Sunday 5 August 2012

Woah there!

The brakes on little blue were shocking. Not just bad, but awful to the point where you had to plan way ahead to stop at a junction. This is the real reason we've not done any track days with the car yet, and why I've hardly done any road miles in her. Well, that has changed. We spent yesterday fitting new discs and pads all round. It's not a terrible job once you get the feel of it.

Want to see some photos?

Front Brakes
Prior to starting, I jacked up the car and put her on two axle stands. Then removed the road wheels from both sides. I figured I'd like to be able to see the current set up in case I got lost somewhere, so I did one side at a time.

Initial set up:
 IMG_4359

Entire caliper removed to get to the disc, disc removed. Box crate deployed to hold the caliper so that the brake pipe isn't damaged:
IMG_4362

Giving everything a little clean with a wire brush: IMG_4363

Fitting the pads: I went for EBC Yellow Stuff. :-)IMG_4368

And the final setup on the front. Note the disc being held rigidly in place with wheel nuts while the caliper and pads were fitted.
 IMG_4372

Rear brakes
The rear brakes have an entirely different caliper, pad and disc configuration to the front.

Jacking the car.... in the pouring rain. Not pleasant!

IMG_4378

Trying to find the correct alankey size for the manual adjuster. (It's 4mm by the way). The adjuster will do its best to fall out. We spend twenty minutes looking for it once it had done so. Doh. IMG_0983

Folding the caliper up and out of the way. It's tough work because there is a huge amount of spring in the handbrake cable: IMG_0984

Pads going in:
 IMG_0986

And finished:
 IMG_0987

3 comments:

  1. nice work =]

    what is the story about the manual adjuster

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    Replies
    1. I missed this comment until just now - sorry!

      The manual adjuster is covered by a small nut-like cover that you remove. Behind it is a 4mm alan key adjuster. Clockwise for closer, anti to back off.

      You have to adjust the brakes manually on the MX-5 rears wheels. Takes me back to classic Mini's FFS!

      The problem is that the little adjuster block will bloody fall out! I suspect what happened is that the alan key bound to it and as I withdrew it, it dropped on the floor. The ground where we were working was not clean, so it was tricky to find.

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