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 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.