missing brake pad retaining pin

[sneadd]

Last weekend we took our elan sprint for a blast down the Fosse way from Rugby to Cirencester. The trip down was hampered by endless traffic but the trip back was a blast. The sprint went like a bomb and handled superbly. However at Stowe on the Wold a new clicking noise could be heard from the rear axel, only at low speeds in second gear. So avoiding both low speeds and second gear we made it home. I got the car on the axel stand and discovered the noise was the two offside rear brake pads rattling around against the brake housing, because the rear retaining pin was missing

!
Is this a common occurrence?!
I have ordered some replacement pins from Mick Miller Classic Lotus so hopefully will have the problem sorted soon.

[billwill]

I've never heard of it happening before.

It is held in by a tiny R pin. A weak or rusty one of those could result in the pin falling out.

[Quart Meg Miles]

As I related once before, probably in a "confessions" thread, I once drove around with a bent piece of wire securing the pin of a rear pad as I'd lost the correct item. When I replaced the pads I fitted a brand new R-clip to retain the pin and within ten miles lost the clip, pin and a pad, none of which I found. Hairy moment but the piston eventually reached the disc to restore some braking.

One failure of that type in my 250,000 miles of Elans and, like yours, a rear pin/clip, though memory suggests it was the forward clip, perhaps why my pad escaped and yours was retained (as was one of mine).

[AlfaLofa]

I lost a lower retaining pin from a rear caliper many years ago.

The result was a disaster.

The missing pin allowed the pad to pop out (I presume under gentle braking) due to the rotation of the disc.

Then when I did need to brake approaching a T-junction my foot went straight to the floor as the piston took up the space previously occupied by the missing pad.

With no time to pump the brakes I shot across the junction with predictable results.

Those pins need regular checking.

[worzel]

Hi

Don't report this to the Health and Safety brigade!

I don't use the std retaining pins- I use high tensile bolts with the hexagon heads suitably ground round and drilled to accept split pins which are fitted outside of the caliper (rather than next to the pads/pistons). I've never been too keen on the R clip system since I too had a pin work loose.

Regards

John

[marode]

Do always renew the R-pins and check them regulary. I had also lost a rear brake pad some time ago. Here?s the story: free-parking-f45/these-things-happen-t23667.html