Technical Help me to find the culprit - rear left brake rubbing

[wody21]

Dear Stilo Gurus,

So nowadays the most annoying problem with the car is the rear left brake squeaking and rubbing. It gets hot, much hotter than the rear right - ~as hot as the front ones... Right now I don't have access to a place where I can take off the wheel and check the caliper and the piston, but I think that actually is not the problem:
- I took off the rear ashtray and plastics, and noticed that previously someone changed the right handbrake cable - only that one, the left is still the original, and much longer than the other side. I guess it's stretched and there is also chance that the cable is not moving smoothly in the tube... The cable started to take apart, I can see the threads... So the moral of the story is that it looks totally wrong, so I thought maybe in this case it would be a good idea to try to fully detach the left side cable, to check if the old cable is the culprit, that's causing the rubbing... If I dismantle there only the left side cable, what will happen? Can I safely draw up a situation, where there will be no accidental handbrake application, because of a non working cable or something like that...? How can I get sure about that, that's the rear left handbrake is not messing up, and if there is still rubbing, then there has to be something else?

Thanks for the advices in advance!

 

[Artermis]

More than likely a seized caliper. The Stilo seems to suffer somewhat with them.

If it's the rear left as you're sat in the driver's seat facing forward then they're reverse threaded too. This side suffers even more as people don't realise they're reverse, try to wind them in normally and damage them.

Consider reviewing with consideration for either refurbing or replacing the caliper.

 

[Ralf S.]

It's unlikely that the cable is not releasing the handbrake... but you don't need to remove the handbrake to find out what's happening.

When you release the handbrake, the lever on the caliper should pivot away from the handbrake cable. If yours isn't moving, then it's stuck. Compare left and right calipers to see the difference.

A sticky caliper is easiest fixed by a new caliper, although you can dismantle the caliper and replace the internals and seals if you really want to save a few quid. But it's not worth the trouble.. get a refurbished caliper off eBay (and fit a new cable on that side too).


Ralf S.