I decided to strip the caliper and see what if anything was happening. There was slight grooving on the inside pad where the rust had stopped the pad from contacting the full width of the disc no problem with the Pistons. I took of the cap to the master cylinder and covered the top with a cloth and refitted the cap loose. Used a clamp to push back the pistons and then checked for any problems but there were fine. Cleaned the pads and refitted them then tested the brakes and all ok. I decided to look at the service history prior to my buying the car in September 2012. It had done 11,200miles and it seems that in 2011 it had done next to no miles at all only 460 miles. My conclusion is that the car had probably been stood with no use for a long period of time probably 8 to 10 months. I have posted a photo and it looks rather rusty under that side. I wonder if this could have caused the corrosion.
What make of calliper is on your Roadster? If one side is rusting up this indicates that the piston(s) on that side are sticking. You can usually detect this is happening as when braking lightly you will feel a slight judder from the front and then when you brake harder it will go as you overcome the sticking. If this is the problem then the least you would need to do is strip the callipers and replace the seals. However some makes of calliper can suffer with time from casing distortion which the causes the pistons to snag, you cannot do anything about this, apart from get new callipers.
My advice would be to carefully inspect them, and have a chat with Peter at Mulfab, he will be able advise and help whatever the end solution is.
Adrian they are Lockheed 4 pot calipers and I don't detect any judder at all and no problem with the pistons or seals.
From the pics, that seems awfully rusty for a car which is 6 years old. Mine is a 2009 and has very little rust underneath. Is the garage free from damp ?
From the pics, that seems awfully rusty for a car which is 6 years old. Mine is a 2009 and has very little rust underneath. Is the garage free from damp ?
Neil
Sadly no the garage is open ended at the rear where I do any work on the car so cant get it totally free from the weather. Although it does not get wet from rain etc.
I have a pair of front discs from my plus 8 as I upgrade the discs to larger vented ones, they also had Lockheed 4 pots, the old discs are in pretty good condition you are welcome to them if you'd like them just need to pay for postage and a small donation to Help the heroes or Marfan trust. Measure yours for diameter and the thickness and bolt hole offset so I can check if the same. another option is that I have my lockhead Calipers which were split and rebuilt with plates from Mulfab for the vented discs, and I have the mounting plates for fitting the for vented discs which you could get from Peter Mulberry at Mulfab. I would want some money for these though. We could check that they would fit you Roadster as well. What wheels are on you car, wires or Ali and diameter?
Cheers
Adrian
Adrian
Buggered Off, to a modern none leaky car, heart's still ticking
An alternative would be to wait a couple of weeks until Williams have developed a new front brake kit for my 2009 Roadster and have my old discs! They've only done less than 4000 miles.
Jay thanks for the offer and I might take you up on it. I will be interested to hear about the front brake kit to from Williams.
I have a pair of front discs from my plus 8 as I upgrade the discs to larger vented ones, they also had Lockheed 4 pots, the old discs are in pretty good condition you are welcome to them if you'd like them just need to pay for postage and a small donation to Help the heroes or Marfan trust. Measure yours for diameter and the thickness and bolt hole offset so I can check if the same. another option is that I have my lockhead Calipers which were split and rebuilt with plates from Mulfab for the vented discs, and I have the mounting plates for fitting the for vented discs which you could get from Peter Mulberry at Mulfab. I would want some money for these though. We could check that they would fit you Roadster as well. What wheels are on you car, wires or Ali and diameter?
