The new parts arrived and we got straight to putting them in on Friday night...

The Drum Shoes were the wrong part... eBay sellers appear to not understand how to use the part compatibility checker... sending them back for a refund with some atrocious feedback.

My shoes at the back were actually fine, full of 'meat' and equally worn and since the welded adjusters were holding it from touching the drum surface we decided to keep them in. Sending back the shoes for a refund, I just sort of wanted to replace them 'because we were doing the job' in general.

The new adjusters were fitted and after getting the hang of the springs we got the second one in much quicker than the first side. It's adjusted perfectly now and compared to before you barely need to lift the handbrake and the car holds brilliantly on the steepest of hills and immediately, with no 'roll back' as with before. Think this is how it's meant to be.


New Front Discs and Pads
We got one side fitted. Though lost a 9mm fitting for the ratchet.. spent 40 mins looking for it and it didn't turn up and as it was approaching 11pm had to call it a night.. One side it put in perfectly and the other is as before... It was very tight with the new discs and pads fitted and there was quite some smell of 'burning' on the first test drive. Oils and lubricants on the new brakes wearing off?

Hopefully in a few days we'll get the other side done and she'll not be 'unevenly wore' etc. Where can I get a single Allen key shaped 9mm bit for a ratchet??? I see some set online but ideally on Monday morning somewhere in store. Would something like a plumbers supply store do it?


Took the car for a test drive, even with one corner untouched and SLAMMED the brakes on a country road with nobody about. By f***, I have never felt the car throw me forward as well as that. Gave me a bit more faith in the car tbh, and I was told that in the coming weeks it'll get better as they 'bed in'.

My uncle was praising the design of the callipers on the Panda saying it's a far better system than any other car due to how easy it is.. slides in and out, I understand in other cars it twists or something? We couldn't work out why they'd changed it in more 'modern cars' anyway! Anybody happen to know?


MOT Re-Test
MOT is booked again on Monday at 12. Thinking now that the handbrake holds we'll be fine! Last year with the sump, someone just came out and looked at it and that was my pass. This year.. I'll need to go into the centre to have it put on the machine.. but will they do a FULL test or just look at the failed rear handbrake?


The other discs were pitted badly. Rubbing the pads around them with my hand and it grinds. Though the pads wore evenly (not much) they had the matching pitted lines on them. Could this be the squeal I heard? The brakes worked fine anyway, we reckon the guy wasn't flooring it hard enough for me to get such a poor reading. 29 / 30 (30 being a fail). No idea how the car was so close to a fail on the front brakes last time.. it stopped fine. And there was plenty of meat on the pads and discs.... No bleeding issues either. Odd one.

The discs and drums come with a protective film on them to stop them rusting.

Your suppose to clean it of with petrol before fitting.

koalar said:

The discs and drums come with a protective film on them to stop them rusting.

Your suppose to clean it of with petrol before fitting.

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I imagined the first few miles heat from the braking friction would completely burn it off indefinitely?

Got a solution for easy fitting of rear brake springs,get a cheap flat head screwdriver from the pound shop and cut a groove down the middle with an angle grinder only 5mm or so deep,you can now hook this under the spring and push to stretch the spring into position, much easier than trying to pull the spring,springs can then be fitted in seconds.

Michael Dranfield said:

Got a solution for easy fitting of rear brake springs,get a cheap flat head screwdriver from the pound shop and cut a groove down the middle with an angle grinder only 5mm or so deep,you can now hook this under the spring and push to stretch the spring into position, much easier than trying to pull the spring,springs can then be fitted in seconds.

Click to expand...

We got it all done last night. We used a little filing rod to slide the spring in. Worked like a charm!

SB1500 said:

I imagined the first few miles heat from the braking friction would completely burn it off indefinitely?

Click to expand...

If the protective coating on brake discs is a silver coloured paint you don't have to clean it off before fitting. If the coating is oil you must clean it off before fitting because it will get on the pads and ruin them - oil on your brakes is very bad

Tbh I don't think my uncle would have overlooked something that important for me to go and kill myself on. He does his own brakes etc and has for years so I'd say upon handling the discs and feeling the slippiness on them anyone would be reminded of what to do.

We did wipe em with a paper towel right enough!

At the risk of sounding facetious & I certainly don't want to sound patronising,as someone who has biased views towards their own wee Panda & some other makes just doesn't receive quite the same welcome for no other reason than your thoughts, I'm a bit tickled how you have to fall back on the forum for answers on the likes of this post. Don't get me wrong as I've said many times it's only easy when you know the answer..

I thought the whole idea of you owning a Panda as you've pointed out in the past, an affordable easy to work on car in it's class. In this post it's almost come across as a soap opera..

This forum is a great source of information to the novice who wants to further their skills with their car, most seem to manage with less drama. Just my thoughts......

jimboy said:

At the risk of sounding facetious & I certainly don't want to sound patronising,as someone who has biased views towards their own wee Panda & some other makes just doesn't receive quite the same welcome for no other reason than your thoughts, I'm a bit tickled how you have to fall back on the forum for answers on the likes of this post. Don't get me wrong as I've said many times it's only easy when you know the answer..



I thought the whole idea of you owning a Panda as you've pointed out in the past, an affordable easy to work on car in it's class. In this post it's almost come across as a soap opera..



This forum is a great source of information to the novice who wants to further their skills with their car, most seem to manage with less drama. Just my thoughts......

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How does that relate to this post at all? Seems like you’re looking to dramatise.

Let’s at least try to keep the Panda section free of silly threads

SB1500 said:

Tbh I don't think my uncle would have overlooked something that important for me to go and kill myself on. He does his own brakes etc and has for years so I'd say upon handling the discs and feeling the slippiness on them anyone would be reminded of what to do.

We did wipe em with a paper towel right enough!

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For the sake of everyone on the roads the following is very very important.

If anyone buys new brake discs or drums that have an oily anti rust protection clean it off thoroughly with degreaser before fitting and using.

SB1500 said:

How does that relate to this post at all? Seems like you’re looking to dramatise.

Let’s at least try to keep the Panda section free of silly threads

Click to expand...

Ah SB! try not to take things too personally.. all I'm trying to say, it looks like anything relating to your wee Panda is acted out on the forum that's all. As I've said on many occasion how forums can be funny places due to the "lost in translation phenomena" I'm an old git & at my stage of life, I honestly want to make all my vehicle stories as positive & happy as possible. I do tend to wear my heart on my sleeve & shoot from the hip (in a nice way)

I really don't think I'm being silly, it's just how I see it... As with various threads/posts on here you or me may read things differently, as would others, that's human nature for you, as I've said on numerous times before. For instance, I have never posted up a picture or what do you think of my garage of vehicles for the very fact in my view it's pointless, there would be good/bad/indifferent points of view which really doesn't interest me, but hey that's only my point of view which brings me back to what you have brought up, be prepared for all types of reactions..........

SB1500 said:

New Front Discs and Pads
We got one side fitted. Though lost a 9mm fitting for the ratchet.. spent 40 mins looking for it and it didn't turn up and as it was approaching 11pm had to call it a night.. One side it put in perfectly and the other is as before... It was very tight with the new discs and pads fitted and there was quite some smell of 'burning' on the first test drive. Oils and lubricants on the new brakes wearing off?

Click to expand...

Sounds like it's sticking on the side you changed. There shouldn't be any burning smell unless you're delibrately getting the brakes very hot, not something you'll achieve during normal driving.

As others have said, new discs need to be cleaned, personally I use brake cleaner, good for cleaning other stuff too.

The calipers also need a really good clean, wire brush on a drill is great for this, pay particular attention to the "cups" where the pads slide. To be honest, if you didn't do this, I'd strip it back down and start again, only takes an hour or so once you've done it before.


I'd also bleed the brakes, just to make sure there is fresh fluid in the calipers.

Steve145 said:

Sounds like it's sticking on the side you changed. There shouldn't be any burning smell unless you're delibrately getting the brakes very hot, not something you'll achieve during normal driving.

As others have said, new discs need to be cleaned, personally I use brake cleaner, good for cleaning other stuff too.

The calipers also need a really good clean, wire brush on a drill is great for this, pay particular attention to the "cups" where the pads slide. To be honest, if you didn't do this, I'd strip it back down and start again, only takes an hour or so once you've done it before.


I'd also bleed the brakes, just to make sure there is fresh fluid in the calipers.

Click to expand...

It was the first drive where we could smell the disks and pads on the side we changed. It was just the initial wearing of the surfaces and also the oils on the disc that must prevent it from rusting in storage or something.

We did give it a wipe around. The sheer stopping force compared to before shows that they’re in fact doing their job!

Going up to fit the other side tonight.

Passed MOT about 20 mins ago! So it was just the adjusters in the drum

Brakes all fitted now.

Whatever was wrong with the driver side front... it was causing a LOT of friction and things looked a bit charred to say the least.

Whoever had done the discs in the past had some sort of screw holding them in?! And the heat had made it near impossible to get the caliper pin out. Two new ones and rubber fittings on their way to ensure this doesn’t happen in the future.

And now the Panda has a strong handbrake, working drums, new front brakes! Though they’re bedding in you can already feel the difference in the pedal.

Thanks for everyone’s help

Find out why the brake was sticking on, could be the caliper carriers needing a good clean, most common, could also be the flexi hose collapsing internally.

Go for a drive with your new brakes, try to find a quiet stretch of road where you can do a few miles without braking, then roll to a stop without touching the brakes. Get out and feel the discs, they should be cool or cold.

Drive a bit braking as normal, then get out and feel, both sides should be the same temperature and not too hot to touch.

If not, you've got a brake sticking on. If the caliper sliders are clean, suspect the flexi hoses.