Hi GTOers, another newbie here. Having problems with seized brake calipers (I assume) and haven’t been able to fix them myself. I’m in Gillingham and need recommendations for a mechanic if possible. After trying to fix the problem myself the car is now undriveable, so a mobile mechanic or someone with recovery capability would be best. Thanks in advance.
What are the things you have tried to sort it yourself? Eurospec have a recovery service and are the best people for these cars. However its a fair way to go when any mechanic could service some brake calipers. The only thing they may have trouble with is getting the correct parts.
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Ta for the reply. Initial problem was squealing wheels and poor grip when turning at roundabouts / junctions, and a real judder at above 30mph. Front discs were hot as were the tyres, so I assumed seized calipers. After messing up trying to remove 1st caliper from its hose (I managed to tear the copper hose further up whilst undoing) I eventually used compressed air and a g-clamp to pop the caliper pistons out. Regreased them, put them back, car exactly same as before. I bled the brakes before test driving and though there’s no leakage, noticed the red warning light (same as handbrake light?) on dashboard stayed on after I did this. It didn’t stay on before. Made me wonder if somehow the handbrake was not being released properly?
Then last weekend on another little test run (after again winding pistons back with g-clamp and greasing in front calipers), one of the back wheels started banging on every turn. Limped home, took back wheels off, greased the caliper guide pins, took off the bottom pin which attaches caliper to hub, lifted calipers up, gently pushed brake pads back - they seemed ok - put calipers back into position, pin back in, no difference when driving. Real nasty thud every 1 turn of the wheel.
I’d hoped to fix it myself, but having spent at least a couple of hundred pounds on tools such as a cordless wrench I’ve managed to make the problem worse! Should’ve just taken it to any local garage first, but I feared they’d quote the earth for a set of Mitsubishi-supplied calipers. Thanks for the Eurospec rec, they seem to know their stuff. Don’t mind spending on a recovery truck if they’re better than anything local.
Hi and welcome to GTOUK 
Max is pretty much spot on with the Spec if it’s something your struggling to sort yourself .
As with all newbies is the law we need pictures of your ride 
Regards
Craig 
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Thanks Craig! As it happens Fluxdirect also wanted pics. I’ll dig them out asap. I have a 1996 N/A manual in red. Bought as seen on Ebay auction £1750 in Feb (in fact bought insurance before looking at the car, so had a shock when Fluxdirect came back with a higher quote because of the wheels and exhaust!). No probs until this. 70-odd thousand miles and cambelt done at about 60k. Meanwhile here’s how I ballsed up the brake hose when undoing from the caliper:
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Bud, when you do a caliper, first you clamp the rubber pipe to stop the loss of fluid, slacken the rubber pipe on the caliper, just crack it so it is free, undo the bolts holding the caliper onto the hub, take the weight of the caliper and then unwind the threaded end. Don’t lose the copper washer, At this point I would do a caliper repair using the kit that’s available. Remove the rubber boots around the caliper pistons and remove the pistons. Clean them up and clean the bores, also not forgetting the bleed nipple. A right bugger if after all the work done you can’t bleed it. This way you should have no problems with sticking pistons. So many problems come from this extra heat generated, you can damage the discs, pads, if it gets too hot it can also have a negative effect on greased up parts allowing more damage to take place.
With rereading this it looks like I’m on a rant but I’m not, just trying to help. 20+ years on the pistons there’s bound to be something that can seize. One of my rear calipers had a seized piston, it wouldn’t come out even after drilling and tapping the centre to wind a bolt in to force it out. Remedied by a replacement caliper that I also rebuilt.
Pictures, pictures, life revolves around pictures
Terry
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Jesus what wheels do you have on that car to need Wheel Spacers that thick ?? 
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hi and welcome
are you sure it is definitely the brake pistons causing the issue as hot discs/wheels, vibration and banging noises can also come from knackered wheel bearings.
mark
Another thing to check for is warped discs. Seems to be quite common on these barges and would explain some of the problems you are having. At this point I would say just get it to Eurospec and get them to check the brakes over in their entirety. From memory they are £1 a mile for recovery with a minimum of £85. Plus VAT obviously. Ben picked mine up a couple of months ago. Couldn’t be easier. Except he was still playing on the ■■■■■■ dyno when he was supposed to be there picking it up. Make sure you are free all day 