Brake Problem?

[MikeE]

Had a great day at Bedford autodrome on Saturday. However during the morning session I seemed to be having trouble with my heel and toeing. After a while I realised that it 'seemed' that the throttle pedal was higher than normal and therefore it was difficult to roll my foot from brake to throttle. Apart from that everything else seemed to be fine (i.e brakes were working OK although they didn't seem to have as much 'feel' as usual but I put this down to it being one of the few wet trackdays I'd run).

 

Later in the day I noticed there was something odd with the brakes, I had one of those moments where you brake too early for a corner so lift and then brake again. The 2nd time I braked I realised the pedal didn't move down anywhere near as much (although the brakes effectiveness was the same). This meant the relative position of the brake and throttle pedals was where you'd want them and heel and toeing was much easier again (as it has been in the past).

 

Thinking about it now it's as if a quick dab and lift was pumping the system up and if I then re-applied the brakes then they worked fine. Then by the next corner I'd get too much brake pedal travel again (unless I dabbed them beforehand).

 

So now I'm wondering if I have a problem and what I need to cure it. Does it sound like a brake fluid issue as I imagine it's 3 years old by now (unless Caterham service change it, it had a 24K service last April).

 

Any ideas?

 

cheers,

Mike

 

Edited by - MikeE on 16 Feb 2004 09:36:19

[Jason Plato]

Try checking your front wheel bearings . Play in the bearing knocks the pads off the brake pistons .

 

Dave

[MikeE]

Dave - thanks, so now for the inevitable question, how do I check the wheel bearings? (come to think of it I was sometimes getting a bit of shudder through the steering under braking).

[JAG]

This is classic behaviour for a braking system that requires bleeding. Have you tried that?

 

Do you have rear drums or calipers? The rear calipers are particularly difficult to get all the air out of.

 

 

Justin

 

A closed mouth gathers no foot.

[MikeE]

Thanks for the replies - so assuming it's one of the above (and given I've done 10 or so trackdays it's probably the fluid) how do I:

 

1) check the wheel bearings?

 

2) change the brake fluid (and rear pads at the same time)? Or should I pay Caterham to do it at the next service? How much do CC charge?

 

cheers,

Mike

[Shaun_E]

I can answer question 1;

Jack the car up and grab the tyre top and bottom and try to rock the wheel back and forth - if there is more than a very tiny bit of movement of the hub then the wheel bearings either need adjustment or they are shot. Search for adjusting them as this was covered recently - I know it wa me doing the asking.

Shaun

 

Yellow SL #32

[shn7]

Changing the rear pads is easy but you will need something to wind back the pistons. Halfords sell just such a tool for 10 or 15 quid. Replacing the fluid is just like bleeding the brakes only you pump a lot more fluid through to ensure that new fluid has reached the bleed nipple. Have a go. There's always someone on here who can help if you get stuck. And it's fun/satisfying to learn how too.

 

 

Steve.