel. Hit the top edge of the drum with a heavy hammer, one good knock will normally do it.

Spray all inside drum, brake shoes etc with Brake Cleaner.

Wipe dry with rag. Re-assemble drum with a smear of copper slip where the drum meets the hub, plus where the wheel goes. (not much, just a smear).

 

 Skogar, where abouts in Devon you going???

Skogar, where abouts in Devon you going???

 

Somewhere near Seaton, I think.

I think that you will find that once this has started to happen it will continue to happen more than it used to. In my experience, it only happens "badly" with rear drum brakes from VAG, and to reduce the chances of it happening, you will need to get the drums off and sand off the blackish area on the swept area as these black area are established rust. Daughter's late 2009 Ibiza did it at just over 3 years old - a quick thump from an AA hammer let her go on her way, that was not due to washing, but just driving in heavy rain and parking the car for a couple of days! If anyone thinks that same thing happens to rear disk brakes, well in my experience it is nothing like as bad as these drum brakes. Daughter's previous, early 2002 Ibiza ended up breaking its brake linings after a few forced freeing of brakes!

Oh that doesn't sound very promising rum4mo!

 

When I paint (the outside of mine) I will have a look at the insides!