BRAKE CHECKS

33 CHECK BRAKE HOSES

At the rear of the vehicle, look underneath and inspect the condition of the rear brake flexi-hoses, looking for signs of perishing and brake fluid leaks. Inspect the condition of the handbrake cables, which are routed from the rear brakes, along the trailing arms and up to the centre of the vehicle.

34 CHECK FRONT BRAKES

Remove the front road wheels and visually inspect the brakes, checking the thickness of each disc and its pads. The inner brake pad can be inspected through the caliper, but if you wish to strip the brakes, the following steps show the rear brakes being dismantled, which is similar to the fronts.

35 STRIP THE BRAKES

The front and rear brakes have 14mm caliper slider bolts to undo, allowing the caliper to be removed. Then extract and clean the pads (they can be reused if they have more than 3mm of friction material remaining) and the caliper carrier. Tighten the slider bolts to 34Nm on the front and 43Nm for the rear.

36 HANDBRAKE SHOES

A pair of handbrake shoes are located inside the centre drum of each rear brake disc. To check and clean them, first remove the caliper carrier by undoing its two 17mm bolts. These will be tight as they should be torqued to 84Nm. Remove the carrier and thoroughly clean it with a wire brush.

37 REMOVE REAR DISC

Try to remove the rear disc. If the handbrake shoes are obstructing its removal, rotate it until an inspection hole is roughly at 6 o’clock, then use a torch and screwdriver to slacken an adjuster and back off the shoes.

38 CLEAN THE SHOES

Inspect the condition of the handbrake shoes. If they’re okay, clean the braking surface and inside the drum with 80-grit emery paper. Clean around the shoes with a wire brush and spray over them with brake cleaner to dampen and remove any dust. Make sure the adjuster is free to move before reassembling the brakes. Adjust the shoes until they lock, then back off the adjuster by a quarter turn.