rear brake fooked - what now?

[rowlers]

The frost last night seized my handbrake on, I drove a good few miles and it freed itself, now the drivers side does nothing, the mechanism appears to work but it doesn;t apply any pressure. the passenger side is still work OK though.

I've had it up in the air the garage, mechanic says the caliper is fooked, fair enough but I don't fancy the £120 + quid for new ones!
How much of a job is it to replace them?
I had new discs and pads fitted approx 2 years ago with new caliper bolts as the others were seized,so it should all come apart easily enough!

wheres the cheapest to get Mk3 calipers from??


damn the frost!!!

cheers

[systemseiko]

sh!te Rowlers U have no luck lad,  the cheapest option is 2 get an OE seal kit from VW and replace the seals on the OSR,  about £15.00 per side,  once caliper is removed check to ensure the piston bore is not damaged,  any small scratching can be took out with a little elbow grease,  eg  with 1200 sandpaper?
If the above is no use you are talking £145 a side for reconditioned Mk3's or £30 a side form a local scrappy,  if going for option 2 i would still get a seal kit and repalce them,  piece of mind if anything.

[rowlers]

tell me about it!

I keep getting the ear ache of the missus to sell, if I hadn't already invested alot of time and and coin I'd serioulsy consider it!

Anyway I'm not selling, so lets fix it!

Just had a look on volk apart, they do reconed ones for 50 ish a side (for mk3) so these could be a good choice.

I'll give them a bell in morning.

 

[Mr Blue]

change the handbreak cables first and see if that helps. The cables can stick.

i got recon ones for 80 quid iirc. exchanged the old ones.

shop about

[rubjonny]

yeah if the outer sheith gets holed water gets in and freezes in the winter.  Theres nothing on the caliper itself that will freeze, unless you coat it with lots of water and let that freeze up 

[rowlers]

prob was the cable that had froze, but one side is shagged, so going to put a new set on, £70 delivered with 3 month guarantee.

MK 3 ones!!

should be here by the weekend - hopefully.

is it worth doing the handbrake cable while I'm at it, don't know when last time it was changed?

may as well stick new pads in as well they're prob got nowt left on them with driving with them stuck on

ps, I assume same pads - all the same arn't they mk 2 and 3??

[Mart8V]

Had the same problem.  Got an exchange one thru GSF for about £75 and paid £20 labour.  Will do it myself next time!

[Mr Blue]

change the lot while your at it. disks, brearings, pads etc

deffo do the cables

pads are the same


right pain these old golfs

[rowlers]

you can say that again, just driving away waiting for the next thing to go wrong! disks bearings and pads have been done recently so not going to bother with them, pads prob will be changed though!

[rowlers]

update...
got the calipers fitted (they sent early Mk3 ones doh!) piece of p.

Also while it was up in the air have wacked my weitec springs, just ahve a bit of a snack them back to garage to finish off, bleed the brakes etc...

will let you know the out come in (hopefully) a couple hours!!!