Hi Sidescrollin

Just in order to Clear that up, I had no idea that the brakes had a fault, as She passed the MOT without a problem.

 

No I wasn't! the car had been running perfectly, except for a banging on the exhaust, which I managed to quieten down after a few test drives without any problems.

 

Hi Sidescrollin

With respect I think that you have got the wrong end of the stick, the brakes were working perfectly until the car broke down.

And then my mate who is a mechanic came to the rescue.

After which I asked for help on the Forum and was given lots of useful advice as to the best way of insuring that it doesn't happen again.

So as you may have gathered I'm replacing all the Calipers and everything in between regardless of cost.

 

Now that everybody has vented let's stay on the brakes topic please.

 

Without even checking I would assume then that this is an older thread that has just had many recent posts. Your reply would be the perfect answer to my initial post "im confused".

The direction I went with that in response to steve m was that this was a new thread. He never said otherwise and as you see " im confused, why did you drive it after knowing the brakes were bad" was not a negative post. I genuinely was confused and didn't consider the "bumping" action of forums.

I had to reiterate several times, but don't take it as being more critical. I simply thought this happened after and was trying to explain to Steve M how if this were the case it isn't my fault that a bad thing happened. Or that commenting on a negative event doesn't make me negative.

Obviously he jumped in before you could reply about my confusion

 

I tend to agree with a lot of the advice here. The question isn't whether or not to replace the caliper, it's how much of the braking system to overhaul.

Given the circumstances, I would at the very least do a complete overhaul on the front brakes: calipers, pads, good quality rotors, and hoses only because they're so inexpensive. I would also bleed the entire system and replace with a high quality brake fluid. I'd also do a visual inspection of the other components, including the master cylinder, steel brake lines, and rear brakes.

If it were me and I was experiencing no other symptoms, I might leave the rest alone for a while. Looking at your sig, it looks like your car has inboard rear brakes. They're inherently difficult to work on. Unless you have someone that will overhaul the rear brakes for you that will do it for a great price, I'd leave them alone for now. The truth is that your front brakes do at least 80% of the stopping. If you lock up a rear caliper (been there) you will probably not loose all brakes like you did here. Further, you're more experienced now. You'll know exactly what's going on the next time you smell that smell!

As for the master cylinder, I'd wait until it shows signs of failure before you change it unless you have someone that will do it dirt cheap. The chances of an immediate catastrophic failure are extremely low. They are pretty durable and last a long time.

 

Hey I like too be prepared haha . i would listen too fastkat rreplace your brake fluid and redo the the front completely go with ebc pads if you want too get fancy go for some drilled and slotted rotors . Rear brakes are inboard so its a pain in the *** .let a shop do those

 

Hi FastKat

I am doing a Complete (No Expense Spared) Overhaul of the Front Brake System, Calipers, Hoses and everything, except for the Master Cylinder, which should be OK.

After the Summer I will drop the rear IRS Cage and renew everything and although I am not a Pro Mechanic like some of you guys on here, the more I do the more I get to know.

So apart from relying on you guys to help keep me on track, calling in professional help is something that I would regard as a sign of failure on my part.

I remember the day I first got a V12, I opened the bonnet looked at the engine, then closed the bonnet/hood again!

A master piece it may have been but it looked so daunting that I didn't even know the way of to top up the Screen Washer bottle.

In a way I'm glad I had the major problem that I did as now I'm totally obsessed with knowing everything about my Car.