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My rear Ford Volvo Focus Mondeo C30 S40 rear Calipers are befookered. Apply footbrake or handbrake: piston extends out and bloody stays there then comes much heat and finally they relax and let you freewheel [think: driving with the handbrake applied 'quite well' and you'll see the dilemma] also think of me for the last 7 days pouring 10 ltrs of 60 deg C water on the calipers every morning to 'get me going' (which worked well actually ).

Obvs this is not ideal when you have a certain reputation to uphold so I did source some replacement/refurbed Calipers which'll be literally thrown on the car next Tuesday by a man more capable than myself and 20 years my senior. My old calipers will be boxed up and thrown back at the suppliers to do their magic for the next unsuspecting mug to shell out nearly 200 sheets for



Oh and the new Summer 2015 rear discs have got that hot it burnt off the special anti-rust paint coating so now they look like any old shitty discs. Bumhats.

That is a tad inconvenient.
Shudder to think how much you've invested* in suspension and braking bitz for your pocket rocket.
I commend your lack of 'my back plates aren't rusty' smugness

I'm sure you could've referbed them yourself... Sounds a lot less bother this way though.

Hey, that looks like the old VW way of doing the handbrake, with the big external springs. Apparently they never worked either

The handbrake on these is not exactly 'sharp'.....

I must say the suspension has been a royal PITA on this "Volvo" needing what seems like constant attention:

Top Mounts
Drop links Twice
Inner Tie Rod
Outer Tie Rod
Both Front Lower Arms
Broken Spring
Replacement Rear Lower Arm because: broken spring.
Rear Lower 'stay' arms Twice
4 x Dampers

It's been great* if it wasn't for it's frugal economy I'd.....oh wait.

Anyhoo it's kinda semi-retired now and just has to ferry me to work and back. Off duty work goes to the Shitrun with it's amazing* fuel economy and trouble* free* running.

I R HORID at choosing* cars

New calipers on but brakes feel crap, too much pedal travel for my liking.

I helped my Mechanic bleed them (I did the foot brake bit just towards the end as he was struggling to bleed one side using his kit thing) but it was nearly 7pm then. We concluded that there didn't seem to be any air in there but the pedal now travels further in a sort of "apply footbrake.....and....oh sh!t" kinda way. Once in contact the brakes pull up fine with no sponginess to speak of.

He says this is because the old calipers were befookered with the pads always extended and touching the discs, now the new ones retract a bit more 'off' (hence more travel 'on') I don't know what to say but it don't seem right for any car's brakes to feel like this.

Gonna give it a few days and we'll* try bleeding again.

Welly wrote:He says this is because...

My bullshit alarm is going off He's saying this is normal and before was broke? I think he wanted his tea and fobbed you off to get rid of you.

The pads may bed into the disks but not that much. Did he get air into the ABS block? Or does it just need bleeding properly?

People make the mistake of letting the handbrake adjusting mechanism release on these before the caliper is properly fitted.

What you should do is this....

Take off the wheels and undo the bleed screws one at a time until fluid is leaking out at a steady rate...leave it leaking out for a minute or so...use a pipe if you have one but if not just let the fluid leak into a suitable container and tighten bleed screws....fill up the fluid tank.

With the cable adjuster backed off...place a screwdriver into where the pads are and pull the caliper backwards towards you as if you were trying to give clearance between the pad and disc....the pads won't move much but you will be able to notice some movement.

Start the car and pump up the brake pedal...switch off the car and pump up the brake pedal until it becomes hard then adjust handbrake cable.

If you don't use the screwdriver method you will have to unscrew the caliper pistons until the caliper is a little tight to fit back on then adjust the cable after pumping up the brake pedal.

sh*t I wish I could get my head around that, thank you jasper that sounds good but I just can't visualise the process because I've never done it.

I'm tempted to print your guide and talk it through with him, trouble is he's a kinda "I've been a mechanic for 35 years don't Internet me" sort of chap.

Well, the most important thing is allowing the fluid to leak out instead of trying to constantly bleed by pedal pumping and slackening the brake cable and pumping the pedal afterwards...I work by myself all the time and sometimes you have to get creative to solve problems

What happens with this type of caliper is that the caliper piston is screwed all the way back in when reconditioned and needs to click onto the adjusting mechanism to sit properly against the pads....you do this by pumping the brake pedal or unscrewing the piston until it fits snugly onto the pads.....If the piston isn't sitting all the way onto the pads then you get spongy brakes.

I've been a mechanic for 46 years so I know where he's coming from

Update:

All sorted now, there was a tiny bit of air stuck in the offside rear brake pipework. Amazing how much extra pedal travel it created but all feels good again now.

Good to hear you've got it sorted.

Thank you, just need to sort my 'stupid' door lock.

My 'stupid' buttons.

My 'cronky' gearbox thing.

My 'silly' headlights.

My 'crappy' uncomfortable ride.

My 'too hot' heater.

Data Source: Mrs_Welly

Impressive. I can't imagine a heater Mrs Doggy would find 'too hot'.