Red hot rears!!!

[owen080808]

Well no sooner had i finished my cv boots this evening when on the test drive the handbrake didnt seem to have fully released, i could feel the brakes rubbing and seeming to hold the car back. a couple of sharp/aggressive stops seemed to help and after a few jabs on the hanbrake whilst rolling slowly the problem seemed to have cleared up, i went for a quick run to get some fuel and on the way back stopped on a hill and had to use the handbrake. after that it was back to the brakes being stuck on, and this time no amount of braking would free them. When i got home the drivers side rear brake disc was glowing RED HOT! like proper f1 style.

The plan for tommorow was going to be take the caliper off, grease the guide pins, set the adjuster and hope for the best. Ive just read in Haynes that the guide pins are 'self lubricating plastic' (sounds like a recipe for disaster to me) and im starting to worry that they wont just be melted to blobs after such high temps!?!

What would you guys recomend as a course of action? im going to have a proper poke in the morning but is there anything that high temps could have damaged. Also i would have thought that normally the adjuster would be used to tighten the brakes as the pads wear/cables stretch and not slacken them, is there likely to be a more sinister cause? The calipers and handbrake cables were a couple of days old when i got the car and are still noticeably shiner than anything else underneath, what could have caused this problem after only 7k ish miles and about 8 months driving?

Sorry for the long post, any rear brake info would be great

Thanks guys
Owen

[Loki]

Hi, Id personally get another rear caliper. The calipers do tend to go. I had 2 replace 1 of mine on the 1.7. Will have some at work if u interested in a second hand 1 but urs may b repairable. Ill PM u with my mob no.

Loki

[martinholmesuk]

Dude,

You need re-adjust the rears. It's all on the forum if you search.

It's not so hard a job.

If you adjust the hand brake nut on threat (center of car) use 2 13mm spanners.

take it easy !

[Agwa Moose]

I'm on my 3rd 480 now, and on all of them the handbrake stuck on when it was cold (or sticks in the case of the one I've got now)

On my first one it started doing it towards the end of november, and start working again towards the end of february/beginning of march, my second one started it in november but I sold it shortly after so dunno if it freed up again, and the one I've got now started it in (you guessed it) november, gonna wait and see what happens next year now, will it start working again or not

Another winter with no handbrake.... joy....

J

[owen080808]

Ha ha i had suspected that the cold might have had something to do with it. I'll back off all the adjustments today and take it from there.

Thanks for the quick advice as always guys

[owen080808]

Well i did back off the adjusters, at the wheels and under the centre of the car. The brakes dont drag all of the time now which is good

But i can't seem to get the handbrake to work, it either works but doesnt release enough to allow the wheels to turn or goes to the end of its travel without being able to stop the wheels: most frustrating!

I thought the cables (to each wheel) might be sticking and preventing the caliper from reutrning but as mentioned they are not very old and when i took a look there's still the original grease on the inner cable and they seem to move smoothly by hand. so cables are pretty much ruled out.

As mentioned the calipers look great but i just see why they wouldnt be returning as they should, i am pretty much refusing to believe that there could be any kind of failure in the calipers after such little use.

I guess more fidling with the adjustments (when i have a second pair of eyes might help) is the only cure, but ive got a horrible feeling that plastic guide pins will be to blame... and if they are sticking then i dont really have a choice but to lubricate them, even tho haynes says not too - Dilema!