Lude Generation

Took the old girl for its annual, not good news, it failed! due to the following 2 points:

1) Brakes imbalanced across an axle rear (axle 2) [3.7.B.5b]

2) Rear brakes recording little or no effort offside [3.7.B.5a]

So I would like to ask if anyone could suggest what may be the going on with that rear brake, has anyone had the same problem and if so how was it resolved?

Good job I took it in earlier than normal, still got till end of month to use it

Sticky caliper or seized slider pins on the rear caliper

i second that do a visual check on the brake pads if one pad is worn more than the other chances are seized slider pins , common problem with sliding calipers

ive had a few issues with rear brakes over the years - cleaning up the slider pins and resetting the handbrake is a good way to go if youve got time to give that a go first - but ive got to say more often than not your better off replacing the caliper with a refurbed unit - i got a oem refurbed caliper for my 4th gen from a local motor factors for £60 just a couple of months ago. job done. make sure you follow the manual for resetting the handbrake

if thats all your lude has wrong on the mot then id say thats a good result

Thanks guys for the replies will give an update when sorted.

Yep, as others have said, very common for seized caliper sliders, pads sticking in the pad ccarriers and handbrake well out of adjustment.
Easy enough to fix, just needs a proper (no half measures) strip down and rebuild. Overhaul kits for the caliper carrier sliders readily available from brakes international.
Afterwards, follow the handbrake setting up procedure in the service manual, to the letter and expect to have to readjust a couple of times in the first hundred miles or so.

I had a similar issue with mine, I brought a rebuild kit from http://www.brakesint.co.uk/ but it was a pain in the arse to get the boot to fit into the grove (I might have this confused with the fronts). I now have a very tiny leak and wish I replaced the calliper like I did more recently for the other front and rear. Andrew Page was by far the cheapest, IIRC it was £35 for the rear of my 3rd gen. Much easier.

Just returned from the MOT centre and I'm glad to say that my Lude has passed, can now relax for another year

Thanks to: firstlude,ek9sid,vanzep,wurlycorner and 3rd_gen-Aaron for your helpful replies.