fairy elephants Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 Hi, I have got a completly standard 1991 renault 5 campus 1.1L. I have recently noticed that my front drivers side brake is rubbing slightly and making an incredibly annoying high pitched sqweaking sound... I have had the wheel off and had a look, and i cannot see any way of adjusting it, although i could lever the pads off the disk so i no that there is movment there to be used up. I have also looked in my haynes manual and cannot find anything about adjusting the front brakes. So, basically, does anybody have any brilliant idea's to stop my brake irritating me, and wearing my pads down alot quicker than it should?? Cheers, Alex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomR Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 Maybe theyre a bit stiff in the slave cylinders? Maybe you need new pads? Maybe you need some copper grease on the back of them. Best bet is just replace them and make sure theres a good emoung of copper grease on the back of the bad. Check its moving freely aswell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairy elephants Posted May 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 Maybe theyre a bit stiff in the slave cylinders? Maybe you need new pads? Maybe you need some copper grease on the back of them. Best bet is just replace them and make sure theres a good emoung of copper grease on the back of the bad. Check its moving freely aswell. ← I have checked the pads and they have got plenty of meat on them still, so its not that they need replacing. Like you said it's as if i have a lazy cylinder, which isnt returning. I will try the copper grease at the weekend when i get another chance to look at it in day light (N) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prawny Baby Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 the main reason for binding brakes is of course pads not returning properly and hence rubbing the disc.... this can happen when the pads wear down, and the piston can fall slightly and no longer be square in the cylinder, stopping it from retracting.... this can also happen when the car has had worn pads in place for a long time (sanding over winter for example) and the exposed part of the piston (exposed due to worn pads) has corroded, stopping it retracting properly! if its just twisted slightly, it can be wound back in when u fit new pads.... but if its corroded, dont try to clean it up, do the sensible thing and rebuild the callipers with new stainless steel pistons (rebuild kits are usually sub£20) hope you get it sorted (N) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairy elephants Posted May 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 could somebody please tell me, what is the usual amount of meat you should get down to before replacing the pads? I would say (rough estimate) that i have around 10mm on there, does this count as worn? (N) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prawny Baby Posted May 13, 2005 Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 10mm doesnt sound worn at all!!! infact it sounds prety newish to me.... im certain my mini pads, and all the other pads ive changed (audi/bmw/citroen/metro!!!!) have had about 10mmish of life when new.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairy elephants Posted May 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 hmm, well they have been on there nearly a year, although it wasn't used for alot of that time... but i guess that could councel out pad wear... the noise only starts when the brake gets hot, like, it was very loud/ annoying after drive through some lanes last night... but obviously any high speed driving heats it up as it is rubbing :S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomR Posted May 13, 2005 Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 Definitely put some copper grease on them, that should help alot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.Wood Posted May 13, 2005 Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 Just to add something in, on the way to France our car started to make a super high pitched squeal from one of the wheels. It changed pitch and went away when braking. We thought the wheel was gonna fall off (Y) So anyways, we got to Morzine and got it checked over by a small local garage (after the Audi garage were complete knob ends..) and the helpful French fellow took a look. Turned out a small stone had become lodged in the caliper housing, and was rubbing against the rotor, making a super-loud, high pitched squeak. So yeh...worth checking out if nothing comes out of the other suggestions :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy P Posted May 13, 2005 Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 could somebody please tell me, what is the usual amount of meat you should get down to before replacing the pads? I would say (rough estimate) that i have around 10mm on there, does this count as worn? :P ← Worn down is when there is no pad left on the backing and you get a cool sparkler effect under heavy braking, although not very useful for slowing purposes (Y) Andy P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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