smoking brakes

[orange_andy]

seems like my handbrake isnt working last few days, traveling to work, it seems like its on as , when i let off accelerator the car stops quicker than usual and to a "half" that pulls you forward as it your braking, , the handbrake doesnt feel the same lifting it up and down, , if you put your foot on brake pedal and pull hand brake (usually ud feel the brake pedal move in as you pull the handbrake) not any more, just before i got to work the steering wheel was shaking pretty violantly, parked up then i noticed smoke like it was an exhaust, but it was coming from my driver side wheel, not the engine bay, any advise on this guys ?

[burgo]

well the side handbrake is obviously sticking on for some reason. just take ti apart give it a good clean up and put some new shoes on it will your there and all will be hunky dory

[Stuart]

what year is the car?

id guess that youve got a siezed caliper and its boiling the fluid making the handbrake feel odd.

renew the caliper(s) (ATE ones are infinately better than the delco ones, even the 1.2i brakes are ace compared to the 1.2 carb ones lol), and renew all the brake fluid while your at it.

should take you about 2 hours max

[orange_andy]

its a 1992 SR, where would be the best place to get parts ie, scrappi or parts traders, and stuff cheap, any ideas how much this stuff could cost, or if i would just be better going to a garage, as i aint done breaks before or anything, is it just a case of remember what youv taken off, and just clean the caliper with stuff or more to it than that "renew" its only the front driver side that smoked like

[Dar]

If its a floating caliper(front breaks). Which I should imagine that it is. It could be binding because the sliders are very dirty. Front breaks are very easy to do and cleaning the sliders a very easy indeed.

Jack the car up and take the wheel off. Turn the steering so the the caliper is as far out of the arch as possible. The two sliders are what hold the caliper to the rest of the breaks. They are usually an allen key fitting. Take one off at a time, they undo then slide out. Clean it up with a bit of WD40 or break cleaner, then smear a small ammount of greese on it and put it back in. Then do the same with the next one. They can be a pain to undo so with the wheel steering turned you should be able to put an allen key in and stand on it.

If its not the sliders and the piston in the caliper is seezed then I think you would be better off getting some new ones from a scrapper.

Hope this helps - Dar

[orange_andy]

put a post somewhere else aswell, i had a garage put new pads on months ago and they said they undone the calipers as theyd seized then, so i been told to ring em back as its probably a seized caliper as the smoke came from the driver side front wheel.

[orange_andy]

bin told its probably a caliper needed, if i ring scrappies, can i ask for any nova, or do i need the calipers exactly of a 1.4 sr, i dont wanan be buying callipers and then pads , resevoir ect, i just want to get the calipers, and if i can get the better calipers ie, 1.2i if they fit then ill get them

[Riggy]

all nova calipers will fit from a 1.0 -1.4

the 1.6 are bigger - but make sure you get the same style as yours and as stu said its prob an ATE style

[Stuart]

i said its probably not an ATE one... but imho its best to change to those anyway.

[Adam]

bin told its probably a caliper needed, if i ring scrappies, can i ask for any nova, or do i need the calipers exactly of a 1.4 sr, i dont wanan be buying callipers and then pads , resevoir ect, i just want to get the calipers, and if i can get the better calipers ie, 1.2i if they fit then ill get them
If your current brakes have a spring pad retainer fitted to the fronts of the calipers then they are ATE.
If they have crap pins through the caliper then they are the Delco ones that like to seize on,lol.
If you get 1.6 brakes, you would also need the 1.6 discs and pads.

If your calipers do have the spring on the front, then see if you can find a 1.2i in the scrap yard, as they should have the same calipers.

[SRimon]

ive had smoking brakes before....i put it down to lots of heavy braking :?

[orange_andy]

"ive had smoking brakes before....i put it down to lots of heavy braking "

when i wasnt braking mate!! i was driving to work and it felt like left foot on the brake while i was driving, there was as much smoke as on a cold morning with a 4inch tailpipe lol thought she was gonna blow shat me self, then seen it from the wheel thought oh bollox to it, and went into work

[Nova Full]

I've got a set of GSI Calipers, Disks and Pads you can have for ?10, much better than the SR brakes

PM me if your interested

Gaz