MK5 Golf GTI

All Things Mk5 => Mk5 General Area => Topic started by: Black9 on January 21, 2012, 05:12:18 pm

Title: Not a good day....
Post by: Black9 on January 21, 2012, 05:12:18 pm
Sent my car in to have rear discs and pads changed today, got a call 20 mins later. According to the mechanic my drivers side rear caliper is seized. Due to this he can't remove the pads and discs :fighting:

Now my Q is, can this happen so soon (80,000 on clock) and what's my best options? Could I buy a single caliper or would it be better in Pairs? Also could I get a good quality caliper from a parts supplier or better from VW? Wanna try avoid vw if possible, last time I got a quote for a Xenon headlight bulb they quoted me £96+VAT.... And lastly is it worth my while upgrading the rear brakes to something else EG, S3 or R32?

To add to this great day my car came back with a HUGE screw puncturing the sidewall of my 3 month old Vredestein Ultrac sessanta....  Went to a few garages and they can't plug it due to being on sidewall! :sick:

Does anyone know of anywhere that sell part used tyres?
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: Black9 on January 21, 2012, 06:45:11 pm
Anyone?
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: Phil Miller on January 21, 2012, 06:50:46 pm
I wouldnt get one from VW it would cost a small fortune, you could get one from a motor factor or SH, if it was me id get one from a factor, you dont need to replace them in pairs, as long as the other side piston winds in ok then it fine, the caliper thats siezed do you know if the dust seal is in tacked? normally they sieze when the boot is split

a caliper can sieze at any mileage TBH
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: gazon69 on January 21, 2012, 07:47:51 pm
The best person imo to speak to is daveb on here. He is the resident brake guru. He maybe able To point you in the right direction
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: Black9 on January 21, 2012, 07:49:09 pm
How do u mean the dust seal tacked? Also what's an SH? Think I will go for a single caliper but it's a shame as the other calipers are red and I'd imagine the one I buy won't be....

What are people's opinions on Runflat tyres fitted to GTIs
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: Black9 on January 21, 2012, 07:49:41 pm
The best person imo to speak to is daveb on here. He is the resident brake guru. He maybe able To point you in the right direction

Will drop him a PM  :happy2:
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: jon-tfsi on January 21, 2012, 07:53:05 pm
The rear calipers on a mk5 need a wind-back tool to push the piston back in. The pistons dont push back in with force. Are you sure the mechanic knows this?
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: Black9 on January 21, 2012, 07:56:02 pm
The rear calipers on a mk5 need a wind-back tool to push the piston back in. The pistons dont push back in with force. Are you sure the mechanic knows this?

I never mentioned this to him but I'd imagine he would know this already. Don't most calipers need a windback tool to wind them back?
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: Phil Miller on January 21, 2012, 07:57:01 pm
The rear calipers on a mk5 need a wind-back tool to push the piston back in. The pistons dont push back in with force. Are you sure the mechanic knows this?

If he doesnt then he will look very silly lol

the OP i put in tacked and meant to put intact as in not split, SH means second hand
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: Phil Miller on January 21, 2012, 07:58:08 pm
The rear calipers on a mk5 need a wind-back tool to push the piston back in. The pistons dont push back in with force. Are you sure the mechanic knows this?

I never mentioned this to him but I'd imagine he would know this already. Don't most calipers need a windback tool to wind them back?

about 90% need a wind back tool for rear calipers
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: Andy on January 21, 2012, 08:05:58 pm
Most motor factor calipers are genuine recon vw ones
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: jon-tfsi on January 21, 2012, 08:14:04 pm
If he has not removed the caliper how would he know if it needed to be wound back?

You can split the caliper in half and remove the pads and disc that way. Unless its the slides that are siezed and not the piston  . . . . . .
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: PDT on January 21, 2012, 08:17:54 pm
Caliper recon kits can be bought relatively cheap and calipers are easy to strip and clean up.
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: PDT on January 21, 2012, 08:21:46 pm
If a caliper is stuck on then its usually due to a lip on the disc. Due to them being a windback piston you cant open them up to get the room required to remove the caliper from the disc.

Use a grinder to remove a section of the lip from the disc opposite the caliper, rotate the disc 180 degrees and caliper comes off the disc easily.  This is the stuff they teach you at nvq level 1  :confused:
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: Tfsi_Mike on January 21, 2012, 08:30:35 pm

I have a pair of Gti / Cupra rear calipers (red) with dust shields.

Covered 55k miles, perfect working order

£55  :happy2:
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: R-tech-Nick on January 21, 2012, 08:34:21 pm
I have got a set of mk5 R32 front brakes knocking around in the workshop and they are going cheap now the customer have gone to huge AP racing stoppers. :driver:

 They belong to James >  http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=3247  might be worth a PM to crack a deal.. :happy2:

Nick
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: Black9 on January 21, 2012, 08:49:03 pm
If a caliper is stuck on then its usually due to a lip on the disc. Due to them being a windback piston you cant open them up to get the room required to remove the caliper from the disc.

Use a grinder to remove a section of the lip from the disc opposite the caliper, rotate the disc 180 degrees and caliper comes off the disc easily.  This is the stuff they teach you at nvq level 1  :confused:

Good point, couldn't really make out much from the mechanic as his English isn't that great. Will go see them on mon and mention girding the lip off and removing the caliper this way

Is there any other reasons why the caliper would be stuck on?
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: alackofspeed on January 21, 2012, 09:06:57 pm
If there is a lip, the easiest way is normally to unbolt the caliper from the carrier, slide the caliper off the pads, remove pads and unbolt carrier.

Alternatively maybe the mechanic has left the handbrake on.   :evilgrin:
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: gazon69 on January 21, 2012, 09:17:29 pm
By the sounds of things personally i would be getting a second opinion
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: vRSAlex on January 21, 2012, 09:39:25 pm
You tend to only find out the caliper is seized when its removed and won't wind back.

It's very easy to rebuild the calipers with a repair kit.
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: vRSAlex on January 21, 2012, 09:41:02 pm
Does he mean the piston is seized or the bolts to the carrier are seized?
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: Black9 on January 21, 2012, 11:57:14 pm
According to him it's stuck on & won't come off, after seeing a few replies I think I'll go down myself on Monday and get him to have second go with a few of the methods explained in this thread. Appreciate the replies, very helpful. Will repost & let use know the outcome :happy2:
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: Andy on January 22, 2012, 02:05:56 am
i have had this problem--I clamped the flexi pipe of and opened the  bleed nipple and used the wind back tool to get the piston back
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: stuartDLK on January 22, 2012, 02:17:30 am
Happened me as well and my car only had 67k on the clock. Only reason i found out it was seized was because the rear breaks were sticking on when i was breaking.. So i brought mine to the mechanic and he tried the wind back tool but no joy... new caliper was needed....went to the other side to clean the pads and ohhh yessssss that side had decided to seize, so i had to change both back calipers and 2 new sets of pads.. heartbreaking  :sad1:
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: Black9 on January 22, 2012, 03:25:14 am
But if the calipers seized there's no other way to remove other then bleed calipers?
Title: Re: Not a good day....
Post by: Dsg steel on January 23, 2012, 02:01:35 pm
My rears was seized at 55k.
Got a refurbed one from sc motors and it was quite cheap
can't remember how much but a lot cheaper than vw dealer.