I know its not a rotary but maybe someone here can help:
I have a problem on the better half\'s Mk1 mx-5. We\'d thought about selling it and getting a newer car but, as she likes it so much and it has never had a serious problem we have decided to spend some money on it and keep it for a few more years. It now has a new mohair roof, head unit, speakers, shocks, bump stops and is booked in for a wheel alignment. The shocks are 8-way adjustable KYB AGXs and have transformed the handling, but it did have 2 leaky bilsteins before :eek
The problem is the rear offside wheel is getting very hot after only a couple of miles, something is rubbing which I assume is brake related. I phoned the guy that did the shocks a couple of weeks ago and whilst he was happy to take a look I don\'t want to drive the car 30 miles to him in it\'s current state. We are not driving the car at the moment, my questions are:
1. How do I determine the cause of the rubbing? I can just about take the wheel off but not much else!
2. Is it likely to be related to the shock replacement or is it just a coincidence?
3. Is it safe to drive c.10 miles to my local Mazda dealer?
Cheers
Kevin
It sounds very much like heat transfer to me.
When you say wheel, do you mean the wheel itself or they tyre?
You can check the rear calipers to see if they are stuck on and binding easily, if you jack the rear up, let the handbrake off, put it in neutral and try to rotate the wheel. If it moves freely, you can forget the brakes.
Also wiggle the wheel top and bottom, left and right... is there any play in the wheel bearing?
Other causes maybe a worn CV joint and/or (I don\'t know anything about the MX-5 drive shafts so it may not have these) a dry halfshaft joint causing serious friction.
Start with the brakes though :)
Sorry its not much to go on :(
Check the rear calipers, could be a sticky handbrake lever, or cable, If you remove the wheel, pull on the handbrake, check the wheel will not move, take off the handbrake, see if it is free, if not pull the lever back on the caliper by hand where the cable fastens , see if it is free then, if not it could be the piston. mazda rear calipers are well known for this problem..
sticky rear calipers (especially the handbrake mechanism) is a common problem, got the same calipers on the rally car and recently had the all reconned for a reasonable amount.
Could be a simple fix, strip down the brakes and clean all the contact areas where the pads touch the carriers with a file and coat with copper grease. The two slides also need cleaning and are usually corroded, a wire brush and some copper grease on these is a good idea.
Quote from: ds2000When you say wheel, do you mean the wheel itself or they tyre?
Actually its the disc and consequently the wheel is getting hot. I\'ll jack it up and take a look, thanks for everyones comments.
Kevin
As some one else ahs said, there is a very high chance it is hte brake caliper sticking - this is a common problem on MX-5s, especially MK1s.
Yep, Kev, its the caliper sticking - common fault, and I had a hell of a job to get mine to move when I replaced our pads a while ago.