Xantia 1.9TD BRAKE ADVICE?

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Barbarian
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Xantia 1.9TD BRAKE ADVICE?

Post by Barbarian »

How often should xantia brake pads be changed? I take it both front and rear are needed? In my old nissan i changed the front pads 3 or 4 times in 6 years of ownership and about 100k miles. Nobody ever mentioned rear breaks to me, So if it had them they were never chnaged! I could tell when the pads needed changing by the grinding sound as the pads got really thin. I take it there is no such indicating noises on the xantia.

Is it just a case of taking the xantia into the local fast-fit center for breaks or am i better to go elsewhere? What sort of price am i looking at?
citronut
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Post by citronut »

if your pads wear down to the metal you will get a nasty grinding noise on all make and models of car,you might find your ni**n had drums at the rear,also its a bad idea to leaave them till they are grinding as this damages the discs,the fronts have wear indicators if they are conected,also i would not go near a fast fit company as they probably use sub standerd pads and sting you genuine pad price for them,your best either do it your self or find a good indy localy,where abouts do you live,im in st leonards on sea east sussex,and i run my own small repair shop
regards malcolm
jeremy
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Post by jeremy »

Rear pads generally last much longer than front ones - but as the cars age there is the problem of corrosion behind caliper and its mounting. This causes the caliper to twist and the pads to 'wedge'

It can be cured by removing the caliper and cleaning the face and greasing it or painting it to prevent further corrosion.
jeremy
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Post by Barbarian »

Yeah i think your right about the nissan haveing drums at the rear now that i think about it, Im in scotland mate, Im sure most of the fast-fit places like kwik-fit, ATS ect all use uni-part parts, I know they are not really the best parts.
micitroen
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Post by micitroen »

As Malcolm said re the fast fit places as well as stinging you for 'genuine ' parts and using pattern parts it also (generally) means they get two bites at your cherry (as it were). Because they have used crap parts they wear out more quickly and therefore you go back to get them replaced more frequently. Two ways of screwing you. I had the fronts and rears replaced with pukka sintered pads when I bought mine over three years and 30,000 miles ago and they're still only half worn (checked on tyre replacement)
Mike



1993 BX TXD EST mmm. nice. 1990 Bx 19TZD Auto Lhd (now lives in France) 1998 Xsara 1.9d lx.
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Post by Peter.N. »

It really depends on how and where you drive, which could be a lot to do with your age! :? I am sure you will be aware of how much and how hard you apply your brakes. The front pads on my XM last about 30k but then I am old and slow. If you have a habit of rushing up to things then standing on your brakes, they could last less than half that. The best thing to do is whip a wheel off and look at the thickness of the friction material, anything less than about 3mm and they need changing. The rear brakes are only contributing about 30% of the breaking effort so should last much longer.
rory_perrett
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Post by rory_perrett »

On my Xantia - front pads about every 28 -30k miles, rear pads about every 90 - 100k.

Rory
Barbarian
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Post by Barbarian »

micitroen wrote:As Malcolm said re the fast fit places as well as stinging you for 'genuine ' parts and using pattern parts it also (generally) means they get two bites at your cherry (as it were). Because they have used crap parts they wear out more quickly and therefore you go back to get them replaced more frequently. Two ways of screwing you. I had the fronts and rears replaced with pukka sintered pads when I bought mine over three years and 30,000 miles ago and they're still only half worn (checked on tyre replacement)
Okey so where do i get pukka sintered pads amd how much do they cost? and are they pritty easy to replace yourself?
citronut
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Post by citronut »

i dont know about sinterd pads but i try to use TEXTAR from GSF if and when they have them in stock otherwise i use there BENDIX version,i find the more copper specs in the pad material the beter they are
regards malcolm
andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

I'd use the genuine Bendix, you know they're OEM and they're a good
price from GSF anyway - don't cut corners with this area of the car
- your life WILL depend on them working efefctively!!

The rear pads are 'easier' to change than the fronts prmarily as you can
get away with minimal amount of tools compared to using a special tool
for winding back of the front caliper's piston. I'm sure this job can be
done without one but why make life awkward for a regular service item
job on a car that you'll regularly want to work on?

The only things to watch for on the rear are the through bolt undoing and
feeding out (it's quite thin and can shear if it's threads are corroded) and
when pressing/levering the piston back into the caliper that you dont burr
over the edge of the piston. Safest thing to do is use a large footprint
adjustable spanner or moleys and grip the top loop of the pad and actually
compress that against the piston/caliper housing. Bear in kind of course if
you've not done this job before that when you lever against each pad the
pressure will work back into the caliper and press the opposite piston out.

You could undo the pressure in the caliper making the pads free to push
back against their stops by undoing the bleed screw and use this
opportunity to bleed the rear brakes too...

The front pads are reasonably easy to do and take little time to replace
but for the sake of 20quid or less get a caliper piston tool:
http://www.tooled-up.com/artwork/ProdImage/SEAVS024.jpg
You need to release the handbrake cable and undo a retaining pin that
then allows you to swing the caliper up and access the pads.

Andrew
Last edited by andmcit on 29 Oct 2006, 10:53, edited 1 time in total.
andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

for the caliper piston tool try Halfords or;

www.tooled-up.com - http://tinyurl.com/won6b

Andrew
jeremy
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Post by jeremy »

Certainly BX front pistons will screw in quite happily if pushed round with a screwdriver. The slots are cut square so you can put a square shafted screwdriver in them.

The answer to opposite pistons moving is to put something in the gap - like a spanner head. My BX back ones went back under finger pressure which amazed me but in the past I've used things like tyre levers (nice flat strong bar with flattened ends) to get caliper pistons back.
jeremy
andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

Some of the pistons on a few Xm's and Xantiae I've worked on have barely
turned in WITH the bespoke tool - at least not at first!! That's why I actually
bought it.

Better than a spanner head - why not fill the gap with the new replacement
pad!? Tyre levers are an essential part of my toolkit for use as pry bars etc
and the angled heads on them are very useful.

Andrew
jmd
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Post by jmd »

My Xantia's front pads are renewed every 50,000K, with some pad still there. Changed my back pads at 200,000K miles. Got a set of Pads at 150k, intending to replace, but the old pads had no wear, At 200K age had played its part, rather than wear, so I changed them. It all depends on the way you drive-a friend of mine wears front pads fast, changes them after 25k miles. the rear pads do very little work.
andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

WARNING!! RANT APPROACHING...

JMD - the fact you're in Ireland may have some bearing on pad life expectancy!!

In Wales and England the roads are at saturation point and a good 2/3's
of the driver zombies will happily/blithely pull out in front of you from a
side road with scant regard for your approach speed! That's if half of them
can see far enough due to their aged eyesight and reflexes or even hold a
valid license as they're illegal immigrants who can barely understand
'drive on the left'

This rant is 'possibly' distorted/twisted but my current view is the actual
blame for this worsening driving skills degradation is that fact that now
THEY go no more than 23mph EVERYWHERE so as not to get Gatso'd they
assume everyone else is virtually standing still doing the same speed as
them!!

I personally find my attention levels are higher and totally focussed the
more speed builds up and am not a reckless speeder; well I would say
that wouldn't I! The fact is though, when I'm in a snake of zombie drivers
trying to get 80mpg by doing 23mph I'm forced to almost permanently
drive on my brakes as my gearing isn't conducive to matching theirs...

And what's this 40mph in a 60 limit, 30 in a 40 and 20 in a 30 nonsense
all about every other time I'm not stuck at the regulation 23mph!? Surely
EVERYONE hasn't got 9 points on their license waiting to max out the next
time they freewheel down the next hill....!?

I guess you're getting 150k miles out of a clutch too!

Andrew
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