Oh what a weekend!

Fitted 2 new Kumho KU31's up front on saturday morning, moving my worn but legal tyres to the back. I love sliding my car around big round-abouts!

Then back home to replace both front droplinks, and FARB bushes, clamps and bolts.

Removed both arch liners and muflaps, and washed out the arches. Refitting the foam sound deadening thingies in their correct places as they both just fell out!

Yesterday was brake day. Once I had removed the calipers, brackets and discs, I wanted to drill out the retaining screws that someone had snapped off previously. Did that and tapped the holes out to clean them up after. Then I fitted the very lovely new Brembo high carbon discs from GSF . Really nice items with wear markers and painted non-contact areas to stop the ugly rust build up.

Fitted the new retaining screws and cleaned everything up with Wurth brake cleaner. Popped some OE standard Pagid pads in, and greased all the slide faces with Mintex Ceratech grease. Torqued it all up and jobs a goodun!

I drove 250 miles last night, and I'm really happy with everything. The brakes are superb. I'm amazed how much new discs help. I have also cured my annoying knocking noise, which was loud at low speeds on bumpy back roads. Nice and silent now. I'm a happy chappy . Love this car!

I took some pics after, so I'll post a couple up later.

Sounds good .........

Now tell me, how much were the discs and are they drilled, grooved etc.

I wish I had time too do these things myself, damn winter daylight hours, soon I will be able too

Now tell me, how much were the discs and are they drilled, grooved etc.

I wish I had time too do these things myself, damn winter daylight hours, soon I will be able too

Discs were £43.50+vat each, but after asking for a discount got them for £40+vat.

They aren't drilled or grooved, plain like OE. But just better material and really nice quality. There are 2 wear markers on the front face, which is a nice touch, and the anti-rust coating is also a cool idea.

I know what you mean about sunlight problems! Managed to get the last wheel back on by 630 last night, and had to use a lamp to find all the tools on the drive! Bit of a pain!

What about the pads ??

Any good ???

250 miles, was that just for fun or a purpose ???

I am gonna be doin this kinda stuff mate when I get back home. got 3-4 week off work so gonna be strippin all the arches out and breaks down, claying the outside and cleanin the bay out and sortin multiple rattles inside.

I love mine too. best lookin affordable car around imho

Pads were £39+vat. They had a rubberised metal shim on the backface of the inboard pads, and a 3M sticky-back bit on the backface of the outer pads. Passenger side had wear sensor as usual. I wanted some fancy pads, but settled for these as time had run out before the weekend! I'm happy that they are good quality parts though, looked well made. Brake compound was 'Pagid 566', whatever that means!

No squeal from them, and I'm surprised how well they coped with heat. I gave them a good test while charging up the A43 past Silverstone last night. Lots of heavy braking from high speeds for roundabouts. I was expecting some fade or judder, which I normally get while doing that drive, but it never came. So far so good with them, but only time will tell I guess.

I did the work on the car down south (Wiltshire) but I work/live up in Yorkshire, so I could abuse my dads workshop and mountain of tools for the weekend! Also got the tyres done for a very good price!

I love long drives in the middle of the night! You own the road! Apart from the odd suicidal bunny....

The discs sound very interesting do you have the brembo and the Gsf part number for me to research?

I would be interested to see how you get on with them when they have bedded in a bit more.

Edited 2 March, 200917 yr by martziniuk

yea mate, shouldnt you be takin it easy on them to start off?

then after a few hundred mile or so then give it a big blast?

mmm

billy

Pics:

Aluminium, low entry, high lift jack made life easy.

You can just see the ARB bush covered in white lithium grease in the background. Check out the bling droplinks!

You can just see the wear marker dimple on the front face of the disc here.

The discs sound very interesting do you have the brembo and the Gsf part number for me to research?

I would be interested to see how you get on with them when they have bedded in a bit more.

GSF P/N: 60192

Brembo P/N: 09.7880.11

Yeah feel free to ask me again in a month or so, should be well into them by then!

Looks good, nice to see someone taking good care of their car and fitting quality replacement parts .

That Jack looks very nice, I've just ordered an Arcan aluminium low racing jack which I hope will arrive tomorrow. Are you using the chassis rails to jack up on?

yea mate, shouldnt you be takin it easy on them to start off?

then after a few hundred mile or so then give it a big blast?

mmm

billy

I took her out for a bedding-in run after I finished it all. Did a few gentle applications to start, then let it cool, then did a few heavy applications to burn it all in.

On the way back up north I was trying to bed the discs in by hitting them as hard as possible! But making sure I didn't have to stop the car at junctions while they were still hot! The brakes feel good today, and the balance is perfect at 20mph under the cars maximum speed!

I agree with you about the looks. For the money, there's nothing that can touch it in my mind.

Very nice!

The discs look quite light in colour or is this just the flash?

I'm now thinking these discs + some uprated pads for mine.

My jack won't fit under my car even with standard suspension set up

Woah those wheel arches are ridiculously clean! Was that done with a Karcher or something similar?

Woah those wheel arches are ridiculously clean! Was that done with a Karcher or something similar?

Nope! Put a plastic bag over the hub. Then soaked all the dirt with water and a big sponge to soften all the muck up first. Then filled a bucket with hot soapy water and got in there with the big sponge again.

Most of the dirt just rubbed off then. Quite satisfying! Didn't use the hose as I wanted to control were the water went, and was really doing it to clean the screw holes and arch liner contact areas.

I didn't think 7 years of dirt would come off so easily! Nice ehh

Very nice!

The discs look quite light in colour or is this just the flash?

I'm now thinking these discs + some uprated pads for mine.

My jack won't fit under my car even with standard suspension set up

I think they have darkened up a bit now that they have been used. I'll have to check. Guess it's just the protective coating or surface finish that make them look light.

I was fed up of crappy jacks that don't go under the car, or have heads so small that they pierce the underside like a big needle! This jack goes in super low, and has a massive jacking plate thingy to prevent damage. I use a footlong plank of wood the width of the section that I jack on, which seems to spread the load and protect the underbody.. It's that box section like channel that runs parallel to the sills if you know what I mean.

I didn't think 7 years of dirt would come off so easily! Nice ehh

Thats inspired me to do mine this weekend. And I thought they were supposed to be black!

I have the same low level trolley jack, a must when you have lowered the car. It is small enough and light enough to keep in the boot.