Blue Brake Disks

[frankoni]

Hi all, back last year I done a complete service of the front brake calipers because they were binding quite badly. After a run I would be sitting at the traffic lights with smoke billowing from under the front wings and the fuel consumption was really bad. Also I noticed that the brake disks were blue obviously so hot they were burning the pads.I've since replaced the disks and some of those cheapo Nippon fast road pads from Camskill .

On my way to work this evening I noticed that after a few stop starts the brakes were really spongy and were fading quite badly and the disks were once again blue with that burning smell.
Has anyone got any ideas of what could be causing this to happen??
Cheers
Frank

[Colin Wiltshire]

I would look at seized calipers

[frankoni]

Cheers for the reply,

That's sort of what I was thinking!! So I might have to bite the bullit and buy a pair from Camskill .
When I replaced the piston seals in the calipers should I have used some red rubber grease on the seals??

[Davezj]

what grease did you use on the top slide bolts on the callipers, if it was anything other than a red rubber grease or equiv. and the seals on the end of the bolts will swell up and cause the calliper to seise.

[elnevio]

Something else to be careful of is that the upper and lower caliper bolts are slightly different, in that one is a 'guide' bolt and the other is a 'lock' bolt. You can tell the difference as the small end looks slightly different and has a seal on one of them. They also have 'G' and 'L' on the heads. These match up with the 'G' and 'L' markings by the bolt-holes on the calipers.

But otherwise yes, probably one or more siezed pistons in the calipers.

[VR457]

I found the castrol red rubber grease dried up after a while. The Mintex stuff Camskill is selling seems good though.

The caliper bolts need cleaning and the extra grease / gunk in the holes brought out with a thin screw and some cloth shoved in.

[frankoni]

I actually used some Girling red rubber grease and the bolts are in the correct holes. I serviced the calipers not so long ago, i thought they would last a bit longer than they have. I think i'll take them off tomorrow and see if i can free them off.....

[elnevio]

High temperature lithium grease.

Amsoil also do one, that happens to be red.

[Gly]

yep lithium grease is best, used it many a time (on different cars), and never had a problem or the need to refresh it.

just used ordinary stuff nothing special, clear-ish colourless stuff

[Nick Mann]

Also agree. Check the lock and guide pins, if the grease has gone thick, then that's the issue. I also use a high temp lithium grease on those pins and as yet I am not aware of any issues.