1 hour ago, JHAnd said:

those flakes on the front brakes were rust or just crud.

Definitely rust on the discs. My main concern was over the rust on the inside edge of the pad swept area on the LH disc. (see your own photos upthread and compare left and right)

 

Yes, the rust on the outside of the drums is there, and quite normal as per @TMB. As he also says you need to remove the drums to inspect the shoes for wear, and indeed drums likewise. Note that, as drums wear they get larger inside, not smaller or thinner.

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

1 hour ago, JHAnd said:

Then I would need a brake fluid tester. Heard something about the pen types being unreliable. What kind of tester would you recommend?

There are other types, personally I do not use any and I am not sure of the reliability and accuracy of any DIY tools for this.

 

On 09/11/2022 at 20:34, KenONeill said:

Definitely rust on the discs. My main concern was over the rust on the inside edge of the pad swept area on the LH disc. (see your own photos upthread and compare left and right)

The rust seems to be outside of the swept area on both left and right discs as far as I can tell.

 

On 09/11/2022 at 20:34, KenONeill said:

Yes, the rust on the outside of the drums is there, and quite normal as per @TMB. As he also says you need to remove the drums to inspect the shoes for wear, and indeed drums likewise. Note that, as drums wear they get larger inside, not smaller or thinner.

 

Thanks, I'll remove the drums and do an inspection tomorrow.

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

29 minutes ago, JHAnd said:

The rust seems to be outside of the swept area on both left and right discs as far as I can tell.

 

 

Thanks, I'll remove the drums and do an inspection tomorrow.

If you are doing that you might as well at least give them a cleaning and depending on how much of a PITA the job is, or is appropriate at this time, dissemble and lubricate and/or adjust.  This is often one of those very dirty jobs on a car that you do not know the history of and can sometimes take a lot longer than you expect or it should if the brakes are the type with springs or fitting that fight against you for no good reason.

 

 One of the biggest issues with rear drums on Fabias is that the arm that the handbrake cable connects to has a pivot on the shoe which can seize, When this happens, the shoes remain in constant contact with the drum and cause drag with the resulting heat, and can give unbalanced wear and in-efficient hand brake action. The issue with the build up of rust at the disc periphery at the edge of the pads is this can cause judder as any high spot will intermittently contact the pad during the disc rotation. For this reason I always try to remove this, whether by tapping the rust with a chisel blade or hammer, grinding, of filing, All these issues are "been there, done that".