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MG MGF Technical - Rear brake calipers

A quick question with regard the rear brake calipers. Has any body dismantled these and is there a Rover repair kit ie seals.

Some may remember that recently I replaced the front caliper seals, discs, pads and brake fluid. What a difference !
klkjkj

For my info Stephen - were the front caliper seals readily available and if so where from and what price?

JohnP - Herts

Now this has really piqued my interest Stephen:

>>Some may remember that recently I replaced the front caliper seals, discs, pads and brake fluid. What a difference ! <<

How did the brakes feel before the re-furbishment, and how different do they feel now?

Like many others, I've noticed that my brakes feel disappointingly spongy, and their feedback somewhat poor. New cars feel much better in this regard, but I'd always attributed the difference to bulkhead flex... Is this actually due to old calliper seals???

Rob Bell

Rob et al

I recently had my bike serviced and the techie spent a long time on the brake calipers (front and rear). BTW bike is less than 3 years old and serviced on a regular basis.

He had a rather usefull softish brass brush that had been ground to the width of the channel between the 2 halves of the caliper (4 pot on my bike) and scrubbed furiously to get the area clean.

He then pushed the pistons out slightly and really cleaned up around the seal and outer edge of piston.

The pads were cleaned up on a buffing machine and the backing plate and edges also cleaned before more copperslip than I thought existed.

The pad retainer pins were also polished and coppered.

No fluid change at that time.

The result was brakes that were so good I took a demonstrator out for a comparison and congratulated the techie on giving me brakes that were better than a new bike (with 500 miles of bedding in).

Now about to start the same exercise on the F and hope I get the same improvement.
JohnP - Herts

Hmm - interesting John! I'll definitely be interested to hear how you get on, and see whether this treatment reaps the same benefit that you felt with the 'bike :o)
Rob Bell

At last I got logged in.

Rob

As I mentioned I had replaced the front discs,pads,system fluid and the front caliper seals. All parts were standard and the seals were obtained from Rover for a cost of 18 pounds. The reason I changed the seals was due to the floating caliper was seized and hence wore out the inside pad on each front caliper. At time of replacement I would have to say that my brakes were to say the least dangerous and hence the replacement of nearly all of the replaceable parts. I have since managed to obtain a supplier of the caliper pistons for a mere cost of 10 pounds each for the front and 13 pounds each for the rear. The reason for replacing the pistons is that because the cheap skates only chrome the surface of the piston that contact the bore of the caliper the non chromed side rusts badly. This will eventually spread and will undoubtedly cause the piston to seize again. The only other addition that I would seriously consider would be the braided hoses.

The effect of this minor work was at first the brake pedal would have a fair bit more travel and was a little unnerving at first. However after 300 miles beding in I can say that from what I had in terms of brakes, and remember these were embarassingly bad, I could now litearaly put myself thru the windscreen. Brake travel has reduced greatly but still gives enough movement for sure braking.

If nothing more a change of fluid is well worth while.

Hope this helps
S Laithwaite

Thanks for the feedback Stephen :o)

A calliper overhaul could be on the cards then :o)
Rob Bell

Just got my pistons. Seem to be anodised all over rather than chromed on the inside. :-)
S Laithwaite

Stephen, couple of questions for you or anyone else who's tuned in.
Is the caliper wind back tool essential when changing rear discs & pads?
Any chance of sharing your "cheaper" source for the pistons/seals?
As a matter of interest, don't know how many of you have seen July's MG World. There is a half page advert for a company called APW. They can supply EBC turbo grooved discs and Greenstuff pads, complete set front & rear for £224 inc vat. That's £57 cheaper than best deal from advertisers on here. Plus they are in Swindon, so no postage costs for me, they also have a branch in Chippenham.

Thanks

Lloyd. 96VVC.
Lloyd Eagle

I recently cleaned up the brakes on my F and also on my Corrado. The C had a partially siezed calliper. I sought advice from the technical gurus and found out that on the Corrado there is a pressure release valve on the ABS module that you must open before winding the piston's back into the callipers.

Failure to open the valve can result in an £800 bill for a new ABS unit.

Is there a similar situation with the F?
Andy

No mention of a pressure release valve in the workshop manual in reference to either the ABS or to the schedules regarding pad replacement Andy.
Rob Bell

I dont think the wind back tool is essential. I found a screwdriver would do it. I also used a wrench, but you have to be careful not to nip the rubber seal type thingy.
Andy

This thread was discussed between 05/06/2003 and 11/06/2003

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