Failed "MOT" - rear brakes

[Stickyfinger]

The rear Calipers do NOT "often need replacing". That is rubbish, ask them to do the job, your calipers are working. The problem is a known one and it is NOT a problem that kills the calipers.

[Bandit12]

Yup I agree with SF mate. If the brakes didnt work then they would have told you on the MOT. This is pretty much what the advisory on my last MOT said too. I still think that given the lack of time its better on this occasion to let the garage deal with it. Alternative is to crawl under the car, take some pics andpost them, then a more informed opinion could be given.

[darbuck]

Absolutely agree with the lads the only thing that can fail on them is seals and their really simple to replace dont let anyone tell you otherwise as i said earlier it is a long job "if" it goes wrong. the calipers are very unlikely to need replacing, they are just looking for the easy route, bolt on bolt off.you need 3 days maximum and patience i couldnt afford to pay someone that kind of money so now i just do eveything myself if you buy the tools then you dont have to buy them the next time. really depends on your available time and finances you also know that you have taken extra care as its your car, mechanics were i am are not good so thats another reason i do it myself.

[Ben82]

Right went outside and jacked the car up and got the most offending side's wheel off and took a bunch of pictures:
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Didn't take any from the other side because a) I'm not feeling too well atm and b) not got as much easy access to that side where I am parked.
Hopefully those will suffice to make an opinion.

[dnsey]

Those don't look too bad, to be honest.
From what I can see, there's not too much evidence of caliper corrosion, which should make things easier.
A set of new discs and pads should sort it. You might even get away with skimming the discs on the car for now, if you can find someone to do it, which would save a lot of hassle.

If the garage wants order replacement calipers, that's up to them, but I wouldn't let them charge for them unless they can show you evidence that the old ones need anything more than seals. They probably just need excercising an bit to be good as new.

If a bolt shears flush with the arm, you won't shift it easily with a bolt extractor! You'll need a series of cobalt drills to get it out, then chase the thread.

Prepare well, and take it slowly and carefully, though, and the bolts will unscrew OK.

[darbuck]

they look good enough to be repaired to me, mine were in similar condition and now after a bit of work they are like new check the discs for thickness i think minimum for solid is 12mm or 20mm for vented hope that helps The fact that they are not working correctly is why they are scored this may not be that bad its hard to tell from photos.

[Stickyfinger]

Always worth replacing the disks....they are not much (and don't do much) and those look a little rough.....Calipers are good with a clean, a seal kit if needed.

I cannot see that they will need to be replaced.......but they may be "covering all bases" but glad to see Swedish garages are as full as poo as British ones ....here was me thinking you were all Blonde, Perfect and sing-a-long to ABBA whilst eating Meatballs everyday

[darbuck]

jahsus sticky thats some picture of swedes you have as far as garages are concerned i think its an international trait

[Ben82]

Thanks All.

I think they probably go for getting the parts ordered anyway because they are always quite busy, and if they get into the situation where then they need new callipers, they're likely to have the car stuck on one of the lifts, waiting for the callipers to arrive. Losing them some hours of paid work. And by the time they've got to the stage of having the callipers off to replace the discs and pads with the new parts just there, they might as well replace them.
Also the motoring parts suppliers over here are strange, often they charge restocking fees for returned goods. I returned a cable set once (that made sure the headlights are always on), and was charged a 20% restocking fee.... for a frigging cable!

I can kinda see where they're coming from on it. Don't necessarily agree with it, but hey ho.

It seems the general consensus here is that "that's not too bad". And my window for getting it sorted by a garage is closing fast (tomorrow really), and taking my time with it is something I can probably afford to do. The car is needed pretty much from Thursday until the 16th. With it towing this weekend and next weekend.
What I can probably do is each day from Friday (maybe sooner), is jack the car up and use some penetrating oil (most likely WD40) on the bolts and on the torx disc screws. On the Sunday 16th Dad and I can work on the car (I think since it's less likely that the callipers need replacing that it'll be more me doing stuff and him helping out occasionally).

I think most tools I can get over here that I'd need for the job, and all the discs and pads I can get from Opie (along with the servicing stuff I need), who were pretty good if I recall the last time.

So a few questions for clarity:
It looks like it's only the bolt heads that is accessible for using the WD40 on (i.e. no nut at the other end?), so I just spray round it with some WD40 each time? And probably use a wire brush to clean it up too?
The impact driver set from opie doesn't come with torx bits, but it comes with a bit adaptor, can I use my T40 bit on the disc screws with the impact driver? or does it require an impact torx bit?
Should I be trying to loosen the bolt after a while (say a couple of days) to try to get more WD40 down the shaft? or should I leave it until it's time to do the deed?
Any idea why the calliper is marked with a cross?
The rewind tool is NOT required at all for the rear brakes, and no other tool like it?

darbuck: to me the scoring did seem fairly bad, but not sure what one should look like after at least 4 years of use (length of time I've had the car).

[myglaren]

Be sure to use this and not standard WD40.

Agreed that the callipers don't look too bad and shoud respond to a clean up.

[Ben82]

Be sure to use this and not standard WD40.

Agreed that the callipers don't look too bad and shoud respond to a clean up.

Balls, doesn't look like they do that one over here, they do them with that type of nozzle: http://www.mekonomen.se/bil/sok/SearchP ... rande+olja" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maybe should go for 5-56 instead hmmm

[Stickyfinger]

OPr one of these ?

[Ben82]

OPr one of these ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2A8no15Ep0

Looks great.. price tag of >£250 (£395 from the official reseller lol) does not!

[dnsey]

There's some excellent advice here:
http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... it=caliper

[Stickyfinger]

sure....if the tool is worth more than the average Xantia I agree.....

but on this ?

it may be worth it