Hi. I have had my Mondeo from new, and had major problem in France in June. On inspection , brake disc had worn down to nothing and also part of the caliper holding it was worn down too which had worn a groove in the disc plate. Needless to say, I had to have new discs and disc plates on both back wheels which cost me 330 Euro's which was not too bad for France I thought! Long story short. I noticed that the inner disc on the caliper looked as if it was unused, as if it had never come into contact with the disc plate. Is there any way that only part of the braking system on that rear wheel can be operating? I am as you can see, a novice at disc brakes, and I am having a large service done on the car in January, and would like this checked out by the garage, but do not know if it is a simple case of brake disc residue gumming up the works, or something more serious. I would appreciate your views, as I want to be knowledgeable when discussing it with the garage mechanics if necessary.

Regards to all. Mike.

Take out sliders I say they need good clean an copper grease is pad only wearin on the outside an not inside

... I am having a large service done on the car in January, and would like this checked out by the garage, but do not know if it is a simple case of brake disc residue gumming up the works, or something more serious.

The residue from the pads can be gumming up the mechanism, and that can be serious.

Are you saying that you want the garage to do the work, or are you preparing to do some of the work yourself? if you do it yourself, there is probably some hitting things involved, but you don't want to hit things directly with a hammer.

From Scaleyback.

Thanks for your advice. I will get the garage to look at it when they do my service in January. Obviously the car is not worth a lot, so I need to think carefully if the extra work costs too much: the service alone will cost £250.00 plus, as I only do 6000 miles a year approx., and have a real good service every two years.

I have had the car since new; 2001, 75000 miles. Has anyone had to have a new exhaust system or catalytic convertor on their older Mondeo? Touch wood, I have not needed either yet.

Just seen a 2007 Mondeo Ghia, petrol, 2ltr, £2800. I am tempted to take a look at it.

Regards to all Mike.

What mick85 said about the sliders/guide pins. One of mine was bent, causing a whole chain of other problems; First, the pad wasn't retracting off the disc, causing extreme heat and eventual damage to the disc, as well as wearing the pad into a wedge shape. Also, I was losing around 5-6MPG from running with the rear brake half-on. It may or may not have been a consequence of the heat, but I also ended up changing the wheel bearing as that was also on the way out. Before I'd figured out it was a bent guide pin (more on this in a sec), I had also changed the caliper as I thought the piston may be sticking, and also the rear flexi hoses as they can sometimes stop fluid returning from the caliper.

About the guide pin - it's very difficult to see whether they're bent or not - even bent slightly, is bad. The way I tested it was to remove the guide pin (they just pull out), and put it in an electric drill on low speed, and spin it. You'll notice immediately if it needs replacing as it will wobble like mad (like when you have a bent drill bit that looks OK until you come to actually use it).

From Scaleyback.

Thanks for that info BigD. Very interesting, and I shall run all the things that have been raised, with the garage. I know that even though I have had new discs and plates on the rear wheels, the hand brake comes up too far when in parking mode. It goes up almost to the top, as opposed to half way up which I would expect if my brakes were all functioning properly. I Think that maybe only one of the discs is operating on the o/s rear wheel, and that it may, like yours, be constantly riding on the plate, therefore losing me petrol etc, etc. Years ago I had a problem when I found the nearside rear wheel steaming hot after a ride to Poole, and had to get it fixed. the garage said the caliper was seized up: I wonder if this has never been really sorted out. I will let you know the outcome when job is looked at in January.

Regards. Mike.

sounds like the calliper is sticking on the sliders or worse a sized/siezing calliper