Disco brake's

|| The time has come, the rear brakes on my 3.9 Mreg Disco are || complaining. A quick look tonight between rain showers/tornados || reveals very very worn pads and buggered discs. Initial thoughts are || replace discs and pads. But bearing in mind the age of the car and || the fact the the calipers may be seized, would it be worth stripping || the calipers or replacing them?. A quick on line look at prices || showed some pretty good deals to be had for discs/pads and calipers. || WIll get my tame spanner man to look for me next week and then get || the credit card out. Reason i am thinking of replacing the calipers || is down to a bad experiance on the old RRC with a seized caliper. || || Dom J

Hi Dom

The calipers themselves are unlikely to be knackered, and then heavens, as ISTR they were bloody expensive when I last looked. You'd probably get away with new pistons and seals at the worst. Discs and pads are easy and (fairly) cheap. I think stripping calipers is a pretty serious activity - not one I would bother with. Expensive or not, I would replace them if they needed any work.

In message , Dom J writes

Yes it would make good to replace calipers, pads and discs all at once.

But you may be surprised, pull the pads out and look at the condition of the pistons. If they are nice and shinny all over then they should be OK for a few more years. If they are showing signs of rust etc. then it may be a good idea to replace.

|| The calipers themselves are unlikely to be knackered, and then || heavens

'Sbeen a long week.

On or around Thu, 7 Dec 2006 19:11:24 -0000, "Richard Brookman" enlightened us thusly:

calipers aren't bad if you don't insist on genuine parts, see Beamnends et al.

The calipers can be fuggered, mind - they can get grooves worn in 'em which trap the pad backplates, or can get worn so the pads move out of place, or just be rusted to f**k. You need the axle number (if you can find the bugger) to get the correct calipers though, in theory.

Thanks for your replys so far. Have decided to have a proper look next week, not a quick 5 mins crawl underneath in the pouring rain with water running down my legs!!. As for Caliper prices, Paddock list them as =A346 each side. Not sure if they are the right ones for me. I'll hold off ordering anything till at least middle of next week when i've had a proper look.

Dom

Thanks for your replys so far. Have decided to have a proper look next week, not a quick 5 mins crawl underneath in the pouring rain with water running down my legs!!. As for Caliper prices, Paddock list them as £46 each side. Not sure if they are the right ones for me. I'll hold off ordering anything till at least middle of next week when i've had a proper look.

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The acid test is when you push the pistons back in prior to fitting new pads, if they push in fairly easily and smoothly then they are fine IMO.

(sorry, outlook distress wouldn't indent your post)

Julian.

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Cheers Pete, what about that nice workshop where you work??. Just had a proper look and took the wheels off.....

Discs are not as bad as i first thought. A quick clean up and they look ok. Pads on the other hand are well and truely shot along with the pins and i assume anti squeal thingys. 3 out of 4 pistons moved back ok first time, 1 took a bit of work but is now moving ok.

How would you check for a warped disc?. I held a screw driver on the caliper, just touching the disc. Turned disc listening for a increase/decrease in noise and found none. Is there another more accurate method?.

So i plan to put a new set of pads in and see what happens.

Dom

The proper method needs a dial gauge, otherwise, mount your screwdriver NOT touching the disk, and 1/2mm off it, shine a light behind and watch to see if the gap changes as you turn it. That´s usually OK to < 0.1 mm, or 4 thou or so.

Steve

You'll feel it through the pedal is it's bad enough to worry about.

I don't think you'll ever get a rear disc hot enough to warp - they don't contribute that much to the braking effort.

Julian.

it's bad enough to worry about.

I think all that needs to be said already has been Dom. You'll never get them hot enough to warp them. Just make sure you copper grease the backs of the pads to avoid the annoying squeal that I've got at the moment!! Pete.

Despite one of my clients best attempts at keeping me at work late i managed to sneak off early and fitted the new pads. One of them was a bit of a pain to get sitting right but managed in the end. Quick test drive revealed no thumping noise when braking and a definate difference in stopping. There is a slight pulse through the pedal but i can live with that. One job done and as i'm pulling out of the drive another one pops up.............

The headlight switch on the left hand stalk has gone very stiff and is quite hard to turn. Can it be stripped down or is it time to go to the breakers again??.

Dom

I'm of the view that everything has been designed by a human (though maybe machine built), so another human ought to be able to take it apart. Putting it back together can be troublesome. Sometimes enclosures are glued or welded together, make the intial opening "messy". Or there is the odd fukit that whizzes past your ear.

Dom

Is it the same as the main/dipped beam/horn/indicator stalk on a Classic RR? I have a spare one. Of course it does come attached to a rather nice 88-vintage Classic RR 3.5 Vogue SE Auto in Caspian Blue with Warwick Banks Handling kit and Rimmer Bros SS exhaust and . . . . .

Joking apart I have dismantled that stalk to cure a faulty hazard warning switch. Fairly straightforward although there are a few spring-assisted ball bearings which will travel a surprising distance if you are interrupted at a crucial moment by SWMBO asking some typically inane, irrelevant and non-urgent question. Oh and, as usual, three or four hands the size of two-year old would make the job much easier. But it can be done even by people as clumsy as me!

IIRC there are plenty of brass finger springs which rub against each other to make the electrical contact. Could be that one of those has lifted? Dismantling appears to be quite intrepid in that you must release all the case clips around the edge of the unit and gradually wiggle it in half. IIRC the only loose item is a small brass toggle for the indicator (IIRC). Pay good attention to its location when opening the case because it is not obvious how it locates. Sticking it in place with Vaseline seemed to help when reassembling.

HTH

Richard