The tyres are all with plenty of tread. The tyre pressures all a tiny bit over 2.2 bar except the offside front which is spot on 2.2 bar. All the tyres are Bridgestone except the rear nearside which is Dunlop.
It is not a 'oneoff' occurrance, but is always happening when you brake more than usual.
Would anyone advise a layman what the cause is likely to be please?
john east used his keyboard to write :
Seized front calipers on the right would be my first thing to look at.
On vehicles I've driven, in no special order, steering alignment, contamination on the offside disc, uneven pad or disc wear, or one of calipers sticking slightly. Also possible is a failure of the master cylinder which is preventing one of the cicuits operating, so you only have braking on one rear wheel. Check the brake fluid level in both parts of the reservoir, as it wouldn't be the first time the level sensor or warning bulb has failed or been disconnected in my experience. I've even had a stone jammed in a caliper, but the noise made that one easy to guess.
There *may* be a common fault on that model, but the above are a good start as a generic list of stuff to look at.
Worn pads, sticking calipers, leaky calipers, oil on the disks mixed tyres , misaligned steering geometry can all cause that to happen to varying degrees.Its probably happening all the time but your correcting it without realiseing it when your braking gently
I would as a first port of call take the wheels off and check the pads for wear and calipers for free movement ,leaks and any contaminant on the disks.
If thats ok swap the odd tyre over and see if the problem goes away or switches to the opposite side.
In many countries its ilegal to have different brands of tyre and different rated tyres of the same brand on the same axle / sometimes vehicle because they offer differing grip and stopping levels .
If that doesnt work get your steering geometry checked.
Sticky caliper, then soft bushes.
What countries would they be then?
Germany for a start. When I got a large nail in my offside front the workshop replaced it free of charge (VW tyre guarantee). But as the original was Brand A and they had no Brand A in stock they had to replace both fronts with Brand B, even though there was nothing wrong with the nearside front. Both free.
Interesting. Does the law only apply to German registered cars or alll cars on the road in Germany?
Anecdotal evidence from the 'net (dangerous, I know!) suggests it applies to all vehicles on Germany's roads.
Chris
then I won't drive my focus there: 4 different makes and one odd size !
Probably an imprisonable offence!
Chris
I was told the germans have a limit of 6mm on tread depth to not sure if its true though
Sorry meant 3 mm
Yep, 3mm is their legal limit, and my own self-imposed one. Performance falls sharply from that point.
Chris
Germans tend to dump their tyres well before this and there is therefore a huge market in used German tyres. The Brits used to import loads of them but I rather think that has been banned for some years now. But they still go out to other countries.
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