MOT Advisory Notice

[jasper65]

Stuck the puma through a MOT last week! the first since we owned the car. thankfully it passed but did come attached with a few advisories.

some are obviouse such as Tyres close to legal limit but one I'm a bit baffled about:

Front brakes only just met the front brake imbalance requirements, it would appear that the braking system requires adjustment or repair

any idea people?

 

[nippydee]

Probably disc/pads issue, possible calipers or even a system bleed required.

 

[bouncy]

It means that the front brakes are operating at slight different efforts/forces when you put your foot on the brake. They have to work within a 25% diff effort/force or less from the front brakes. If they are high, ie 23% for example it passes as its withing the tolerance but they give you a advisory. If its 26% they should fail it.

This could be due to sticking pads,lazy pistons, etc etc

Silly things like low tyre pressures can give you this problem as well

 

[martinthrapston]

as tina says,also remove and clean calipers,check that piston moves in and out if not it needs to be removed,cleaned and pushed back in,replacing piston seal,copped grease all contact surfaces where pads fit into guides,refill with new brake fluid aswell

 

[nippydee]

Remember to re-tighten the bleed screws too!

 

[jasper65]

Many thanks for the replies all :thumbs:

one of the other advisories mentioned: Front brake pads wearing thin. could well be a good idea for me to replace these the next time we get some nice weather aswel as check the other things mentioned above.

any advice the best make replacement pads to use?

 

[bouncy]

Many thanks for the replies all :thumbs:

one of the other advisories mentioned: Front brake pads wearing thin. could well be a good idea for me to replace these the next time we get some nice weather aswel as check the other things mentioned above.

any advice the best make replacement pads to use?

Youve prob just answered your own question!!!! :grin: :grin:

 

[yippeekiay]

Go for mintex. Cheap as chips but probably the best 'standard' make brakes you could get for the money. All I've ever used in 20 odd years of motoring iirc.

 

[jasper65]

Thats good enough advice for me! Mintex it is :thumbs:. seen a good few adverts on Ebay for the Mintex pads! some ranging from near on £30 and other under £20, am I missing somthing hear or are there different quality pads made by Mintex?

 

[yippeekiay]

There are some higher performance ones but even the standard ones vary in price hugely.

I got my last set of Mintex pads for the upgraded Mondeo 300mm discs for only £14 a set off Ebay (I bought 10 sets they were that cheap, so I could pass them on to other Puma peeps...lol). This price can more than double depending on where you go.

If you see a set of Mintex pads that are the correct ones for the Puma then go for the cheapest as they're all the same unless someone specifically says they're the high performance ones.

Dunno what size yours have but for the 239mm there are these:- http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FORD-PUMA-1-7-COUPE-BRAKE-PADS-MINTEX-SET-NEW-BOXED-/200322347302?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2ea4247126" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And for the later 258mm there are these:- http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FORD-PUMA-1-7-COUPE-BRAKE-PADS-MINTEX-SET-NEW-BOXED-/130294918342?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item1e562eacc6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Both based on a 1.7 WITH ABS. Both links are to the same seller and he has every pad for all engine sizes and with or without ABS. IIRC the engine size shouldn't matter but for piece of mind go with the ones to match yours

 

[bouncy]

Just some advise for you guys buying safety related components of ebay.

A few million pounds worth of copy parts, brakes, steering and suspension components were siezed by trading standards at Dover and god knows how many other container loads have got through!!!

So be careful guys, its worth ringing your local supplier and comparing the prices you see on ebay. I for one can buy the Mintex pads from my local supplier less than the prices shown in the link.

Always make sure that brake pads come in sealed boxes and have not been opened and please buy OE spec stuff, saving a few quid may not give you that extra 20ft of stopping distance you may one day regret!!!

Many car part suppliers are now selling parts under diff names on-line and they inflate the price as some people believe they must be cheap cos they are on ebay. Just shop around youll be quite surprised how cheap your local factors maybe and you get the added benefit of being able to just take them back and get a replacement if there faulty there and then. :wink: :wink: :grin:

 

[jasper65]

Thanks again Yippeekiay for the info k:.

Not sure what size mine are but the year is a 2001! would it have any info anywhere for me to check?

Jasp

 

[yippeekiay]

The last one's I bought were cheaper than my cheapest local motorfactors could actually get them from the main mintex supplier with their apparent big discount at the time. I didn't tell them that where I got mine from was indeed the place that supplied him and most other motorfactors....lol. I'd gone down to the main distributer to pick them up on my way to a meet and ended up buying a mountain of other stuff too as the place was an Aladdins cave.

The guy in the motorfactors was dumbfounded when I told him how much I bought them for, not that dumbfounded mind you as he wouldn't buy my spare sets off me even though they were cheaper than what he paid himself...lol.

Jasper...at a guess they would be the 258mm ones. Easy to check, just get a tape measure on your discs - and/or ask the seller the question as he could probably tell you by your registration and/or model, age etc as most genuine sellers will

 

[jasper65]

Thanks again YK k:. I measured the discs and you was right they are 258mm.

Must admit if I ended up at the Mintex main supplier it would be like christmas all over again lol, the wife wouldn't be happy but whenever I'm in places that involve car spares or mods I do tend to over spend, this normaly ends up in a arguement and the wife off on one for a few days :lol:.....