C5 cost of rear breaks disks and pads?

Timaru · Post by **Timaru** » 18 Sep 2006, 20:07

Hi All - My '03 2.2 Hdi estate has developed an ear splitting, pedestrian frightening squeal from the rear breaks.

I mentioned this at the last service and was told the only cure was the replacement of the disks and pads.

Can anybody give me an idea of what is a reasonable price for this job as the quotes I've had vary widely.

Many thanks, Jon.

Post by **CitroJim** » 18 Sep 2006, 20:36

Hi Jon,

I know nothing of a C5 specifically but I wonder if the rear brakes are similar to the Xantia ones as they are famed for squeal due to corrosion. There was a topic very recently about this but basically it's all down to corrosion between the caliper and the trailing arm causing the caliper and pads to sit at an angle to the disc.

Cure is to strip the caliper from the arm and give it a good cleanup.

Have a search around, loads of threads on this.

SandyD · Post by **SandyD** » 18 Sep 2006, 22:46

Hi Jon, on the C5 rear brakes can corrode at the contact point where the pads (metal) contact the brake calliper (alloy) dissimilar metal corrosion. If you don’t service your car your self get your mechanic to strip down and clean the rear brakes I used alloy wheel cleaner on the callipers and lots of copper grease on all contact points, that was over 5.000 miles ago and not a squeal since. By the way I have done 84k miles with my car and the discs are original pads are new.
I hope this helps you.

Sandy

AtitudeJim · Post by **AtitudeJim** » 19 Sep 2006, 07:39

i also have the same problem, recently like 3 weeks ago i changed the rear brake pads, thinking it would solve the squealing problem , but it looks like not... ill have also to try removing the corrosion, can i sand it and then clean it with a thinner? in thinking of painting the front and rear calipers, so it would be a 2 in 1 job

Post by **Sir Clive** » 19 Sep 2006, 07:42

The pads can wear into a peculiar shape if corrosion has built up behind the calipers and forced them out of line. Also, the main problem can be actually unscrewing the caliper retaing bolts....
But if it's brake parts you need I use these people on a regular basis and have no complaints about price or service.

http://www.brakeparts.co.uk/

Hope this helps.

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » 19 Sep 2006, 08:54

AtitudeJim wrote:i can i sand it and then clean it with a thinner? in thinking of painting the front and rear calipers, so it would be a 2 in 1 job

I haven't needed to do anything to my C5 brakes yet but if C5 are anything like Xantia then - No! - the corrosion is quite hard and needs to be scraped vigorously to remove it.