Technical Brakes not working properly

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Technical Brakes not working properly

russellwatson17

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First of all hi, im new to the forums!

Right, now down to buisness!

I've had my Fiat 500 1.2 pop for 2 years now and covered 33000 miles.

I replaced the disks and pads in January (not done by fiat but done by a qualified local mechanic)

Brakes have been fine since, well... untill last week.

After a bit of spirited driving i felt my brakes weren't up to much. I put this down to brake fade and let them cool for 1/2 hour before continuing my journey at a slower pace.

Since then i have had problems with my brakes, there appears to be no feel, sometimes i press the pedal down 1/2 an inch and it stops like hitting a brick wall, sometimes i have to put my foot through the floor to get them to work!
Also occassionally (not always) it pulls to the left when braking and a crunching noise comes from what seems like the left of the side (sounds like the ABS kicking in).

Has anyone had a similar problem? It's hard to describe but the brakes are definately not what they were a month ago!

Also, is this likely to be covered under warranty? It's just I've got my motorbike for getting around in the good weather and an Abath 500 is getting delivered to my local dealer for me on Saturday where i was going to trade in my current car?

Cheers in advance for any advice!
 
First of all hi, im new to the forums!

Right, now down to buisness!

I've had my Fiat 500 1.2 pop for 2 years now and covered 33000 miles.

I replaced the disks and pads in January (not done by fiat but done by a qualified local mechanic)

Brakes have been fine since, well... untill last week.

After a bit of spirited driving i felt my brakes weren't up to much. I put this down to brake fade and let them cool for 1/2 hour before continuing my journey at a slower pace.

Since then i have had problems with my brakes, there appears to be no feel, sometimes i press the pedal down 1/2 an inch and it stops like hitting a brick wall, sometimes i have to put my foot through the floor to get them to work!
Also occassionally (not always) it pulls to the left when braking and a crunching noise comes from what seems like the left of the side (sounds like the ABS kicking in).

Has anyone had a similar problem? It's hard to describe but the brakes are definately not what they were a month ago!

Also, is this likely to be covered under warranty? It's just I've got my motorbike for getting around in the good weather and an Abath 500 is getting delivered to my local dealer for me on Saturday where i was going to trade in my current car?

Cheers in advance for any advice!

If you're getting your Abarth on Saturday and this car is being traded in - your motorbike seems the best option (weather seems pretty good at the moment). For safety tell the dealer there's a problem when you're 'handing it over'. The dealer is going to have to give it 'the once over' when they shift it on.
 
First of all hi, im new to the forums!

Right, now down to buisness!

I've had my Fiat 500 1.2 pop for 2 years now and covered 33000 miles.

I replaced the disks and pads in January (not done by fiat but done by a qualified local mechanic)

Brakes have been fine since, well... untill last week.

After a bit of spirited driving i felt my brakes weren't up to much. I put this down to brake fade and let them cool for 1/2 hour before continuing my journey at a slower pace.

Since then i have had problems with my brakes, there appears to be no feel, sometimes i press the pedal down 1/2 an inch and it stops like hitting a brick wall, sometimes i have to put my foot through the floor to get them to work!
Also occassionally (not always) it pulls to the left when braking and a crunching noise comes from what seems like the left of the side (sounds like the ABS kicking in).

Has anyone had a similar problem? It's hard to describe but the brakes are definately not what they were a month ago!

Also, is this likely to be covered under warranty? It's just I've got my motorbike for getting around in the good weather and an Abath 500 is getting delivered to my local dealer for me on Saturday where i was going to trade in my current car?

Cheers in advance for any advice!

Hi and Welcome to the forum.

Sounds to me like the brake pads are sticking in the reaction frames. The sliding surfaces of the reaction frames rust in the salty British winter climate & this stops the pads sliding freely, leading to the kind of jerky behaviour you are describing. In extreme cases the pads can actually seize - Mark Elvin posted a good photo showing exactly this a while back. The only lasting solution is to remove the reaction frames from the car, clean out the corrosion & apply copper grease to the sliding faces of the frames. I have just done this on my 6 month old Panda (which uses an almost identical setup) & the extent of the corrosion on a new car after just one winter was surprising - I'll try & find some photos & post them up later.

Unlikely to be covered under warranty & if you're chopping the car in at the weekend, I'd just live with it.
 
The car is due a brake fluid change at 2 years old, has it had that done too?

My Abarth 500 is 2 years old and besides the fact that the front discs and pads need changing (rears already done) i need the brake fluid doing too as mine don't feel as sharp either.
 
discs at 30000 under 2 years old, should last longer than that.

Are you talking to the op or me? Mine's just over 2 years old and has roughly the same mileage as the op's but his is not an Abarth. Depends where you drive. My rears were replaced at 26,000, when i spoke to Abarth UK as i thought this was premature, they said this normal (right, but the fronts last longer even though they do most of the braking and have more weight at the front!?)

@Multispoke, no standard discs/pads, got em dirt cheap :)
 
Braking issues, fluid round rear left wheel

Hi again all!

You may have read my last post entitled "Brakes not working properly (cant link - i've not posted enough!!!)
I've been out in the garage tonight, front wheels off, calipers cleaned, brake fluid topped up.

After a short test drive there didn't seem to be any improvement, but when I returned home i noticed there were fluid marks on my back left (left when sitting facing forward in the drivers seat) wheel.

Could this be a slave cylinder? Anyone changed one of these before? How hard is it to do and what is it likely to cost?

And thanks for all your replies on my previous thread!
 
discs at 30000 under 2 years old, should last longer than that.

I couldn't measure the thickness of my discs of course, but at 24,000 they do seem to have a bit of a lip on them, pads still have craploads of meat on them.
 
It doesn't matter if its 30,000 miles or 10,000 miles. It depends on the driving conditions. For example stopping and starting in traffic will wear down the discs and pads quicker than long distance motor way driving.

My driving is mostly short journeys with lots of stopping and starting so i expect to change my front discs and pads between 12,000 and 20,000.
 
OP really, 30000miles seems a low mileage for discs.


Yep, live in a rather hilly area of Scotland and my daily commute takes me through "Cairn o Mount" which is 500m above sea level!

At 30k pads were down to about 2 credit cards thick (except the one with the pad sensor on it for some reason!) and discs had a rather large lip.
 
Yep, live in a rather hilly area of Scotland and my daily commute takes me through "Cairn o Mount" which is 500m above sea level!

At 30k pads were down to about 2 credit cards thick (except the one with the pad sensor on it for some reason!) and discs had a rather large lip.

Ditto that, I'm in Wales, hills and bends a plenty = premature brake wear :(
 
There will always be a lip, but you need to measure the thickness and check the minimum allowed by Fiat to know how worn they are.

On my Discovery 3, I have only just replaced the front discs at 70K miles. They had quite a lip at the last pad change, but were still well within spec.
 
Ditto that, I'm in Wales, hills and bends a plenty = premature brake wear :(

Bah. If you manage your speed properly with a well timed lift you don't need to brake as much :) At the very least if you try not to brake and turn or accelerate and turn at the same time it really cuts down on tyre wear.
 
Bah. If you manage your speed properly with a well timed lift you don't need to brake as much :) At the very least if you try not to brake and turn or accelerate and turn at the same time it really cuts down on tyre wear.

Thats a very good point... but who would want to set a the world record for the most boring driving? :D
 
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