Slightly sticking rear brake – ford custom, long drive

About to drive to France on Wednesday in my 21 plate Toureno Custom. I think i have a slightly sticking rear right brake – I took it to fill the tank this evening and the rear right brake was getting hot / i could hear a slight squeak.

I’m happy to whip the wheel off myself (I’ve a bottle jack and some axle stands – assumed that would do that job) – is there anything I can do to sort it? I’ve got a euro car parts near me and a Halfords, but i’m not keen on replacing a calliper!

How bad is it to drive on it? Will be doing 4 hour stints as we’re going place to place.

Is there such a thing as an emergency mechanic to come out? (Near Newbury?)

Is it a disc brake? does it have good pad and disc thickness?

A ‘slight squeak’ could just be down to lack of use if theres dust and muck between the pad and disc, you need to burn that off!

Italian tune up time!

Possible handbrake bit gt85 at ends and work it in and out a bit, other option if this doesn’t work take drum off and work the moving parts and {carefully, not contaminating pads} copper grease the back plate.

get it sorted.  apart from anything else will your insurance not be invalidated?

It is a disc at the back. Is the handbrake a drum on the back as well? Or is it just locking the discs on?

If it’s getting hot it needs sorting, on continuous drive it gets hotter and expands increasing the calliper grip.

You can do the job fit new pads and wind/push piston back if it’s stiffer than the other side it’s new calliper time

at a minimum get it jacked up and wind both callipers back with existing pads – this should help determine if you have a problem calliper .

check handbrake cables are not seized if fitted

The pads look fine I think – so is it a case of getting a brake winder from euro car parts and winding it back in. Then out again to free it up?

anything else will your insurance not be invalidated?

Calm down dear…

i could hear a slight squeak.

Is the only objective symptom mentioned.

Brakes squeek all the time if cars are not driven often (or hard)  enough to get the brakes up to temperature. Given it’s an ‘ultra trendy’ van, I’m guessing it’s not a daily drive, and there’s a bit of surface oxidisation on the disks.

TBH you sound totally unfamiliar with the van brakes, take it to a local garage first thing and get them to free it up

fingers crossed its the sliders that are stuck, and not a stuck piston

Whip the caliper off and grease up the sliders.

If you have a wind back tool then attempt to wind the piston in. If it doesn’t turn easily then its new caliper time.

I’ve got the exact same issue on the front of my car. Been happening for about a week. I’d drive it for relatively short distances, but not to France.

Mine’s going in tomorrow to be fixed

Clearly stated getting hot

Is the only objective symptom mentioned.

Plus getting hot so the brake is binding.  As above the heat then expands everything making the brake stick on harder.  The end result is a worn out disc and pads and perhaps other damage and possible brake failure or a loss of control if the brake jams completely

The vehicle is in unsafe condition

I’ve just had an image Google – the calipers are the same / same design as my full-size mk7 Transit, The handbrake mechanism sticks – mine did it. I remember that I used a Bahco adjustable spanner on the caliper handbrake lever (replicating pulling on the handbrake). I might have slackened the cable adjuster – can’t remember but effectively you need to remove the handbrake cable from the caliper , remove the pads, wind the piston back then then work the lever on and off with an adjustable spanner whilst applying a small well sprayed squirt of lubricant.*

*Caveat – I rate myself as 9 out of 10 spanner rating. Your tinkering skills may differ.

Edited to add – I never changed the calipers on mine, they were fine once I’d unstuck them and then repeated at service time. Don’t attempt to change the caliper the day before a big trip!!!! Something will go wrong.

The pads look fine I think – so is it a case of getting a brake winder from euro car parts and winding it back in. Then out again to free it up?

I did mine with the peg-spanner thing you use for changing discs on an angle grinder, worked perfectly.

Mine’s a bit older than yours, 2013 Transit, I don’t know how similar the brakes are but on mine the handbrake cable goes into some sort of arm on it, looks a bit like a cable disc caliper on a bike, and there’s a spring to return it. One spring had gone on mine so the handbrake was a bit rubbish, and a pad was rubbing, a bit like yours, almost through to the backing!

Compatible, new, caliper off eBay was about £40. I’d never changed one on a motor vehicle before but it was surprisingly straightforward, apart from some rusty bolts which were an effort, 8years difference might make yours a lot easier! Bleeding was a doddle too, if you can do bike ones you can do van ones. A chap on YouTube showed me how to do it, gave me a lot of confidence.

Stating the obvious maybe, but if you fit new pads do both sides.

Beaten to it by RNP. He’s better than me, I’m at best a 6, despite the recent snapped glow-plug incident, and even I managed fine.

Whether you fix it yourself, or a garage, defo get it sorted.  It’s a recipe for an overheating hub and ultimately wheel bearing failure.

Clearly stated getting hot

How does he know it’s getting hot? not enough info provided, IMO.

Oh no!  This thread has re-kindled one of the indicators of my age!

Whenever we load up the car for holidays and do our mandatory pee stop after 3 hours at a motorway services I always have to do that old man walk around, sniffing and touching each wheel to check for excess heat.

Remember it can be the wheel bearing as well as the brake

Jacked it up. Was indeed rubbing tho easy to turn by hand still. Phoned round about 10 garages – managed to find one so I now have to sit, wait l, and wonder whether the holiday is ruined.

Work the handbrake mechanism by hand till it’s free. Its 5mins of a job.

Did you prise the handbrake lever/mechanism off when you had the wheel in the air? Did it free up?

If it did you could always set off and not use the handbrake / or free it off again once the handbrake has been used (when parked overnight)*

*Caveat – my bush mechanic skills are high.

Well garage think callipers gone. So they’re replacing that plus discs and pads. Fingers crossed it’ll be done in time. Pretty certain I’m paying a substantial  ‘man turns up in a panic about going on holiday tomorrow’ tax. But at this point i’m beyond caring.