Technical Cross 4x4 rear rear disc question

[mogsy1]

Rear brake issue??
The pictures are the rear brake rotors on my 10k Cross 4x4 (2020), they look like the rear pads are not functioning correctly.....before the guarantee expires what do you think.

 

[jrkitching]

It's possible a pad may be sticking in its reaction frame; this is quite common and often reported. They're assembled dry in the factory, and UK weather + corrosion does the rest. I've seen sticking pads on cars less than 3 months old.

Easily fixed by stripping down the rear brakes, cleaning and lubricating the relevant parts.

The experience of others suggests this is unlikely to be covered under warranty, as it's considered wear & tear.

There've been several cases where folks have had to have rear pads (and sometimes discs) replaced after similar mileages to yours. Decent aftermarket parts are cheap enough, but a franchised dealer will charge silly money for this.

 

[The Panda Nut]

I fitted new discs on one of ours less than a year back. This week I saw the edge of the disc was rusty. Im not really ready for car repairs so i gave the caliper a few sharp taps with a hammer. Problem solved for the moment. The rust is gone. I need to strip and clean all three cars as soon as possible. My 2019 cross needed a full strip down of all the brakes after 2 years. This is an annual job.

Its the rear face of the discs thats worst affected. you need to remove the wheel and check. I use a flapper disc on the brake discs and a flat file on the pads to restore these. Clean everthing apply brake grease where appropriate and generally get another year.

This failure is exceptionally annoying and I know of no specific cause. It seems to be bad engineering on low end brake systems. Panda discs get exceptionally rusty just from rain.

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

Oddly none of my 4x4 Pandas appear to have had these issues. I don’t wash my car too often (I’m part of a river conservation group and am careful with water) but do always give the brakes a good blast with the pressure washer. Maybe that helps? Mine is booked into The Fiat Workshop, Royston for the brakes at both ends in May - 45000 miles and still ’ok’ - along with service and MOT. They reported ‘50% worn’ at 33000 miles, but MoT advised ’showing signs of wear’
Low mileage/short journey use doesn’t seem to help. My annual mileage is half what it was before I left work, so will be interesting to see how that affects things.

 

[TTR]

Eh up all,

We all seem to have the same issues with rear discs and rust.

I’m convinced the brake bias is too much to the front leaving the rears under utilised.

When I use the car with 4 in, the rear brakes work far harder and often the rust is cleared off, but quickly comes back.

I’ve tried it all stripping, rebuilding, greasing, red rubber grease, file to fit on the pads.....

I changed discs and pads at 15000 miles as mine were FUBAR ( look it up)

Now use the following technique - find largest hill around me, knock out of gear and find clear road then apply vigorous braking

Find by doing this weekly rear discs in far better condition and is keeping everything free.

I used quality discs and pads and made bu88er all difference to the OEMs, plus for those who do their own spannering it’s a **** of a job so try everything not to repeat too often

It’s simply just the brake bias in my opinion.

Otherwise only other thing is drive like you stole it each day

HTH cheers all

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

Eh up all,

We all seem to have the same issues with rear discs and rust.

I’m convinced the brake bias is too much to the front leaving the rears under utilised.

When I use the car with 4 in, the rear brakes work far harder and often the rust is cleared off, but quickly comes back.

I’ve tried it all stripping, rebuilding, greasing, red rubber grease, file to fit on the pads.....

I changed discs and pads at 15000 miles as mine were FUBAR ( look it up)

Now use the following technique - find largest hill around me, knock out of gear and find clear road then apply vigorous braking

Find by doing this weekly rear discs in far better condition and is keeping everything free.

I used quality discs and pads and made bu88er all difference to the OEMs, plus for those who do their own spannering it’s a **** of a job so try everything not to repeat too often

It’s simply just the brake bias in my opinion.

Otherwise only other thing is drive like you stole it each day

HTH cheers all

Agree - it needs a load now and again. And yes i do something similar with the brakes. Also coasting down a hill and hauling the handbrake lever up. That really doesn’t feel like it would ever stop the car! But it does seem to exercise the callipers.

 

[chris3234]

Eh up all,

We all seem to have the same issues with rear discs and rust.

I’m convinced the brake bias is too much to the front leaving the rears under utilised.

When I use the car with 4 in, the rear brakes work far harder and often the rust is cleared off, but quickly comes back.

I’ve tried it all stripping, rebuilding, greasing, red rubber grease, file to fit on the pads.....

I changed discs and pads at 15000 miles as mine were FUBAR ( look it up)

Now use the following technique - find largest hill around me, knock out of gear and find clear road then apply vigorous braking

Find by doing this weekly rear discs in far better condition and is keeping everything free.

I used quality discs and pads and made bu88er all difference to the OEMs, plus for those who do their own spannering it’s a **** of a job so try everything not to repeat too often

It’s simply just the brake bias in my opinion.

Otherwise only other thing is drive like you stole it each day

HTH cheers all

This issue is on something like a panda u less you allways have the boot full of heavy junk

There just no weight in the rear end for the brakes to needed to work much

I bet there only around 160-180kg on each rear wheel most of the time

 

[cgranger]

I have just started to spray on Bilt Hambers Atom Mac before washing the car and if I know it is going to get wet. It is supposed to stop rust forming. In the short term it has worked well - fewer signs of rust on the disk. Not sure how often it has to be reapplied or how long it will last, but so far so good. Also it is obviously not so easy to get to the inside face of the disk although it is supposed to migrate but not sure how this works???
Chris

 

[mogsy1]

Everyone, thanks for the advice and I will wait for warmer weather to look in detail.

Cheers all.

 

[WitleyPanda]

Only recently with car being used virtually everyday and doing nearly 20K year have the rear brakes looked after themselves. Swear several sets of pads just locked solid and a pair of discs just rusted away from being sat or infrequent/ low mileage. Also had problem that clearance from pad ears to frame very minimal and very little corrosion/krap needed to prevent any motion of the pads, so no wiping of the disc face.