Failed nct on imbalance

Hi all, I failed nct last week on imbalance, the guy in the centre told me to just change break pads and discs and maybe clean out the calipers.
I got a mechanic to check it he said one break pad on right rear is half gone, and the one on left rear is fully there. He wreckons it's the calipers but isn't fully 100%

How can I be sure? And would I need to change the pads too? He said pads are not too low.

Here are the failure numbers

Rear axle nearside 0.760 kN ovality nearside 13% offside 12%. Imbalance 41%
Service brake effort 71%

I just want to be sure as I priced one caliper and it costs a lot but would rather be sure, mechanic said it can't be cleaned out also.
It's a 2001 almera if that makes a diff
Any advice greatly appreciated

biko

Cleaning and re-greasing the calipers would be a good start. I don't think the brake pads needs to be changed.
You didn't mention the front brakes, did they pass?

Sorry the front are fine they passed,
Well I left it in a garage this morning and they said the caliper has ceased. They also suggest I get discs and brakes.

Ive found a caliper for 175 Euro. If that's all I need to do its grand, and the brakes will be fine even though they are at different sizes?

rex-x

No really you do need new pads at least if not discs after a seized caliper

dougie-lampkin

You can get recon calipers for ~€65 off these guys.

Calipers don't really "go" though. They have two moving parts, three for a rear caliper with handbrake. If both pads on the N/S are evenly worn, you need to have a look at the piston. If one side is worn more than the other, or both pads are worn unevenly across the face diagonally, look at the sliders. Both the piston and sliders are cheap and easy to find online, along with seal and dust boot kits. I'd hazard a guess that yours is definitely fixable. But if you're relying on a garage to sort it, they'd probably charge the €65 for labour alone.

There should be no need to replace pads, they will have the same friction whether there's 30 mm or 0.3 mm of pad left.

rex-x

dougie-lampkin wrote: »

You can get recon calipers for ~€65 off these guys.

Calipers don't really "go" though. They have two moving parts, three for a rear caliper with handbrake. If both pads on the N/S are evenly worn, you need to have a look at the piston. If one side is worn more than the other, or both pads are worn unevenly across the face diagonally, look at the sliders. Both the piston and sliders are cheap and easy to find online, along with seal and dust boot kits. I'd hazard a guess that yours is definitely fixable. But if you're relying on a garage to sort it, they'd probably charge the €65 for labour alone.

There should be no need to replace pads, they will have the same friction whether there's 30 mm or 0.3 mm of pad left.

I would really disagree with this, always good to start afresh, otherwise the worn pad will be scoring the disc in no time. Also the excessive heat from a seized brake will cause deposits to build up on the disc often making it judder (what idiots call warped discs)

Hey that link for recon calipers didn't work

dougie-lampkin

rex-x wrote: »

I would really disagree with this, always good to start afresh, otherwise the worn pad will be scoring the disc in no time. Also the excessive heat from a seized brake will cause deposits to build up on the disc often making it judder (what idiots call warped discs)

I'd agree if the caliper was stuck on, it would have definitely cooked and glazed the pads also. But I read the OP as the N/S caliper not working at all, with the O/S functioning fine? In that case, since the faulty N/S caliper was hardly working at all, the pads are fine to reuse, they even have less wear than the O/S.

Deleted User wrote: »

Hey that link for recon calipers didn't work

Fixed it there. Always happens when I link from ebay?

Thanks just waiting to hear if they have the exact one for my car.

Ok I got one on order £70 thanks so much, saved quite a few Bob ere I'll owe ya a pint ,)

They actually buy my old one back.

One more thing, my mechanic (the guy I'm getting to put caliper on )suggested getting a break hose pipe....he said just to be safe, what are your opinions on that?

visual

If there is any question on flexible brake hoses just replace them.

I would recommend replacing pads while caliper is being replaced because they are cheap to buy.

New pads on both sides. Mechanic should be able to tell you if you need discs.

As much as possible always replace the parts in pairs on both left and right side.

Thanks visual, the garage didn't mention the brake hoses, I think my guy just guessed at it so I wasn't sure if he was being over cautious. I may get it and as I saved a lot on the caliper.

Checking online for pads and I need to know braking system on my car, is there a quick way of finding exact pads I need? Can I take wheel off and see the make or something?

visual

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Thanks visual, the garage didn't mention the brake hoses, I think my guy just guessed at it so I wasn't sure if he was being over cautious. I may get it and as I saved a lot on the caliper.

Checking online for pads and I need to know braking system on my car, is there a quick way of finding exact pads I need? Can I take wheel off and see the make or something?

type your reg into micksgarage.com

sometimes there is a couple of different sizes to match the caliper. So if you know caliper brand that might be useful

brake hoses are easy to check any leaks or cracks in the rubber or bulging under braking would be advisable to change.

Its rare but does happen that the inner rubber of brake hose collapses and blocks normal function of caliper.

If in doubt of the hose condition after inspection replace it. Otherwise if all appears ok the old ones maybe fine.

cletus

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Ok I got one on order £70 thanks so much, saved quite a few Bob ere I'll owe ya a pint ,)

They actually buy my old one back.

One more thing, my mechanic (the guy I'm getting to put caliper on )suggested getting a break hose pipe....he said just to be safe, what are your opinions on that?

one reason for calipers seizing is the rubber brake hose degrading internally, leaving bits of rubber around the piston. As you are going to have a new caliper, it might be no harm to change brake fluid and the hose as well.

*edit* just read visual's post above me

thanks again all for the advice, i had a look at my break pads and was going to post a pic of the caliper and of the one i ordered it sorta looks like it but just looks alot cleaner lol. but for some reason i cannot post pics.

biko

You don't have enough posts yet.

A seized brake caliper can often be fixed by a local mechanic so start by asking a few about it, and as mentioned above - sometimes it's the hose.
Hoses are cheap and easy to replace so if uncertain change it.

Sir Arthur Daley

It would be worth checking the slide pins too, not uncommon for brakes to be sticking with this issue.

I'm a slow poster not even 50 posts in 8 years!

Ok I'm going to go with the caliper and the hose pipe and then put it through nct again.

V.W.L 11

can anyone tell me the following,bought a car today from a dealer who I have dealt with for years,often bought cars with expired nct no problems,however the one I got today (nct expired) failed the test in may,i don't have a copy of the report,will the nct give me a copy of it if I ask?it would at least allow me to rectify the issue and get it through

cletus

V.W.L 11 wrote: »

can anyone tell me the following,bought a car today from a dealer who I have dealt with for years,often bought cars with expired nct no problems,however the one I got today (nct expired) failed the test in may,i don't have a copy of the report,will the nct give me a copy of it if I ask?it would at least allow me to rectify the issue and get it through

No they won't, but even if they did, you're outside the 28 day retest period

V.W.L 11

cletus wrote: »

No they won't, but even if they did, you're outside the 28 day retest period

ah the retest period is no issue for me,i would've just liked to have gotten the report,i guess i'll have to waste 55 euro to be told what it is,the only issues I have spotted is a stiff rear shock and the edges of the windscreen are white,apparently windscreens are failed for that

Just thought I'd post that it has passed the nct this time around with just changing the caliper. Didn't need the pads or hose pipe in the end

biko

Good news, those pads and hose may be needed at a later point so not a waste of monies anyway.