Ford Focus brake smell

Kiran

I changed the rear disc and pads on my Ford Focus this weekend. I also fitted a new caliper to the NSR. Everything went fine and put the wheels back on. This morning I have noticed a burning smell from the OSR brakes which still have the original caliper fitted.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be, do I need to take it all apart again and refit from scratch?

Any advice greatly received

Stooby2

It could just be the new pads bedding in, or it could be the caliper/piston is stuck. If you take it for a short drive without much braking is the OSR noticeably hotter than the NSR?

Kiran

It's not noticably hotter, but it is only the old caliper side that smells. Also, when I did the job the wind back tool pushed the piston back in with minimal effort (no excessive resistance).

I have noticed one further thing. The discs I bought are the pagid galv coated from Euro Car Parts, used them on my other car and the front of the focus and never had an issue with them. On the side with the new caliper you can see the new pads have made full contact with the disc. It appears that the old caliper side only about 1/2-3/4 of the pad is contacting the disc. I checked the discs before fitting them and they appeared to be spot on for flatness and no deviation. Not sure if that was relevant but only other thing I can think off.

When I get home I'll take them apart again and give the caliper another good clean to see if anything is stuck.

Thanks for your input

forgotmyname

Did you fit the pads properly regarding in the self adjusters?

What about the handbrake cables. Adjusted them properly?

Henzo

I would , check your calipher again .

Kiran

Thanks for your replies, I have now sorted the problem.

When I stripped the brakes down again last night it looked like the pad was not making full contact with teh disc. I took everything off and checked the handbrake mechanism, slide pins, caliper etc. All fine. As I was putting it all back together I discovered that the retaining clip had not gone back in properly the first time and it was allowing the pad to move slightly. Once it had moved it was sitting against the disc at an angle causing the over heating smell. I made sure the retaining clip was seated properly when it went back together this time and have done a couple of test runs with no heat or smell being generated.

red_eye

Kiran wrote: »

It's not noticably hotter, but it is only the old caliper side that smells. Also, when I did the job the wind back tool pushed the piston back in with minimal effort (no excessive resistance).

I have noticed one further thing. The discs I bought are the pagid galv coated from Euro Car Parts, used them on my other car and the front of the focus and never had an issue with them. On the side with the new caliper you can see the new pads have made full contact with the disc. It appears that the old caliper side only about 1/2-3/4 of the pad is contacting the disc. I checked the discs before fitting them and they appeared to be spot on for flatness and no deviation. Not sure if that was relevant but only other thing I can think off.

When I get home I'll take them apart again and give the caliper another good clean to see if anything is stuck.

Thanks for your input

does handbrake leaver on caliper move freely? also is the cable moving freely at the caliper end?

Kiran

As per my post above the handbrake mechanism and cables were all fine. Problem sorted now. Thanks for your suggestion.

red_eye

Yeah, I saw that after I posted.

Richard53

Kiran, thanks for posting the solution as well as the original question. I frequent a few bike forums, and it is very frustrating when someone poses a query, and a lot of people take the trouble to reply, and then we never hear how it turned out. It's nice for the contributors to feel that they have been of some help, and it's also useful for anyone searching the forum in the future for help of a similar nature.

Glad you managed to sort it.

chris55

Thanks for sharing that but i have a question from where you changed the calipers ?? whenever i want to repair my car then i will go to a good reputed car care center because they have a good experienced staff.so always go to garage in order to avoid the this kind of problems.


unitedcarcare.com.au/