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MG MGF Technical - Hi Spec brakes & other options


All,

After mangling my brake piston yesterday I need a new caliper, disks and pads at the very least.

A good time to change from Mintex 1177s - if anything is proven to be better ?

Have been trawling the archives and found a single reference to "Hi Spec Motorsport Engineering" who do a 4-pot convertion for the 'F for ~£500. (http://www.hispecbigbrakes.co.uk/)

Has anyone any experience of these guys?
Any feedback on their convertions?

As far as I see it I can either...
- stick with Mintex 1177s - known and loved
- go for a trophy caliper - expensive (£700) and may not fit my wheels?
- go for Mike Satur's new calipers - £540+vat though!
- go for "Hi Spec"'s kit at ~£500 which gives me a 285mm disk and a 4-pot caliper.

The Hi Spec stuff looks very good value.

Comments?

(I have no wish to change from my std 15" VVC rims so it must work with those.)

Cheers,
Paul.
Paul Nothard

Paul,

As I understand it the Trophy 4 pots will not fit under your wheels, so that eliminates one option. HTH

Dave
Dave

Hi Paul,

I know someone who had the Hi Tech brakes on his turbo charged MGF - which he has recently sold.

I never got to drive the car - but he was well impressed with the brakes - and he's often been honest enough to be critical of some of the modifications he did.

Apparantly they are a bit of a bugger to fit as hey don't come with any/good instructions.

They've been on my shopping list for some time - but a new house has kept them way down on the list of priorities.

Paul
P9 VLS
Paul

Thanks for the web site link Paul :o)

The Hi Spec kits are unique in that they are offering big brake kits, front and rear, that'll fit under 15" wheels. Personally, I think I'd investigate replacing all four rotors to ensure brake balance and avoid premature activation of the ABS. Mind you, I'd want to be sure that the rear handbrake caliper still fits over the new discs...

As an option to replace the melted front caliper, I reckon that the 15" big brake/caliper kit is the one to go for. I guess that the rears can always be upgraded at a later date.

Remember too that the Trophy 160 brakes require the fitment of either Trophy 16" or TF160 16" wheels, whilst the Mike Satur kit is also only suitable for 16" wheels - which obviously means additional investment...

Interestingly, comparing like-with-like, Mike's brake it actually appears to be the best value big brake/ four-pot caliper combination currently available for the MGF (with 16" wheels): 540 quid versus 595 for the equivalent Hi Spec versus 700+ for the MG/AP racing kit.

Andy "Scarlet Fever" Phillips has invested in the MS kit - and I look forward to hearing how this performs, especially against my own 1177 equipped car... (I'll check my pads for wear!!!! ;o))
Rob Bell


Yes Rob. Worth checking the pads.
Mine have (had!?!) about 5-7mm left on them and looked in good shape (6-8mm) only last week. They had plenty for road use, but maybe not enough for serious track abuse! Ooops.
We are all assuming that they lost the last 5mm in "one rapid event" shall we say!!!
Once the friction material went, there was nothing to stop the piston from coming out too far and breaking the seal (and melting onto what remained of the pad backing).

I'm boring and will stick with the 15" VVC rims. I like them visually and the extra warning they seem to give me. After all, I easily keep up with all the 16" shod cars! <grin>
But it does limit my choices more than I realised. Hmm...

When is Andy getting his car done do we know ?

P.
Paul Nothard

Not sure when Andy is getting the converstion fitted: he's getting Mike to perform the work for him, so obviously this means he'll have to take time to travel up north...

Will chack my pads again then Paul, thanks! Mind you, yours are, erm, were, somewhat older than mine are, so I'm hopeful that they don't need replacing: they aint cheap are they!!!

From an entirely biased perspective, I hope you do go for the Hi Spec discs - then we would could put together a braking test... ;o)
Rob Bell

This thread was discussed between 19/07/2002 and 22/07/2002

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