Pulls to one side

Maintenance advice to keep your Spider in shape.
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digitech
Posts: 336
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 6:37 am
Your car is a: 1979 Fiat Spider

Pulls to one side

Post by digitech »

Top down weather is here! At least in GA. Been out quite a bit the last few weeks and I've found that after my brakes heat up, the car will pull to the passenger side under any kind of braking - doesn't happen when they are cold, I get pretty much straight line stopping then.

So my question is, sticking caliper piston or is it a wedge that sticks? The brakes were all redone early last year with rebuilt calipers from Advance Auto/O'Reilly's installed and all the hardware,wedges,etc., cleaned and reused. All hoses replaced and the system has been flushed and bled many times.

I'll be buying some new pads and rotors soon and if there are other parts I need to solve this, I'd like to get them at the same time.
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TulsaSpider
Posts: 1547
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:33 pm
Your car is a: 1978 Spyder 124 2L
Location: Tulsa, Ok

Re: Pulls to one side

Post by TulsaSpider »

Also inspect the control arm bushings. If they are shot it will cause this issue.
1978 Spyder 1800 make that 2L! Finally making real progress!
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azruss
Posts: 3659
Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 12:24 pm
Your car is a: 80 Fiat 2000 FI

Re: Pulls to one side

Post by azruss »

try driving in reverse and slam on the brakes. This reverses the load the calipers and can allow them to reset on the sliders.
majicwrench

Re: Pulls to one side

Post by majicwrench »

Heck jack up car and see if the brakes drag on any one wheel. If it only does it hot not likely bushing issue, but why not look?? And tires cause a lot of pulls, if brakes don't drag try swapping front tires side to side.
Keith
digitech
Posts: 336
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 6:37 am
Your car is a: 1979 Fiat Spider

Re: Pulls to one side

Post by digitech »

Well, tried the reverse/slam on the brakes thing but it didn't help. I'm out of town for the weekend so won't get back to it until next week. Drove it about 75 miles today doing some running around and there is definitely no pulling when cold but after they heat up, you'll do a right turn if you have to hit the brakes and aren't ready for it.

Next week I'll pickup one of those infared thermometers from Harbour Freight and see what that tells me.
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