Rear brake caliper boots - anywhere to pickup in a hurry?

cheechy

cheechy

A2OC Donor
Hi - rear brake seizure yesterday on nearside - after much agitation I managed to get the caliper removed to find one of the slider pin boots had a hole in it - presumably the reason why the brakes seized on. Likely been like this since the handbrake cables were replaced last year and only now manifesting itself (only done circa 2000 miles in the car this year, if that).

Given the time of year I'm struggling to find a source to buy new boots or a rear caliper repair kit. Any suggestions where I could pickup at short notice or anyone in the scotland cliche have one hanging around even if old and I could send on a replacement?

Car is currently hogging the garage and its going to be a royal pain if it has to sit there until January!

Thanks
 
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Ok so managed to pickup slider pin boots and piston rewound fine with 10 mile test runs indicating no binding.

Only question I could do with guidance on is what to do with what is now a handbrake that needs significant adjustment due to the offside cable being stretched / pulled when the brakes bound on. If there a way I can just adjust the offside cable or is the only mechanism available to adjust the centre screw in between the seats? I've given the centre screw a couple of rotations and stopped as I don't really want to use all the adjustment here unless I can avoid.

Anything I'm missing here or if I'm approaching the wrong way id welcome suggestions. For both handbrake cables and centre tunnel were replaced for new last year on my tdi90. Thanks
 
Sounds more like a binding issue rather than stretch especially if all hand brake cables were replaced last year. Disconnect the hand brake cables from both rear calipers. With the hand brake lever fully down go to each cable in turn and find a suitable point where you can mark the exposed cable. From this mark make another about 30mm further down the inner cable. go inside the car and ratchet up the handbrake lever by 3 clicks. Go to each cable and measure the travel. Both should be the same. Go back into the car and pull up another 2 clicks so that is five in all and again measure. Now with the measurement of travel you will see if one is less than the other and this would be a binding or damaged cable. Release the hand brake lever and check both cables return to the starting point.

Carefully check the routing of the cables to ensure that they are located and secured exactly as they should be. Were the correct length cables fitted last time?

Next to check is the hand brake mechanism on the calipers, looking for distortion, wear and freedom of movement. Move the arm by the same amount of travel in the cable when the hand brake lever was applied by the initial 3 clicks and try to rotate the disc then try by the 5 clicks. At the 3 clicks the disc may just be able to rotate but certainly by 5 it should be fully locked.

The internal adjuster on the hand brake lever is for both cables certainly on rear drum cars. Although I have seen a picture with split adjusters.
 
audifan said:
This is the manual page with split adjusters....


Audi Workshop Service and Repair Manuals > A2 > Brake system | Brake, brake mechanics | Removing and installing handbrake cable (disc brake)

A2 > Audi Workshop Service and Repair Manuals > Brake system | Brake, brake mechanics | Removing and installing handbrake cable (disc brake)
workshop-manuals.com
Click to expand...
Thanks for the comprehensive reply Graham. As you would guess I've managed to do a few things on the car even beyond what id classify as my comfort zone but undertaking the handbrake cables was something I felt more comfortable sending off to a garage. This was vindicated by the effort the mechanic had to put in to remove the cables when in a four post lift.

I'll give what you suggested a go in the coming couple of weeks but I do have a functioning handbrake for now all be it's high. In the midst of house moving chaos and a recent promotion at work thats leading to a lot of extras hours, it's tough to find the time and at some point I may have to wave the white flag. Hopefully not anytime soon. Thanks
 
Glad to help. I have every confidence that you can at least narrow down the issue if not solve it but as the hand brake is a safety issue you may want to consider having a good garage tackle the job for you. Perhaps drop the car off when you go to work and pick it up later?

If you look at the picture with the double adjusters then it makes sense if one cable is too loose the compensating bar will pivot and not pull as effectively on the rear cables. Read the manual a couple of times and if it makes sense then look closely but still make sure the cables are correctly routed and correctly clipped where needed.
 
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