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FN2 Smoking brakes

stebec

stebec

Messages
27
My O.S.F brake is getting very hot and smoking, I jacked the car up this morning and my wheel seems to turn freely without any binding, any ideas what could be causing this problem.

Steve
 
Sounds like the caliper has jammed. ( where the piston is not releasing after braking). This will be how the heat is being generated and the smoke. happened twice on my ep3. It's quite a common issue.

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You could buy a caliper repair kit but otherwise it's a new caliper I'm afraid.

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Same happened to me on my ep3 recently. Both front callipers had seized. Had them replaced with new ones.
 
Yeah it's a common issue unfortunately, some buy a refurb kit as I did but it lasted about 2 weeks before mine started binding again, I ended up buying a reconditioned OEM caliper and it's been fine since.

Also on mine it was the rubber dust seal around the piston of the caliper that had got caught.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've just ordered a repair kit until I can afford a new calliper, are the repair kits easy to do or do you need special tools?
 
Rebuilding calipers is a fairly big job.

Remove calipers.
Dismantle and clean.
Remove corrosion around seal points.
Lube and fit new seals and pistons.
Refit calipers.
Bleed brakes.

Cleaning and removing the corrosion is the time consuming part. If you skip this step then you won't get a good seal and the problem will return. It's an awkward job, but well worth doing.

These were mine when I rebuilt them, worth noting that these are the front brakes, the problem was with the rears but I rebuilt them all while I was at it.

Before


Piston


Piston seal area


After
 
This is the rears, they were much worse. You can see where the seal failed and the problem started. It was generating so much heat that it changed the colour of the high temp paint!

 
I chipped the worst off with a screwdriver, then wire brush on the drill. Dentist pick and wire brush on the dremel for the nooks and crannies. It took ages. I'll get refurbed calipers next time.
 
All been said really, my rear caliper seal failed in exactly the same way.

OEM calipers are expensive £200 for the rears, I think it's around £180 for fronts (each), I had a refurbed OEM one from my local car parts place for around £50 iirc.

They are OEM one's that have gone back to a factory for refurb, it's a lot cheaper and it is a genuine OEM caliper, you also get money back on an exchange basis.
 
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