Brakes Pulling

[AirCooledExcellence]

Hi All,

My brakes are pulling the front of the car to the left, I guess this means the side with the problem is the right?

I've recently installed new front pads, rotors & brake pipes and it's been OK for the last couple of hundred miles.

Any ideas?

Cheers,

Tim.
____________
1983 SC Targa

[daz911]

Tim

First check your tyre pressures, then check the caliper pistons and dust boots, also check the ring clips to see if one has come loose when changing the pad etc.

Have you noticed if one caliper is sticking after hard braking? if so it is probably a caliper piston.

Good Luck ...

[BK911]

My car would pull to the left during braking, but pull to the right otherwise. And I was wearing out right front brake pads. The problem was an internally swelled right front brake line. It was restricting the brake fluid to the caliper under braking resulting in the car pulling to the left. Then it was restricting the fluid from the caliper after braking causing the car to pull to the right. Not sure if this is your problem, but if you haven't replaced your brake lines now is a good time. I would also rebuild the calipers just so I knew they were done and put in fresh brake fluid.

Good luck!
BK

[beepbeep]

Well, don't get scared...most of the time the problem is benign...i bought 930-caliper repair kit just to find out that pads were stuck in dirty/oxidated guides...i dissasembled it, cleaned all aluminum-oxide and dirt and filed pad-guides slightly and had no problems with brakes pulling ever since...

Anybody needs front 930 repair-kit? Cheap? :-)

[NYSCAR]

Just a thought...if you have worn tie rod ends, applying brakes can cause the car to steer to one side or the other.

Brad

[R22tech]

My car was pulling to the left while braking 60%-70% of the time, sometimes hard to the left. If I would go about 5 mph and hit the brake hard, hands off the wheel, it would turn the wheel 90 degrees, left. My mechanic said he needed to excersize the calipers. I'm not sure what he did, but it's been working perfectly since. Been about a year now.

[boyo]

Did you replace your flexible brake lines? Often that can be a difficult to diagnose problem. If the line on the left flexes, the one on the right may pull more. Good idea to replace them anyway!

You also might want to flush the brake fluid, just in case there's gunk, water, or air in the lines.

-Boyo

[AirCooledExcellence]

Hi All,

I've been trying to sort out my pulling brakes today, they are STILL pulling to the left! Here's what I've done.

1. Pulled brake pads from both calipers, thoroughly cleaned caliper with brake cleaner, and checked for anything that may have obstiucted the pads.

2. 'Excercised' the calipers.

3. Re-inserted the pads so they are snug to the rotors.

4. Re-Bled the brakes (for the 3rd time!).

After all that they are exactly the same!!!

Can anyone think of anything else it could be? I have new front brake hoses, new rotors and new pads.

Cheers,

Tim.
____________
1983 SC Targa

[beepbeep]

How about checking that brass brake-lines going to hoses? One of them might be pinched or corroded/clodged?

Also, how does 911 brake circuitry look like....can it be problem with master brake cylinder?

[R22tech]

Probably a dumb question but, have you checked the air pressure in your tires?

[AirCooledExcellence]

R22Tech,

Yeah I've checked the tyre pressures 29psi per side.

BeepBeep,

I don't think I have any lines blocked, because when I bled the brakes I got a good flow of fluid from both calipers.

So, any more ideas guys?, I really want to get this sorted (especially before my first DE!)

Cheers,

Tim.
____________
1983 SC Targa

[KTL]

Tim,

I'd try taking the calipers off and putting some new seals in the calipers. If the dust boots and seals are the originals, it may be time for a resealing job.

You may be having situation similar to what I had with my car. My front right caliper was dragging a bit. When i'd turn a corner, I could hear it groan. Finally took off the calipers. Dust boots were history and removed the pistons. The pistons were kind of stubborn to get out of the calipers (be careful with compressed air, they come out like a bullet when they're stubborn). I don't think the problem with mine was the piston seals inside the caliper as they looked okay when removed. I think the problem was the crud on the surface of the pistons. The pistons had a light residue of gunk and rust on them. After cleaning up the caliper bore, polishing up the pistons with some ultra-fine (#0000) steel wool (they cleaned up in about 10 sec. of light rubbing), and lubing the parts with Permatex silicone caliper paste, the calipers operate very smoothly now. With compressed air, that is. I have yet to reinstall them as i'm still redoing the front suspension.

Job is plenty easy. You just need some c-clamps and blocks of 2 X 4 to hold the pistons as you push them out with air. I think Clark Griswald/Chuck Moreland made a gig out of a bicycle pump if you don't have access to an air compressor. Just need to make sure you reinstall the pistons with the proper 20 deg. orientation in the caliper. Pelican has a tech. article and the ATE seal kits come with a set of instructions as well.

Any questions, let us know!!

[dickster]

i have an interest in this thread - mine does the same! i would hate to do any real hard braking at the moment.

does your car pull to the left if you do not brake but let the steering wheel go?? mine does-not severely but it does pull.

mine also sits slightly lower that side, and corners like crap in right hand bends

it must all be linked on my car

you seem to have covered the brakes, unless they need rebuilding.

[AirCooledExcellence]

Hi Richard,

Mine doesn't pull at all when not braking. Nice and straight.

I took it out yesterday and found that under really heavy braking (i.e. wheels locked-up) the car does not pull !!, just when braking normally. I thought that was a bit strange?

Anyone got anymore ideas, or is it as KTL suggests, caliper re-build time

Cheers,

Tim.
____________
1983 SC Targa

[dickster]

tim

if it pulls up straight under hard braking i'd say you need to overhaul the brakes.

sounds like you need to strip and rebuild the caplipers (they may be sticking causing the symptoms under soft braking, but hard braking overcomes this)

bleed the system (again!!) at the same time.

unless the calipers are fed from different pipes?? could then be a valve or master cylinder?? (i haven't got the manual to hand )

what about contaminated disks/pads??

are the pads ok?? glazed maybe?? (you said they were new, did you bed them in?)

[nhromyak]

I haven't seen anyone else mention this.. but.. how is your alignment? Bushings and corner weights?

My car pulled hard to the right when braking. Found the caster was off.

Good luck.

[beepbeep]

Shotgun solution:

1. Check aligment, steering geometry
2. Check pads for glazing
3. Check and rebuild calipers if needed
4. Check brake lines, change
5. Check MBC, rebuild (unlikely, front brakes should be fed by same line as far as i remember)