Hey all.

Skoda Octavia II 2006 Elegance Estate.

 

Couple of days back I noticed a scraping noise from my rear when driving so decided to check out my brake pads. One side (both inner and outer pads on the left) were badly worn so I changed them out. It was my first time doing this so sharp learning curve (I spent half the day grinding off the bolts the last idiot had stripped bare, and sourcing new ones). When screwing the calliper piston back in, it was ungodly hard. I had bought a cheap tool for the job but we ended up using vice grips and two large levers just to get the power needed to turn this thing (yes the fluid valve was undone). It went back though, with a lot of time, bad language, doubt and elbow grease.

 

Today I decided to tackle the other side assuming it would be as bad, but the pads were only half worn and the piston screwed in with such ease I nearly wept with glee.

 

Is the uneven wear because of a serious problem with the first piston? Or is that a separate issue? Is it common for a piston to be that tight? Brakes seem to be working fine for now, and the wheels feel free and frictionless with no brakes applied, but I don't want to screw around when it comes to braking. Do I need to replace it?

 

Thanks for your time!

Greg

The fact that the brake pads were worn a lot more on the side with the caliper that had the piston that was harder to wind back in would suggest that the piston could be sticking a bit,you can either monitior that brake & see if it starts to bind & get hot or if your happy that the handbrake cable & lever are not siezed then you can either replace the caliper or get a seal kit & refurbish your existing caliper.

The piston should screw in easily like your second one, the tight one will most likely be contaminated with dirt and/or corroded and if not addressed will result in the same problem reoccurring.

Using force to reassemble a calliper is never a good idea as damage to the piston seal is likely as you screw a rusty/pitted/dirty piston back in.

A quick strip and clean, perhaps new seal(s) and it'll be good again.

Edited 18 February, 201610 yr by MicMac