Can a 45% brake imbalance be due to a worn nearside outer pad. Still about 2mm of friction material where thinnest. This is with the old postage stamp pads not ATE calipers so no slide pins to renovate.

I've replaced pads on both wheels now. Doesn't feel like it pulls to one side but that's at max 20 mph on a private road. To be honest it did8n't pull very much before the test.

And weirdly the nearside/left was the side with most force (208 kgf).

Any other possible cause?

my golf failed once ... was a gummed up piston in the caliper , still moved in and out , but once apart it was obvious it needed a good clean and a new seal fitting

also make sure the pads slide nicely and maybe bleed em to be sure its all good

Edited 4 September, 201016 yr by steveo3002

If the friction material on one pad is thicker than the other, this is a sure sign that there is some seizure there, I have even seen, in severe cases, where the disc has snapped off of its centre, due to it having to flex during braking.

Regards.

i'm going to suggest checking that the slider bolts are greased up and moving freely.

This was the problem on my mates passat and it was an easy fix.

i'm going to suggest checking that the slider bolts are greased up and moving freely.

I said there are "no slide pins to renovate". I think that's why the wear is diagonal. It kind of tilts.

Stuck piston is a possible. But getting the caliper off will be a bugger. I suppose bleeding might wash away some crud.

I've got some VWII Calipers and G40 239mm discs and pads and caliper slide bolts and new rubber boots all ready to go. But I can't see how they will fit to the struts. Think it needs Golf caliper carriers (321 615 127B ?.) Dunno whther these will even fit to the old Mk2 struts?

I think that's why the wear is diagonal. It kind of tilts.

sorry, when you say diagonal do you mean that one front brake is worn and one rear brake is worn on the opposite side of the car?? this would normally indicate some sort of fault with the brake master cylinder becuause the twin brake circuits are diagonally split

or do you mean the wear on the brake pad itself is tapered? ie thinner at one end, i would say that the caliper piston has siezed in this case

I think that's why the wear is diagonal. It kind of tilts.

the wear on the brake pad itself is tapered? ie thinner at one end, i would say that the caliper piston has siezed in this case

yes tapered outer pad on nearside.

Piston pushed back in easy when I replaced the pads... There's an intriguiging note in haynes about ensuring the piston to disc angle is 20 degrees. Wonder if it might have rotated as pad wore down?

i was going to say, the old girlings had to be set at that angle as specified int haynes. bizarre things. i replaced the full setup with pretty much new calipers, discs and pads, along with psd braided hoses and new brake fluid, and they passed an mot, but tbh were fucking scary on the road. get some golf mk1 gti or g40 brakes (basically vwII calipers off several vw models) and you wont ever want to use postage stamps again!

i was going to say, the old girlings had to be set at that angle as specified int haynes. bizarre things. i replaced the full setup with pretty much new calipers, discs and pads, along with psd braided hoses and new brake fluid, and they passed an mot, but tbh were fucking scary on the road. get some golf mk1 gti or g40 brakes (basically vwII calipers off several vw models) and you wont ever want to use postage stamps again!

Yes yes I've got all that stuff ready to fit but not the caliper carriers to fit them to the struts.

My 1984 SP Polo has this style ATE Teves floating calipers (warning lots of pics) but 10mm x 239mm solid discs and it seems it was suffering from radial outer pad tapering. But I've got a brake servo right above the pedal box (LHD) so I've never found the brakes scary. Well maybe once on a a two-lane autobahn at stupid'o'clock and stupid'o'kph the fade was scary as a lorry changed lanes without indicating.

Edited 8 September, 201016 yr by dvderlm

manipulate the piston in and out a couple of times and give it a clean with some brake cleaner on the piston (move the seal back) usually clears up the caliper a bit if its sticking a bit.

If it fails the mot again, just bite the bullet and find what you need for the newer brake setup :)

manipulate the piston in and out a couple of times and give it a clean with some brake cleaner on the piston (move the seal back) usually clears up the caliper a bit if its sticking a bit.

If it fails the mot again, just bite the bullet and find what you need for the newer brake setup :)

I took out the pads again. Wasn't as fiddly as the first time. Piston lip cutout is on inner pad and was at correct 20 degree angle. Cleaned with brake cleaner spray, pushed it in and out a bit, and also the frame that pivots.

That doesn't move as smoothly as I thought.

Bled the nearside and topped up with new Dot4. Old fluid was fairly light in colour. Certainly compared to when I put it back on the road after standing for 8 years!

And lo, it passed. Left brake force 186 kgf, right brake force 165 kgf. Max imbalance 18%

Main brake efficiency 75% ! and the Pagid pads haven't even bedded in yet.

Still gonna try and find some carriers, or Porsche924 floating calipers.

Thanks to all for helpful comments.

You just need some caliper carriers from a later mk2 or mk3 polo to use the VWII calipers. I did this conversion on mine and it's a vast improvement.

More than a year later and there's a slight steering wheel judder.

Brake roller says I've reached 31% imbalance.

Left brake 200kgf

Right brake 193kgf

So the pads have bedded in!

Time for the VWII calipers now I've got some later caliper carriers.

(If I can manage to undo the hub nut, the caliper to strut bolts should be a walk in the park).