silent running

I recently overhauled my front 4-pots with brilliant results - smoother stronger brakes, no longer pulling to one side, never get more than a little warm.

However, my single piston sliding calipers (the 266x10mm solid discs) are a cause for concern and I just want to get an idea of things before I tackle them properly. I had a brief look last week and the pads are unevenly worn on both sides...the outboard pads are something like 4mm thinner than the inboard ones. But the pistons don't feel seized. After recent temperature checking following my front brake overhaul, it's become obvious that there's something wrong at the rear, because the fronts discs and calipers are stone cold, whilst the rear calipers are quite warm and the drum part of the discs is hot enough so that you can only just touch it.

Another factor to throw in is that a few months back I used to get a real bad screeching from the rear after an hour's driving, cured by a hard jerk of the handbrake. The handbrake does feel weak in operation.

SO! What might be the problem? Worn out brake shoes? If so, where do you get replacements? Might the shoes be OK but just need adjusting - are they dragging on the drums? Why are the pads so differently worn on each side? Cheers!

silent running

Anyone?

andy97

iTrader: (1)

If the drum section is the hottest then your drum/handbrake section will probably need a clean up and lubricate the pivot points with copper grease. They dont look too difficult, when I upgraded from sliding one pots to subaru two pots

stockcar

common issue with the sliding calipers to become siezed on the sliders or the pads to be siezed in the caliper..........strip down and release/grease up to sort

alyn

silent running

Thanks for the advice, I'll give it a good going over tomorrow if it doesn't rain. Just out of interest, if the shoes do need replacing, any idea what they cost at Subaru?

Hakon

If you can, look into the 2 pot Dyney upgrade. Well worth it, I think. My sliding calipers didn't do anything by the time I got them off.. the inside disc face was rusted as the pad didn't touch it !!

Hakon

silent running

I did think about it, but it just seems too much money to lavish on the rears - other projects have to take priority at the moment, like getting it through an MOT, new springs, new discs all round, STi 8 TMIC conversion etc. etc.

Shark Man

If after the rear overhaul and clean up, the problem contines: A further issue to look into is if the front pads are upgraded, under some circumstances the rears can be doing more work than the front and get much hotter....

I have seen problems with overheating rears which turned out to be the front pads causing the problem, even though pedal feel was fine the fronts weren't biting as hard. Resorting back to OE spec front pads cured the problem. Just to add, in all the cases I have seen, these were well known branded pads.

Also bear in mind that if you have overauled the front and fitted new pads and discs, they will not be bedded in until at the very least 500 miles of roundabout infested A-roads(Not on the motorway -obviously ), during this, the rears will be doing more work than normal and can get disproportionally hotter as a result.

silent running

Some good points there SHark Man. Cheers