madspikes 41 1 Cars Posted July 5, 2006 (edited) The brakes on my old pug are causing me some concern, and are stopping me from giving it the beating it deserves! The problem is that the car pulls left under braking, and if there is any lock on, at all it REALLY pulls left. During some 'test' brakes i've noticed that the front right dives seemingly more than the left. I can also lock the front right wheel, and not the front left, which sounds a little odd, for pulling to the right. The master cylinder has been changed but the problem is still there (It was changed coz it stopped working totally) and the rear valve things were changed 18 months ago, so they should be ok. Could I be right in thinking that, if the front left wheel isnt braking to full effect more braking would go to the rear right, which would unbalance the rear braking and cause some passive rear steer in the beam. This causes the beam to 'turn' right piching the car left. Which prob isnt helped but 150,000 mile old front dampers and rear bushes! Any thoughts? Mad Edited July 5, 2006 by madspikes Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grim.Badger 15 Posted July 6, 2006 I'd expect that the front left caliper is half seized causing it to brake harder than the right but it's too fecked to completely stop the wheel. If this is the case then the caliper will likely always be binding slightly and the car will probably pull to the left while driving (more than you'd expect from road camber). I think my calipers have a milder form of this and will need to be changed soon no doubt. Do the discs get hot at all during running? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jonah 1 Posted July 6, 2006 Does sound odd, the symptoms don't really match up. As you say, if the front right is locking up more easily than the front left, then it is braking harder, but that should cause the car to pull to the right not the left. Also for the front right to dive, that means the whole car is leaning to the right under braking. But a front brake imbalance wouldn't cause that - only way I can imagine that happening would be for the rear left brake to be ineffective. But again that would make the car pull to the right under braking - so it doesn't make sense... Could I be right in thinking that, if the front left wheel isnt braking to full effect more braking would go to the rear right In a word... No. Whether or not a particular brake is working has no effect on the hydraulic pressure in the circuit (unless there's a serious leak in which case pressure won't build up at all), so it won't affect the other brake on the same circuit. What's the pedal feel like - does it stay firm under braking? Lots of pedal travel? Are you certain that it's the front right wheel locking first? How can you tell? If you hold the steering wheel lightly when you brake, does the steering wheel pull itself to the left, or does it stay still while the car veers off to the left? Go for a test drive where you use the brakes quite a lot, then feel the temperature of each wheel - if there's one that stays stone cold or gets hotter than all the others, it will give a big clue as to what's wrong. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
madspikes 41 1 Cars Posted July 6, 2006 The car does pull left if you let go of the steering during braking. If you hold it hard and steer slightly right under braking it brakes stright. Looking at the brake dust, there is more on the right than the left. It was putting the front diving down to the force of going left (lean towards the outside) and the lean was making the car go left. Its all very odd. hay its french so what should I expect! Mad Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jonah 1 Posted July 6, 2006 The car does pull left if you let go of the steering during braking. If you hold it hard and steer slightly right under braking it brakes stright. But can you feel the steering wheel tugging to the left or does the wheel stay centered while the car dives off to the left? It was putting the front diving down to the force of going left (lean towards the outside) and the lean was making the car go left. You're talking about lateral weight transfer, but that would only happen if you actually let it turn left. If you steer the car back into a straight line (even if you're having to compensate for the brakes pulling), then there will be no lateral weight transfer so the car should stay level. A front brake imbalance won't cause the car to lean to any great extent, but a rear brake imbalance could cause this. To make it lean to the right it would have to be the rear right brake stronger than the rear left. But, that would probably cause the car to go right under braking, and would also make the front left more likely to lock up. So it doesn't add up! Do the check of the wheel temps and post back results... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pugrallye 0 Posted July 6, 2006 shocks gone? it may not be brake related! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
