Front brake imbalance

[sideymun]

Hi all, i just got my S2 cab back from its MOT which it passed (after they charged me £30 to tighten a flaming bolt. However, one of the advisories was that my front brakes are imbalanced and were very close to making the car fail. Now i've just had my front discs and pads replaced by a porsche independant so im a little concerned that the imbalance may be caused by that as it has never suffered this imbalance in previous years. Is it possible that replacing the discs and pads has broken something or are the two things unrelated?

I intend to give the garage who did the brakes a call, but I'd prefer to go in with a little more information so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Also if i do need to get them balanced is it going to cost me a fortune?

Cheers
Sid

 

[jackregan]

i cant see how changing the parts would cause an imbalance - has the brake fluid been changed recently?

 

[sideymun]

the brake fluid was changed about 2 years ago during a service. The brake pipes were replaced too.

 

[Fen]

It's probably the onset of plate lift and one side is worse than the other. You can't balance the brakes as such, but plate lift causing one caliper to stick more than the other would create an imbalance.

You should change your fluid every 2 years, so it's due for a change now.

 

[Diver944]

Ask the garage if they can remember how easy it was to get the pads in and out. A good calliper with no plate lift will allow you to pull the pads out with your finger tips.

 

[zcacogp]

Agree with Fen, although less likely options could be a stuck piston in a caliper somewhere, or a damaged brake pipe to one side or the other (which should have been picked up on the MOT). Or some blockage in the system somewhere. Also, while plate lift is the most likely explanation, any indie of any worth whatsoever should have spotted this while changing the pads.

Try and get some figures for how different the two sides are (I think the MOT allows up to 10% variation between sides) and take those to the guy who changed the brakes. A print-out from a computerised brake-testing machine would be best, but numbers scribbled on a fag packet is OK.


Oli.

 

[danofesher]

I think it's likely to be the fact that the pistons have been pushed back and are now in a new place and are sticking (whenever I change pads I push the pistons in and out a few times to lessen the chance of them sticking). As said above, they may have damaged a pipe when moving the caliper out of the way. It could also just be that the pads need to bed-in.

 

[sideymun]

Cheers for all the advice guys. The independent i took it too seemed to be well up to the job and i would have thought he would have identified any plate lift. The car hasnt been driven much since i had the brakes done so bedding in may be the reason for the imbalance. However, i need to have the handbrake checked so i may ask the garage to look at the brakes too just in case it is something a little more serious.

I have the print out of the brake test from the MoT so i shall take that along with me.