front wheel wont spin freely ..

[karls cupra]

jacked my car up today and tryed to spin my front wheel and it was very hard to move but tryed my mates car and it spins freely and keeps going, any one any idea what this could be as i do have a spongey brake problem as well and am thinking pads might be sticking to the disc .. but wondered if any one else had this problem.

 

[__B3NNY__]

My bets on sticky pistons or even seized.

 

[lemonslap]

jacked my car up today and tryed to spin my front wheel and it was very hard to move but tryed my mates car and it spins freely and keeps going, any one any idea what this could be as i do have a spongey brake problem as well and am thinking pads might be sticking to the disc .. but wondered if any one else had this problem.

was your mates rwd or did you leave yours in gear? The front wheels will be quite hard to turn in any case

 

[karls cupra]

was your mates rwd or did you leave yours in gear? The front wheels will be quite hard to turn in any case

now you meanction it yeah its rwd bmw.. but i thought they should still spin and i have to put force on them to get the wheel to move and my car was out of gear..

 

[lemonslap]

now you meanction it yeah its rwd bmw.. but i thought they should still spin and i have to put force on them to get the wheel to move and my car was out of gear..

remember yours is fwd so your turning the differential and lay shaft which takes some force, the front of your mates BMW should spin the same as the back wheel on yours.

 

[karls cupra]

remember yours is fwd so your turning the differential and lay shaft which takes some force, the front of your mates BMW should spin the same as the back wheel on yours.

yeah agree with that mate yeah but should they spin a bit or nothing at all..

 

[Adam R]

LOL sorry but this is funny as!

your front wheels should not spin freely! they are connected to the bloomin gearbox!

of course your mates RWD bmw front wheels will spin freely as they are not the driven wheels!
your back wheels will spin freely, or should do anyway.


anyway on to your spongy brakes....when did you last change the brake fluid ? its well worth changing your fluid every 2-3 years as it does 'go off'

 

[mr_D]

what the hell are you all on about. if the car is out of gear then the front wheel should spin freeley. obviously it aint going to go on forever but it will spin freely. regardless if its fwd. lol


come on now guys.

 

[Adam R]

what the hell are you all on about. if the car is out of gear then the front wheel should spin freeley. obviously it aint going to go on forever but it will spin freely. regardless if its fwd. lol


come on now guys.

i think 'spin' is a bad word to use...

the front wheels should rotate by hand. they should be free on rotation of any binding or unusual resistance.

'spin' makes it sound like you can give it a quick pull and it will rotate on its own easily.
when the gear box has oil in it and you rotate the front wheels, you will have resistance from the gear box oil and other mechanical components such as bearings and general resistance.

on any driven wheel the 'resistance' will always be greater than an undriven wheel.

 

[karls cupra]

right ok it takes alot of pressure to move my wheel two hands need to make it move quarter of a turn ..

 

[s1l3nc3r]

Sounds like brake pads binding or sticking to me...

take it for a drive (without lots of braking) then have a feel of the disc's if they very hot then the pads are sticking...

 

[Adam R]

if your finding it that hard you have to move it with 2 hands then something is definatly wrong.

best thing to do is drive down the road in 1st gear at idle. dip the clutch and let it roll in neutral.
if it stops quick quickly then your brakes are binding... or that when you come to that moment where the car is still rolling but just about to stop and you can feel in the car that it 'resistivly comes to a stop then again, your brakes are binding.

 

[__B3NNY__]

Both sides the same?

 

[lemonslap]

what the hell are you all on about. if the car is out of gear then the front wheel should spin freeley. obviously it aint going to go on forever but it will spin freely. regardless if its fwd. lol


come on now guys.

lmao I expected better from you!

 

[karls cupra]

Both sides the same?

yeah mate both the same i can push brake pedal further down now till it stops the car.. less presure at top end of pedal ..

 

[mr_D]

i think 'spin' is a bad word to use...

the front wheels should rotate by hand. they should be free on rotation of any binding or unusual resistance.

'spin' makes it sound like you can give it a quick pull and it will rotate on its own easily.
when the gear box has oil in it and you rotate the front wheels, you will have resistance from the gear box oil and other mechanical components such as bearings and general resistance.

on any driven wheel the 'resistance' will always be greater than an undriven wheel.

There is no fundamental difference between a “rotation” and an “orbit” and/or "spin". so go do some homework. you can spin a wheel and it will spin freely but you have to apply the laws of physics. it will eventually stop. im not saying it will go forever but it will spin a few rotations depending on friction of course

right ok it takes alot of pressure to move my wheel two hands need to make it move quarter of a turn ..

you really have something wrong. (obviously lol) sounds to me like brakes could be binding quite alot. you can take it to an mot station and get them to put it on the brake tester and this might give some indication as to if its the brakes. if you wanna try and fix it first. then strip the brakes down and give everything i good clean. use a wirebrush where nessasary and some copper grease. check the pistons aint seized either.if you still got problems when you put it back together than you might have really bad warped discks

lmao I expected better from you!

who said i was wrong???

 

[Adam R]

There is no fundamental difference between a “rotation” and an “orbit” and/or "spin". so go do some homework. you can spin a wheel and it will spin freely but you have to apply the laws of physics. it will eventually stop. im not saying it will go forever but it will spin a few rotations depending on friction of course

i know they are the same...

i just meant that if your rear wheel rotates 5 time with 1 push... i would not expect the fronts to rotate more than 2-3 times due to the extra mechanical friction involved with the CV joints and of course the friction caused by the oil.

 

[mr_D]

depends on how hard you push. lol.


but on a seriouos note. it should have alot of friction with what you mentioned but it should still spin.

 

[karls cupra]

im going to buy some brake cleaner and some new front pads and copper grease and give it a good clean an see what happens .. fingers crossed

 

[lemonslap]

who said i was wrong???

I did as said above the front wheels will never spin "freely" on a front wheel drive car. Its easier with both front wheels off the ground though.

Karl keep us updated!