C3 Front Brakes Binding

[Guest Stephen345]

Hello again,

 

I was driving home from my MOT, I passed BTW, but I thought the steering felt stiffer than on my drive in. During the drive home I would have braked lightly several times. Once, about halfway home, I heard a squeal and thought a bit of grit had got in but the noise went and I heard nothing on the times I braked after that. I didn't do any heavy or emergency braking. When I did brake, the car didn't pull to the side or do anything untoward.

 

But when I got home, I could smell a brakey, burney, smell. I decided to take off the wheel for a closer look and that's when I had trouble with the security bolt which sheared off (see my other post). When I finally got the wheel off (with 3rd party help!) the disc looked fine: there were no scratches and no foreign objects were trapped. The pads had a lot of friction material left on them, so it's not that they had worn out. I had to drive to get the nut sorted and I had an uneventful drive to and from the dealer. So it's all a bit of a mystery what caused the smell. I'm sure the pads must have binded. Would that account for the stiffness?

 

The only thing that wasn't quite right is that there is a very thin metal plate clipped onto the back of each pad. There is a small metal clip on the top and on the bottom. On the one pad the top clip is loose, so this metal plate is not quite secure. The calliper comes in contact with this plate. Is it possible the plate was moving independently of the pad, and this caused the binding?

 

What should I do? Should I remove the plate and use the pad without it? I haven't seen these plates on any other make of pad I have fitted. What is it for? Can I manage without it?

[paul.h]

The metal plates on the back of the pads are anti squeal shims. When new they are often bonded to the back of the pads but as they age they can come unstuck. If there is nothing else to hold it in position (such as the caliper design on the C5 rear brakes) then these can (should ?) be removed but you may get some brake noise. If you think the pads are binding (see if each wheel spins freely), I would remove them and clean off all the muck.