-
Caliper is probably only part of the issue. The slider pins do wear over time (the male prong bit as well as the female bit within the caliper body) and get more slack in them/sticky. Worth changing the lot at the back if your brakes have needed that much 'fiddling' for so many years.
The bracket part is sometimes at fault too, where the edge of the pads rests on the bracket they eventually wear grooves into it, then when you put new pads in, they just don't move. You can grind this part down with an angle grinder to get it all level/smooth again, but you can only do this once, take off too much material and the pads will eject when you brake lol
BrickMan-
Cheers, I've asked my mechanic and he says the pins are fine, it's the caliper itself that's knackered. I'll get the £80 ebay one, as he's OKed it now and I'm not sure I'd be confident with a £30 one. Plus the seller for the really cheap one is away at the moment it seems... I'll report back if it fixes it!
TurtleRecall
One of the rear calipers on my Mk1 Octavia VRS is seized. If I buy this to replace it with, how fiery and explosive will my death be?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brand-New-Skoda-Octavia-1-Rear-Brake-Caliper-Left-Nearside-OE-No-1J0615423E/253115344096?
Only problem is that it's not green, but I reckon I can put up with that compared to £80 for a painted OEM ebay one or £200 for the proper Skoda UK one, as long as it's not a terrible idea?