Possible to freshen up/lubricate rear caliper?

berisen

berisen

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I have some issues with the rear brakes on my S3 8P and I'm not sure what's causing it.

For some reason the rear brakes seems to be applied a little bit all the time. Don't know the proper English term for this, it's not my first language :whistle2: but I hope that you get the picture. When driving for a while the front discs doesn't get warm at all but both rear discs definitely is. It's not much, the car still rolls freely but it's really bothering me.

I took the wheel and caliper off today on one side to see the condition of caliper/pads and it looked pretty ok but there was some of dirt and rust and crap that I brushed off with a steel brush. I noticed that both pads and disc was pretty worn out, the disc had sort of an "edge" at the end of the disc.

So I have two questions really. First of all, can worn out pads and disc cause that the brake caliper piston pushes out too far and therefore won't retract the way it's supposed to? Will a new set of discs and pads fix this?

Secondly, if new disc and new pads doesn't do the trick, can I refresh or lubricate the caliper piston some how to make it work as supposed again or is a new one the only option?

Thanks in advance! :racer:
 
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From what you say, it sounds as if your rear brakes just need a good service. The discs and pads sound worn from your description. If they have not been serviced for some years, it is likely that the "sliding pins" are either dirty and/or need some fresh lubrication. It your actual internal caliper pistons were sticking I would expect your symptoms to be more severe.

I would be thinking in terms of new discs, pads and a good clean and lubrication of the relevant parts.
 
From what you say, it sounds as if your rear brakes just need a good service. The discs and pads sound worn from your description. If they have not been serviced for some years, it is likely that the "sliding pins" are either dirty and/or need some fresh lubrication. It your actual internal caliper pistons were sticking I would expect your symptoms to be more severe.

I would be thinking in terms of new discs, pads and a good clean and lubrication of the relevant parts.
 
It is also worth checking that the actuating lever for the handbrake on the rear calipers moves fully back to the the stop position. A sticking actuating lever can be a cause of the pads rubbing the disc slightly.
I had to mend a Skoda Fabia recently where this was such a problem the rear brake was smoking after only a short journey.
 
Retroman said:
From what you say, it sounds as if your rear brakes just need a good service. The discs and pads sound worn from your description. If they have not been serviced for some years, it is likely that the "sliding pins" are either dirty and/or need some fresh lubrication. It your actual internal caliper pistons were sticking I would expect your symptoms to be more severe.

I would be thinking in terms of new discs, pads and a good clean and lubrication of the relevant parts.
Click to expand...

Ok thanks, then I'll just order a set of discs and pads and make sure to clean up everything when changing them and hope for the best! Do I need to do anything particular with the hand brake (like loosing the wire etc) when changing to new pads? I would imagine that the internal piston needs to be pushed back a bit to make the new pads fit. Or is it just to push it back just like normal?

prt57 said:
It is also worth checking that the actuating lever for the handbrake on the rear calipers moves fully back to the the stop position. A sticking actuating lever can be a cause of the pads rubbing the disc slightly.
I had to mend a Skoda Fabia recently where this was such a problem the rear brake was smoking after only a short journey.
Click to expand...
Thank you, good point there. Any tips on how to make sure that the lever is moving freely? Do I need to loosen or disconnect the wire in some way before doing this?
 
No one knows if I need to do anything particular with the hand brake (like loosen up the wire etc) when changing to the new pads? Is it possible to push the caliper piston back without loosen up the hand brake? New discs and new pads should arrive in a few days so I want to be prepared :)
 
You don't need to loosen the wire, but you most likely need a special tool for winding or turning the pistons back in. They can't be pushed, they need to be turned.

If your rear brakes are heating up while driving it's either hand brake actuating lever not returning fully, caliber sliding pins sticking, main pistons sticky or brake hoses breaking up and acting up a bit like one way valve not letting brake fluid return from the calibers after braking. Or if you really lucky, it's only the brake pads sticky in their guides. Start checking the pads can move freely in the calibers.
 
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Providing the hand brake lever on the calliper is returning fully you do not need to worry about the cable. You definitely need a calliper piston windback tool.
To remove the rear disc you need to remove the calliper carrier. This is held on by two extremely tight spline bolts.
Have a look at these bolts to see what tools you have to get these undone.
 
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prt57 said:
Providing the hand brake lever on the calliper is returning fully you do not need to worry about the cable. You definitely need a calliper piston windback tool.
To remove the rear disc you need to remove the calliper carrier. This is held on by two extremely tight spline bolts.
Have a look at these bolts to see what tools you have to get these undone.
Click to expand...
I have watched a few Youtube videos to prepare myself and all of them is removing the disc without removing the carrier, is this not possible on S3?

These for example:

 
I have recently changed the rear discs on a Mk 4 GTi and a Skoda Fabia with the same rear discs. Yes, I did not need to remove the carrier.
However, before that I did a TT Mk 2 fwd and a TTS and they bothneeded the carrier removing.
A very useful forum for this type of stuff is the TFSI tuning Facebook page.
 
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I ended up only replacing the pads, clean up and lubricate everything. The brake discs was a nightmare to remove so I gave up, the two spline bolts is placed so tight that it was impossible to get anything behind there to get them off so I just let the old discs stay on. They weren’t too bad after all I noticed so hopefully this does the trick.

After a few miles of testing I can tell that the rear discs is considerably less warm then before so there’s definitely an improvement.

If I want to change discs later on, what kind of tools did you use to get those two bolts off? I bought one of these but it’s to big/long.
 

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berisen said:
I ended up only replacing the pads, clean up and lubricate everything. The brake discs was a nightmare to remove so I gave up, the two spline bolts is placed so tight that it was impossible to get anything behind there to get them off so I just let the old discs stay on. They weren’t too bad after all I noticed so hopefully this does the trick.

After a few miles of testing I can tell that the rear discs is considerably less warm then before so there’s definitely an improvement.

If I want to change discs later on, what kind of tools did you use to get those two bolts off? I bought one of these but it’s to big/long.
Click to expand...

Yes those spline bolts are nasty if you only have hand tools. Tricky going in from the side with poor access.

I tackled it from the rear by undoing the rear shock absorber lower mount and pushing it up out of the way. You need a long breaker bar!
The only thing to remember is that the lower shock bolt needs to be tightened again with the full weight of the car on the wheels and someone in the back.
 
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