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I have a '17 plate Transit custom. Ive had it from new and its done 39k miles. Its had a really easy life. I drive slowly and its never loaded with heavy items, just bikes or sailing/camping kit.
Its just had MOT and all was fine. In the last 2 journeys it has developed a quite severe vibration when braking. I can feel the steering wheel judder and the brake pedal pulse. It seems speed related as when i go very slow i can feel the pulse get very slow too.
If i apply the handbrake when travelling, there is no pulse/judder so i think it has warped brake disc/discs.
Does this sound a reasonable conclusion?
If so, im pretty disappointed that the standard discs are so feeble as ive never braked hard and there is tons of pad material on the brakes and the tyres still have about 4.5mm of tread after 39k.
So how do i decide what replacement discs to buy? It seems that ECP etc all have a variety of brands but it seems even known brands like Brembo and Pagid have a cheap low quality line of replacements. Can anyone recommend anything, or see a flaw in my thinking?
Thanks
Ian
Brakes can warp if you come to a stop from a high speed and sit on the brake at a junction. Could also be a little contamination, take it for a drive and use the brakes properly, several stops from 50mph will help burn off any contamination, check the wheels are getting warm.
Perhaps have a visual check of the discs first if the vibration is that bad.
If so, im pretty disappointed that the standard discs are so feeble
Rather than excessive wear or heavy breaking It can be a result of keeping the brakes applied while stationation and the disks are hot - coming to the end of a slip road and holding the car on the foot brake rather then the handbrake - creates uneven heat/cooling and resulting distortion
50k would be a fair expectation for a disk's lifespan so 40k isnt great but it isn't terrible.
I appreciate the thermal stress of the footbrake, but i havnt been doing that.
My driver training has stopped that as a habit, and some track car time has cemented it.
I dont think its contamination on the pads/disc as i would expect that to be distributed by the rotation of the disc through the pads.
A sticking piston/caliper slider can also do that.
Common for the disks to split on these......
I'd be pulling the wheel off immediately for a look before assuming any of the above on a transit custom.
5 years of low mileage (which would suggest intermittent use) is not that bad, you shouldn't be on a downer about a simple replacement of consumable parts. My 2014 van with 50k is about to have its second rear brake caliper replaced (£300 parts only) if I have time tomorrow, handbrake mechanism seizing on, its also had two sets of anti-roll bar bushes and some other bits and bobs.
At the end of the day vans are fairly heavy even if you don't put much load in it. At 5 years you are probably looking at trading it in if you want a maintenance free life!
As trail-rat said the disks split (the two skins of the vented disc sheared apart). Ours (15 plate Tourneo) did it a couple of years ago on the front. Gave perculiar symptoms, sometimes the brakes worked fine then others the pedal went through to the floor before bitinf. Get it into the garage asap
Thanks all. I will get the wheels off.
Anyone recommend some aftermarket discs and pads?
Ian
Transit pads are an easy change, discs is really a garage job, they are behind the hub and the bolt is tightened to 450Nm!
10st me and a 3ft breaker bar stood no chance.
Not sure if the Customs are the same
Transit pads are an easy change, discs is really a garage job, they are behind the hub and the bolt is tightened to 450Nm!
Depends if it's a front wheel drive or rear wheel drive one.
But in reality the custom doesn't share much with a real transit other than the propensity to rust at an astronomical rate
Factor in new hub nuts too, they are not reusable. Plus, when I did mine I had to buy a 3/4" drive torque wrench and sockets to achieve the required torque. Do not just hang off a breaker bar and scaffold extension. The nut torque preloads the bearing. Get it wrong and you'll be getting it all back off within a few thousand miles to replace the bearings too.
The hub nut torque sequence for the transit/tourneo custom is:
Front - 36mm nut
Stage 1: rotate hub 5 times
Stage 2: tighten to 250Nm
Stage 3: rotate hub 5 times
Stage 4: tighten to 500Nm
Rear - 45mm nut
Stage 1: rotate hub 5 times
Stage 2: tighten to 200Nm
Stage 3: rotate hub 5 times
Stage 4: tighten to 300Nm
Rear - 51mm nut
Stage 1: rotate hub 5 times
Stage 2: tighten to 200Nm
Stage 3: rotate hub 5 times
Stage 4: tighten to 420Nm
Transit pads are an easy change, discs is really a garage job, they are behind the hub
Bringing back memories of lots of swearing when I did mine.
Factor in new hub nuts too
oh yep - more Ford crap engineering and additional costs.
Stage 4: tighten to 500Nm
Final kick in the teeth for DIY disc change.
I miss having a van, I don't miss having a Transit but I'm sure a Custom is fine......
Bum, i didnt reqlise it was going to be such a pain. Garage for me i think! What a crap idea....damn them!
500nm, that's mental. Think my 1/2" torque wrench only goes up to 210nm. Highest I've used is 200nm for brake calipers.
The rear leaf springs on my Transit Motorhome required 250nm, and that was hard to achieve lying on my back underneath it.
My work 2016 Custom trend had no brake pad wear warning light. Similar symptoms as the pads got a bit thin. Garage took a look. (So they said. I think they forgot).
Ran out of brake pads a week later. ( Often do big miles).
The pads looked ok through the wheels, so may not have worn evenly, I don't know for sure.
500nm, that’s mental. Think my 1/2″ torque wrench only goes up to 210nm. Highest I’ve used is 200nm for brake calipers
Yep, it is quite high. 1/2" drive doesn:t cut it. You need one of these and they won't work below 200Nm!
It does sound like brakes but just double check your tyres. On my old van that didn't get used a lot I got an egg on a rear tyre and I got vibration at certain speeds.
Wheel nuts are 1000Nm on some HGTV axles.
Just getting the 1000Nm torque wrench and socket on the nut is an impressive feat of strength.
Torque multipliers are the name of the game there if your not doing it daily....
Tyres is a good shout. Our under-utilised crew bus at work had to ahem a new set of tyres after the tyres oxidised and went out of round. That was an expensive weekend as no chance to shop around just buy from whoever had 4 tyres in stock on a Saturday locally.
As has been said, on a Custom, it'll be the front brake discs split through the venting, especially on a 17 plate for some reason. We had a run off split discs, all on 17 plate Customs.
Unless you've got the correct tools and aren't afraid of hitting things hard with a big hammer, front discs on Transits aren't really a DIY job.