front brakes seem weak after driveshaft change

I have just fitted replacement driveshafts to my 205 diesel and on first
test drive notice that the braking seems to be somewhat weaker than before,
flooring the pedal at 30mph only locks up the back wheels. I thought perhaps
that the front discs had some grease on them from when I was fitting the
driveshafts so I removed the wheels and used some ipa to clean them up as
best I could. On the next test drive the brakes seemed a bit better on the
first couple of applications but seem again to have gone back to being weak.

I wondered somewhat optimistically if braking driving along with my foot on
the brake and the accelerator would heat up the discs enough to burn off any
grease. After trying it a couple of times I'm starting to think it was a bit
of a stupid idea!

Should I just keep cleaning until things improve or is there something else
that might be causing the problem (I have already checked for leaks etc and
found nothing).

Thanks
Phil

 

I have just fitted replacement driveshafts to my 205 diesel and on

If you have got grease on the pads, then they are essentially useless - pad
material is very readily contaminated, and under heating during braking the
grease melts and is absorbed by the pads even more readily, so driving with
the brakes on won't work either.

In my 205 TD, I can't actually floor the brake pedal, and if you can I
would normally suspect that they needed bleeding, although I can't imagine
why changing the driveshafts would result in that (I'm assuming you didn't
actually disconnect the calipers). I reckon your best bet is to try some
new pads - thay aren't very expensive after all.

 

Did you put the pads back where they came from? If you muddle them up they
don't work very well.

Ron Robinson

 

i think you should have your brakes looked at, and by someone who can
identify a problem if there is one, as mentioned here you may have the pads
in the wrong way round, however thats unlikely as its difficuly to get them
in if they arnt correctly fitted, also mentioned is the possibility that you
have removed the caliper and not bled it correctly, if either of these is a
possibility then have a trained technician sort it out, you dont want to
take chances with your braking system.
no appologies for being abrupt or to the point, if your brakes don't work
properly and you can't work out why then driving it on the road in that
condition is putting lives at risk.
steve.

 

Thanks for the advice, the calipers and/or brake pads have not been removed
and replaced. A minor improvement was acheived after repeated cleaning with
IPA but I think as has been suggested the pads have become contaminated with
oil. I'm going to remove the pads, clean up the discs and fit new pads. If
that doesn't help I'll get them looked at.

Philip K