Rear brake bind again

[JWvrs25]

A while ago i had a binding osr brake which was eventually cured by fitting a new rear hose section. I also replaced the calliper and checked sliders etc when it was all apart.

I went to paint the calliper a few days ago and noticed its binding again. Wheel only wants to turn 1 turn when i spin it off the ground and after a short drive it seems the disc is much hotter than the other 3.

Anyone know where to look next as i cant think of any other reasons as to why it would be binding.

Checked handbrake lever and it backs right off to the stop as i have return springs fitted.

[KenONeill]

@JWvrs25 - The most usual cause of a sliding caliper binding is it seizing on the guide pins.

[JWvrs25]

14 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

@JWvrs25 - The most usual cause of a sliding caliper binding is it seizing on the guide pins.

I replaced them when i did the calliper and made sure they were nice and free. Might just order another set to be sure though

[Breezy_Pete]

Bearing?

[rum4mo]

One thing to check, if you had just fitted another used but "working" calliper is,  is the adjuster winding out - that happened to me with an almost new 2002 Polo, I got round that by fully retracting the piston every year and yes I did add in an external return spring.

 

That problem was not too severe with that car, but it does seem to be with your one, for the record, I've never ever had a VW Group car with rear discs to suffer from sticking guide pins, though I have always cleaned the brakes out on all my cars every year. or every other year at most.

 

Do check that the adjuster screw has not caused the piston to be too far out when the brake is off - you should be able to use "sensible" side ways pressure on the pads to see if it can be moved back far enough without needing to re-zero the piston on its thread, if you manage to work out that that is not an issue you have managed to dismiss one known problem that invariably seems to dog the off side rear calliper.

[JWvrs25]

25 minutes ago, rum4mo said:

One thing to check, if you had just fitted another used but "working" calliper is,  is the adjuster winding out - that happened to me with an almost new 2002 Polo, I got round that by fully retracting the piston every year and yes I did add in an external return spring.

 

That problem was not too severe with that car, but it does seem to be with your one, for the record, I've never ever had a VW Group car with rear discs to suffer from sticking guide pins, though I have always cleaned the brakes out on all my cars every year. or every other year at most.

 

Do check that the adjuster screw has not caused the piston to be too far out when the brake is off - you should be able to use "sensible" side ways pressure on the pads to see if it can be moved back far enough without needing to re-zero the piston on its thread, if you manage to work out that that is not an issue you have managed to dismiss one known problem that invariably seems to dog the off side rear calliper.

Thats sounding more likely, I wound back the piston completely which was very easy to do and then installed the calliper, as soon as it resets itself to the 'correct' position i can no longer feel any movement in the pads and it starts to bind. It was a used calliper but had a sticker on it saying remanufactured 2017 so i assumed it was ok. Maybe a brand new calliper is the way to go

[rum4mo]

Refurbed 2017 should be as good as a new one of that age I'd hope, I was guessing that you had fitted a good used one which was the same age as your car, though, it does seem that for some reason, the off side rear callipers of that type did suffer a lot from early problems.  For what it is worth, or not, the later ie 2015 cars seem to have a heavier internal return spring - going by the "weight" of the handbrake, but I went ahead and fitted external return springs to my wife's August 2015 Polo as soon as she bought it.

 

Edit:- when you say "new" I hope that you mean a refurb'd one from ECP etc at a sensible price.

Edited 26 March, 2018 by rum4mo

[JWvrs25]

3 minutes ago, rum4mo said:

Refurbed 2017 should be as good as a new one of that age I'd hope, I was guessing that you had fitted a good used one which was the same age as your car, though, it does seem that for some reason, the off side rear callipers of that type did suffer a lot from early problems.  For what it is worth, or not, the later ie 2015 cars seem to have a heavier internal return spring - going by the "weight" of the handbrake, but I went ahead and fitted external return springs to my wife's August 2015 Polo as soon as she bought it.

 

Edit:- when you say "new" I hope that you mean a refurb'd one from ECP etc at a sensible price.

Just looked at ECP prices and im not liking them. I paid £15 for this calliper from the local scrappy so maybe I should go back and try my luck with another calliper as there are probably hundreds there fitted to all sorts.

[rum4mo]

1 minute ago, JWvrs25 said:

Just looked at ECP prices and im not liking them. I paid £15 for this calliper from the local scrappy so maybe I should go back and try my luck with another calliper as there are probably hundreds there fitted to all sorts.

 

I didn't either, though years ago I was lucky when I desperately needed one and there was a better than usual discount code, though I did need to hand back the old calliper. (my 2000 VW Passat 4Motion ended up with one very seized one just before MOT time)

[CWARD]

Could be corrosion on the brake piston stopping it from retracting properly. I had this problem with my wife’s car at the weekend. Whilst I was able to clean it up enough so it would retract, it will only be temporary as the corrosion will come back or the seal will become damaged. Only remedy is new piston and seal caliper refurbishment or to replace the caliper with a new one. 

Check under the rubber dust gaiter for signs of corrosion on yours. 

[Brogeur]

Happened on my Fabia. Could never fix it. Drive me mad, and flogged it. Heap of $hite

[JWvrs25]

9 hours ago, Brogeur said:

Happened on my Fabia. Could never fix it. Drive me mad, and flogged it. Heap of $hite

im definately not getting rid just becuase of a slight brake issue, but it certainly is annoying!

[fabdavrav]

Fit the external helper return springs from either the Passat or the T4..I fitted the T4 ones....

 

Very old & common problem, VW used the same internal return spring for both sides & one side it rotates the correct way, the other side its strained more thus this caliper fails more & quicker than the other side...

[JWvrs25]

44 minutes ago, fabdavrav said:

Fit the external helper return springs from either the Passat or the T4..I fitted the T4 ones....

 

Very old & common problem, VW used the same internal return spring for both sides & one side it rotates the correct way, the other side its strained more thus this caliper fails more & quicker than the other side...

As i said ive already fitted the springs and it returns to the stop as its supposed to.

Jacked up car yesterday at rear and OS wheel will only spin 1.5 turns if you manually spin it as hard as you can. NS wheel will spin 4 times or so with hardly any resistance from the pads dragging

 

[fabdavrav]

1 minute ago, JWvrs25 said:

As i said ive already fitted the springs and it returns to the stop as its supposed to.

Jacked up car yesterday at rear and OS wheel will only spin 1.5 turns if you manually spin it as hard as you can. NS wheel will spin 4 times or so with hardly any resistance from the pads dragging

 

 

Ok then...other problem I had was that the rubber skirt/seal for the rod which goes into the piston from the external lever allows rust under it...flip it open with a slothead screwdriver & spray some plusgas type undo-anitseize spray oil...that worked on mine...otherwise a new caliper..

[JWvrs25]

Right, ordered a new calliper from GSF with their discount so came to £52 once id taken back an old one to exchange against, going to fit it tomorrow or monday hopefully so will update with how it goes. 

It was a remanufactured Lucas calliper so hopefully wont have any issues has a 12 month warranty anyway.