I took my 2002 Corolla with 80K on the clock for the MOT the other day to a Large National Franchise.
It passed the MOT, but the advisory note said offside front brake
*slightly* binding'.Somehow i suspect from what i have heard, that if they could find work to do then they would; but they didn't suggest doing any.
Being a novice, is their 'slightly binding' comment in this situation anything I should likely worry about?
They can see it being slow to release on the brake tester so it's likely a real problem, esp. given the age of the car as, in time, water gets past the caliper seals and rusts the piston.
You can tell a properly binding brake as that wheel will be a lot hotter than its axle twin after a drive. It will get worse and need doing in time so it depends on how long you plan to keep it and how diligent you are on maintainance. If you're mechanically inclined, caliper rebuild kits are available for about £20. New caliper probably £100.
Fix it before it gets dangerous. Brake fluid attracts moisture (which is why it should be changed every few years) The moisture causes rusting of the brake piston in some cases and most crucially rusting of the caliper body behind the piston seal, this then squashes the seal hard against the piston and prevents its free movement. If you are lucky, then this can just be cleaned up and rebuilt. Otherwise it would need a new caliper, calipers should really be replaced as a pair. I have stripped and rebuilt quite a few Toyota calipers and they have been fine afterwards, literally just dismantled, thoroughly cleaned and rebuilt, not even a new seal kit. Finding someone to do this is not likely to be easy or very cheap.
I've also done quite a few. Rust on bore land between outer dust seal and inner fluid seal needs to be removed. Slide a bit of plastic cut from pop bottle into the calliper to protect fluid seal and then remove the rust. Clean piston with green dish scourer (don't use anything with abrasive grit like scotchbright etc) and brake fluid, then inspect for pitting. If pitted it needs replacing but all the ones I've done have cleaned up. Reassemble with Mintex Ceratec brake grease, don't use copper slip the mineral grease damages rubber seals.
Cleaning out the groove for the seal has most often proved to be crucial, I bent a little screwdriver sideways at the tip to make a suitable scraper. I also ensure that the piston can slide easily into the bare bore. Often the outer part of the bore (outboard of the seal has serious corrosion bulid up, again tricky to get cleaned, I made up an abrasive cloth roll on the end of a 90 degree bent screwdriver to clean that area, the 90 bend lets you get into opposed piston calipers without splitting them.
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