Just put 2 new rotors on the front of my 89 240DL wagon. Put the left one on, rotor / wheel spins fine. Put the right one on, quite tight, doesn’t spin very easily. I noticed that the outer pad (right wheel) was a bit loose and the inner one was tight. I made a shim out of two thicknesses of aluminum can, put it between the caliper hole and the steering knuckle, thereby moving the whole caliper over two thicknesses of aluminum. After that, the wheel turns fine- well, with a tiny bit of bind. Drive the car, and it has a slight pull to the left upon braking. Left brakes doing more work than the right. I’m afraid if I drive it without the shims, the disc (on the right) might heat up too much and warp, so I rode the motorcycle today. Does this sound like I need a caliper? Thanks! Dave

 

caliper rebuild kits are inexpensive. I would re-build both fronts. It is a poor idea to shim the calipers!!! When rebuilding the Volvo calipers do not forget to lubricate the pins that the pads slide on........caliper grease is also inexpensive. I have rebuilt a ton of Volvo calipers as they are a popular design to upgrade some of the foreign sports autos of years back. Good luck.

r.

 

reg- Yeah, I was avoiding having to open up the system. I figure the right wheel, inner pistons are not opening (retracting) enough, thereby binding when fully tightened. Suppose I better get to it before the snow starts falling. Didnt quite get your last sentence- Do you mean Volvo calipers are typically upgraded? To what? Any tips on rebuilding? Thanks! Dave

 

Volvo calipers are used on many BMW's (older........2002, 320's) as they are quite an up-grade over the BMW ones. For instance the old BMW's are single sliding caliper variety and do not carry the amount of friction material that the Volvo calipers do. The rebuild kits complete..............it is easy to remove the pistons if you have an air compressor. If not, go to your local service station and borrow theirs for a couple of minutes. You need the air to 'blow' the pistons out. A word of caution.............place a towel between the caliper halves when blowing out the pistons as the pistons may come out at a high rate of speed!!!! Make sure you lubricate the pistons and rubber when re-building. You can either use brake fluid or a 'special' brake rebuilding fluid. I do not use brake fluid as it is a caustic solution that will remove any paint that it comes in contact with. Lastly you should flush the old brake fluid from the lines which include the rears also. Your Volvo uses DOT 4 fluid............not DOT 3. NAPA should be able to provide you with everything necessary to complete the job.

reg

 

Reg- Thanks for all of your helpful advice. I knew a fluid change was in order- now is the time. Dave

 

Re brake seizure on front calipers 740 1988 - I had a caliper seize on the right front and could only just free it up with a chisel and sledge hammer. Smoke coming off wheel assembly, fried the bearing grease and had to cool the brake with water. The auto recycle guy reckons they're a common problem. Anyway disconnected and blocked off hydraulic line just to be able to keep driving (was stuck in the middle of nowhere). Back in civilisation I replaced the O rings having cleaned the recesses out properly as advised. So - guess what - the problem has recurred! It was a bit hard inserting the cylinders, so could the O rings be too large - too much rubber? Maybe they're different for the two types of brake - Girling or DBA? The parts were really clean and fitted loosely together so I was thinking of sanding down the O rings a bit - you can imagine what kind of a hit and miss job that would be.

 

gads, don't sand down o-rings. its quite likely the brake calibers need rebuilding or replacing.