front brakes on my BX...

simonineaston · Post by **simonineaston** » 03 Aug 2006, 15:51

Hi,
under 1000 miles ago, I had a set of front brake pads fitted. Afterwards, I noticed that the FNS pads where rubbing enough to smell them, as well as make the disk too hot to touch, but as I was travelling through France at the time, I didn't have the chance to look more closely at the caliper... After I got home I forgot about the this issue, as much due to the fact that the smell had gone as my bad memory.
Last week I took the car for it's MOT test and lo! it needed new FNS brake pads. I asked the mechanic if he had seen any symptoms in the caliper that could explain the accelerated wear, and he said that he couldn't and that everything was fine. Should I take his word for it, and hope that whatever was sticking is miraculously fixed itself, or should I do some more investigation, in which case, what should I look out for?

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » 03 Aug 2006, 16:02

If you ignore the trouble it will cost you another set of pads. Check that the handbrake cable is moving smoothly within the outer. One or the other may be starting to breakup.

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 03 Aug 2006, 16:56

I have had lots of these problems on my BX'es.
The only thing that seems to solve it - is to replace the caliper slide bushings - and make sure the caliper slide bores are cleaned and freshly greased.
Another common problem is the front hub surface rusting - exactly where the slide bushings goes on. Roadsalt and water makes for rust build up between the end of the bushings and the hub surface - making the bushings to tilt slightly.
Remedy is to carefully rub down with a file over both caliper mounting holes to clean the surface and make sure its even & square over both holes.

This is valid for all other models with sliding calipers as well.

simonineaston · Post by **simonineaston** » 04 Aug 2006, 13:23

Thanks, guys - I'll roll my sleeves up this week-end...