rear brakes binding

[Steve G]

Hi All,

The rear brakes on my 1992 C2 appear to be binding. Running much hotter than the fronts and i can smell brakes as if i have been on track. Any ideas? Will it be the caliper sticking or the handbrake not releasing?
And as i need new discs and pads all round what is recommended for sprirted road use? What discs and what pads?

Cheers,
Steve G

 

[tim_haskins]

hi steve,

It could be either!, is it both sides??!!. I would remove the rear caliper,its only held on using 2 bolts and try spinning the wheel. The handbrake pads are inside the middle of the discs. You need to remove the calipers and then undo the countersunk screw in the disc and it will wiggle free. This lets you inspect the handbrake shoes. If its both sides i think it may well be a handbrake cable problem as its unlikley to have both calipers playing up at the same time. If only one side then it could still be the handbrake but without seeing it my guess would be a caliper fault.

I use OEM pads and discs and I am happy with them. Later i will upgrade to big reds. The harder the pad the more wear on the discs so i stick with oem as i dont track my car.

Tim[]

 

[vitesse]

Steve,
Quite likely to be the result of "plate lift",a frequent topic on here and the subject of articles in Porsche Post;last July good article on solving it on 944 front brakes.Because the calipers are aluminium,stainless steel shaped plates are fitted to the caliper ledges and held in place by angled buttonhead socket screws,Corrosion on the aluminium between the two components builds up and squeezes the stainless plates onto the pads.One result can be that the pads don't back off the disc after braking,hence binding brakes.If your discs are grooved,ie there is a ridge on the outside edge,it can be awkward removing the caliper and difficult to force the pads back enough to let you.My solution is to grind away the outside ridge(on both sides if necessary) away from the caliper then rotate the disc back so that the pads will slide clear.
The solution is to strip the plates off,remove the corrosion,etch prime,repaint and refit the cleaned-up SS plates(you may need to straighten them) or use new plates.The big problem:-getting the socket head screws out when corroded.I welded countersunk M10 nuts on them;the heat also frees the thread lock used when originally fitted.Article mentioned above gives the procedure.Handbrake uses small brakeshoes(not pads)inside the disc hub.

 

[kevin]

The handbrake is easy to test, just jack up the car on level ground, and away you go. they are amusing to adjust though, and Jason Andreas did a good write up on Rennlist for this.

Kevin