Anyone out there done rear brake discs and pads on a C3? Specifically, how does one back off the handbrake adjusters so the new pads will fit in? Or will it be blooming obvious? Any words of wisdom much appreciated.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Don't know for sure, but I'd expect it to be the same as most recent Cits. When you pull the pads out, you will see that there are some slots in the face of piston. Screw the piston back in (rather than just pushing it) using a square bar in the slots. There should be a lug on the back of the pads - this needs to engage with one of the slots in the piston, and if one (or more of the slots) has a small slot next to it, then you should engage the pad with this slot. As usual if you've got ABS, best to open the bleed nipple to vent the fluid, rather than pushing it back to the reservoir.
I wouldn't expect a C3 to be needing new rear discs yet - ones I've had on other cars (BX / Xantia) have lasted well in excess of 100k / 10 years.
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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Thanks Richard, very helpful post. The discs are completely shot; the result of doing 30K miles mainly solo in all weathers. At least one piston on each side must be working because they groan and hiss from both sides when the brakes are applied. Visually they resemble a circular ploughed field.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Rear discs rusting up seems to be an increasing problem - my sisters 3 yr old Xsara required new discs and pads recently becuase the discs were rough and there was a large amount of corrosion around the edges. Her car doesn't do a great many miles (8k a yr or thereabouts) and she almost never has anyone or anything in the back so the rear brakes sit there doing very little work. Can't help thinking it wouldn't have happened with drums.
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I'm not familiar with the C3 brakes - only Xantia and C5 - but a word of warning! Cit rear calipers corrode where they are in contact with the steel backplate / arm and this twists the caliper round so that eventually it contacts the disc itself! It's not too difficult to dismantle them and grind off the corrosion with an angle grinder but the thing is that you don't actually see the corrosion because it happens between the metals.
Of course the Xantia and C5 both have handbrakes operating on the front discs and I'm not sure what the setup is on C3 so it could be an entirely different kettle of fish at the back. Something worth watching out for, though.
Graeme
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Well, the job's done and I wish I could say that it went according to plan, but it didn't. The calipers came off their carriers OK and released the pads after some battering with a small hammer. The left-hand piston wound back into the caliper as per Richard's wise words although I couldn't use the square-section bar that worked for the BX front brakes; I tapped it round with a hammer and small chisel. And there were no pegs on the old or new pads. The right-hand caliper defeated me and I had to remove it and take it to a local garage. Took him nearly half-an-hour of persuasion to wind back the piston and cost me a fiver. The disks were a different matter. Rusted on to the hubs as they were, each side took nearly 15 minutes of continuous braying with a 2lb mallet to frighten them off. By the time I had finished, I was nearly ankle-deep in rust that had flaked off the disks. It was clear that the continual swishing noise that had been a topic of conversation for the car's back seat passengers since Christmas was caused by the disks which, having swollen with corrosion, were hitting the caliper carrier and anti-rattle spring. A quick rive and another shower of rust and the disk had passed between the gap in the carrier and by the hub and was in my weary hands. Incrediby, the new disk wouldn't go back the same way; I had to loosen the carrier's hefty Torx bolts to fit the disk. Reassembly was the reverse of dismantling as the saying goes, only several times faster. I wiped all the sliding surfaces with copper grease and noted that the new 3M pads seemed to be plastic backed to reduce corrosion. I broke out the Gunson Ezi-bleed and bled the brakes until the murky fluid ran clear. Three years old and nearly 30K miles; I was shaking my head in disbelief at the state of the disks. In all my 35 years of amateur and professional spannering, I don't think I've seen disks quite so far gone on such a young car, and I've seen some rough ones.
[Exits muttering in search of strong ale ...]
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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At least you got there in the end! Where's this car been parked - in the sea?? Even my 10 year old Xantia wasn't this bad when I overhauled the rear brakes - and the reason for overhauling was that one of the pipes had rusted through!
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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