Hot Rear wheel!!

[jim corrado 0]

I keep a good Eye on my corrado and I noticed a few days ago the o/s/rear alloy wheel was very hot after a long drive.

Would the most likely cause of this be kanckered wheel bearings or a seized brake caliper?

[mrbeige 0]

I'd think that the caliper is the culprit. You would probably hear the droning if it was the wheel bearing.

[Phil K 0]

Yeah I'd put money on the calliper being at fault - not uncommon at all tbh...

[coolrado 0]

yeah either the handbrake mech on the caliper or maybe a sticky handbrake cable, sometimes the little rubber belows on the ends on the handbrake cables fall apart and crud starts to build up inside the cable sleeving, mine starting sticking due to the plastic coating on the cable flaking off and jamming the cable, a new pair of cables are pretty cheap and easy to fit though.

if your calipers have started seizing up you could try working the handbrake crank back and forth while giving it a good coating of penetrating oil but they may not last long before they do it again, it might be worth upgrading to mk4 golf calipers instead.

[jim corrado 0]

Cheers guys,

 

Siezing calipers are quite common on the rado and mark II Golf as I remember it. I've read they can be cured fairly easily. Is the handbrake method the only procedure for unsiezing calipers? or is there another way to do it?

[coolrado 0]

its usually the handbrake mech that siezes, so if you disconnect the handbrake cable from the crank and work it back and forth with the penetrating oil it should free up, you could dismantle the complete caliper and clean it all out but that doesnt allways solve the problem for long.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Put the car on a very slight slope and drop the handbrake. If it doesn't roll forward as it should normally, it's defo caliper related.

 

A bearing wouldn't cause excessive heat like that unless it was torqued up far too tightly.

[jim corrado 0]

Thanks guys!