Hi, New member with Discovery II 1999 Auto ES diesel in France. Like the look of this forum with all the good helpful advice. Got current problem with front left brake squealing and found a caliper piston dust cover torn as well as a groove on back of disc causing ridge on pad ( which was replaced 10000 km ago). Have shaved off ridge and squeal has gone for now. May need to replace discs soon as have done 90000 km but would like to know if anyone else has had similar problem. Also note that there is a special head on the bolts holding the caliper body in place...? Special landrover tool? Thanks

 

Something doesn't seem right. How old are the brakes that are on your truck now? I am concerned abot the ridge on the rotor and pad and how it got there, sounds like an alignment problem. Has the truck been pulling when you brake hard?
One thing is for sure, the caliper needs a new boot or replacement soon. Usually when a caliper starts to hang up or cause problems, especially when it is on the front of a vehicle, you replace both calipers, otherwise you may have a pulling problem caused from an uneven brake pressure.
Plan on new pads, rotors and some sort of caliper replacement soon. Also flush the brake system to give you a firmer brake pedal.
As for the bolts on the caliper, they are not special, can't remember the size but I had a standard socket that fit them well.
The only tool that you may not have would be a hand held impact driver with a phillips head, to remove the screw that holds the rotor to the hub.
Good luck,
Mike

 

Hi Disco Mike, Thanks for info. Firstly.the brakes are the original discs (car new in 1999) but the pads were replaced at 80000km (now 90000 km). The thickness of the front discs is difficult to check but from the edges they look like they have worn down by about 1 mm on front and back face. I know that they need replacing at 22mm overall thickness from the 25mm new size so had thought that that would be a job in about another 20000 kms.?
The car does not pull to the side at all on braking and the squeal definitely comes from the one side when turning the steering slightly to left and to right. The squeal is not continous and on touching the brake pedal stops instantly. I found the ridge when looking at the pads and seeing a raised part on the back pad and then on examining the inner surface of the disc could see and feel the groove ring there on the central part of the disc. The ridge on the pad was not very high....0.3mm maybe ?....so I shaved it off with a file to see if that was reason for the squeal. I cleaned the caliper area of any dust and dirt/rust.. The squeal has now gone on a test drive but I am worried that when the rear pad beds in again it will return. ( Have not yet done many kms since) I have ordered the dust seals for the caliper pistons as I do understand the importance of those in preventing muck from getting to the piston sides. I will get them on asap.
I was planning to replace the disc rotors at around 90000km if the squeal does not return but will do it earlier if it comes back as it would then seem to be the main cause. Yes I will replace both sides then too along with pads as well as flushing in new fluid.
I think my mechanic pal has the correct tools for the job so should be no worries.
Many thanks for tips again.....regards, mike

 

One other idea would be to spray some sound deadening material on the back of the new pads to help prevent so much brake squealing.
Still don't understand why this happened to your truck. Make sure you watch where you buy your pads and rotors in the future. Might consider Atlantic British or Rover Connection, they always have good prices.
Mike