Driving my car last night noticed it slowing down pretty quickly and a burning smell pull over to find my front offside disc pretty warm and very black??

This mean a trip to the garage or is there something I can do I'm a novice? ?

Sounds like a sticking caliper, easy to rebuild but I do have experience doing so, might be fairly daunting for someone less experienced.

There are plenty of videos on YouTube of how to rebuild them, alternatively you can just replace the caliper with a reconditioned unit.

Both jobs require bleeding of the brakes.

as above, sticking caliper that can be rebuilt

Could just be stuck guide pins.

Make sure caliper is free to slide on them.

When cleaning ensure you clean rubber bores and lube with molybdenum or silicone grease.

The most likely is a build up of corrosion and brake sludge (set hard) on the sliding surfaces between carrier and pad backing plates. A brake stripdown is necessary to clean/dress (with a file) all parts, carrier,pads,slide pins, and then you can check if the caliper piston is seized also. Remember to only use proper brake grease (ceratek) as otherwise the problem will return.

Edited 10 September, 20169 yr by xman

Yes, the slide pins do not have rubber boots on to cover the protruding part of the pin, as a better designed brake would have.

 

At very least, this allows copper grease to dry out very quickly.

 

Just purchased some CeraTec myself to redo my pins.

 

If you cannot clean them yourself then yes, trip to the garage it is.

@Tilt

The ones on my 06 1.9 have rubber concertina seals and plastic caps to plug the open ends.

@Tilt

The ones on my 06 1.9 have rubber concertina seals and plastic caps to plug the open ends.

Mine has the flexible (concertina) part not fitted then. It has the caps.

 

Wonder if they changed the design or mine are just missing. I have done other brakes and seen the boots on those and wondered why this simple solution is not on my Octavia.

I have looked at seal kits for mine and these do not include the concertina part either.