Xantia - unbalanced braking.

[IanR]

Was driving in some pretty extreme conditions today, and found that the N/S front wheel would skid extremely easily when braking, the braking effort required being only slighly more than that for a normal stop.
Admittedly there was a lot of water on the road, but even so it should, I felt, have had more stopping-power than that. I tried it in the centre of the road in case it was down to kerbside water, but no difference. Always the nearside wheel lets go first.
There is, strangely, no detectable pull on the steering when braking.
Any ideas? Air in system, perhaps?
It doesn't have ABS, by the way.
Because of the conditions I havent had a chance to look at it at all yet, other than a quick glance at the tyres.

[mbunting]

Different make of tyre ?
Wrong size compares to the rest ?
Under / over inflation ?
Tracking & Balancing ? ( alters contact angle with the road ).
OR simply a tyre which is worn a little more than the others..
Mat.

[Dave Burns]

Ian, I'd be concentrating my efforts on the side that wasn't locking, there seems to be defficiency there compared to the other side, unless the disc has worn irregular on the locking side i.e is thicker at certain points, but then you would almsot certainly be experiencing brake judder to some degree.
Dave