Sticking Brakes

[toolmanchris]

Dont know if anyone else has come across this issue but the brakes on my car were sticking just a little. I could tell when pulling up at junctions as it would stop rolling rather quicker than expected and even not roll back on slight inclines.
I did have a problem with the front drivers caliper sticking that was freed of by the garage when I had it serviced last week so put it down to that and brought a replacement caliper.
I also noticed some time ago that the Vacuum servo pipe from the engine was looking rather flat and has collapsed in places.
A trip to the dealers got me a new pipe for £14 and I fitted it yesterday.
Hey presto the brakes are no longer sticking on.

I will test for a few days before I return the caliper to Eurocarparts just in case it happens again.

[toolmanchris]

Just a quick update on this.
A couple of days later the problem happened again and I decided to take another look at the front calipers.
Started with the drivers side and it was sticking again.
Removed it and spent some time working the pistons in and out and found a small area of the dust boot that had come out of its groove. Squirted a little WD40 in there as a preventative measure and re fitted it.
Worked it again several times and put it all back together.
Its been a fortnight now and its still OK so looks like that was the issue.

[toolmanchris]

Further update.
I drove it for a while with no problems and then the problem came back again. In the end I replaced both front calipers, discs and pads, all from Eurocarparts and it's now fine.

Lesson for the future - dont be such a cheapskate and just replace the parts in the first place

[EdButler]

Thanks for the update on this, but WD40 as a bad choice (too thin and evaporates to nothing) and they are nearly always fixable.

If you take the pins out, rub them down till they're shiny metal again. Then file the inside and purge all the crap with brake cleaner. Also use a blowlamp to remove all possible moisture. Then you need to use a decent brake grease (although LM or Copper will do i reckon). Also get new boots if they're torn.

I've had to do this a few times, and now i do it as a matter of preventative maintenance every time discs/pads are being fitted

Just a note that i've never ever known a garage (dealer or otherwise) to do this as part of a service which is shocking really

[toolmanchris]

Yes I thought about stripping and rebuilding the caliper but TBH the cost of replacing the lot wasnt too bad from Eurocarparts and the disks had quite a lip on them anyway. The pads were less than 30 quid so that was a no brainer.
What I was looking for was reliability as the wife was giving me some GBH of the ear hole for buying an "old" car instead of a new but sensible hatchback

Chris