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Can the brake pistons be pushed into the caliper somewhat?

Yeah all four pistons on each side go in fine (well, as well as they normally do), otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get the new pads in.

what a nightmare! lol sounds like you're having a few issues, when I changed my pads over i had my disc's machined, did you bleed your brakes?

and when you bed them in never come to a full stop.

Also when i went to change my turbo the other day i only had 3 bolts lol! so yeah track days do loosen them ahah

I was gonna come to Calder spewing i didn't :(

what a nightmare! lol sounds like you're having a few issues, when I changed my pads over i had my disc's machined, did you bleed your brakes?

and when you bed them in never come to a full stop.

...

Nope didn't machine the rotors or bleed the brakes. Pedal feel is fine, perhaps needs a touch more pressure than before, which I attribute to the skewed pad wear.

Bedding in was done correctly, following the QFM instructions: http://qfm.com.au/userfiles/files/BEDDING-IN-PROCEDURE.pdf

...

But yeah track days are tough on the car, in addition the what's already listed earlier:

  1. The oil cooler hose weep is slowly getting worse, so I will have to get the hoses replaced soon: http://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/462362-oil-cooler-too-eager-faulty-thermostat-or-incorrect-temp-sensor-location/?p=7678751
  2. There's an occasional high RPM misfire, which I hope is the coil packs, so I've chucked in brand new Splitfires last night

It's big $/km on the track I tell you...

100% its the shims.

We saw exactly the same thing on EBC Yellow Stuff pads (900 degree rating) on the rear of Honda S2000 models.

The shim they supplied only covered half the area it needed to, took all of 2 seconds to work out the pad was forced to run skewed.

Told RDA and EBC about it with pictures with shims and without shims, problem gone....they still supply the shims....

  • Like 1

100% its the shims.

We saw exactly the same thing on EBC Yellow Stuff pads (900 degree rating) on the rear of Honda S2000 models.

The shim they supplied only covered half the area it needed to, took all of 2 seconds to work out the pad was forced to run skewed.

Told RDA and EBC about it with pictures with shims and without shims, problem gone....they still supply the shims....

Thanks mate! I'll get the discs machined and put fresh pads in without the shims, see how we go.

100% its the shims.

We saw exactly the same thing on EBC Yellow Stuff pads (900 degree rating) on the rear of Honda S2000 models.

The shim they supplied only covered half the area it needed to, took all of 2 seconds to work out the pad was forced to run skewed.

Told RDA and EBC about it with pictures with shims and without shims, problem gone....they still supply the shims....

Would you recommend dropping the inner full shims also, or just the outer halfies?

very unlikely to be shim related, most likely you have seized pistons in both calipers, or potentially a wheel bearing issue (although less likely to happen on both sides).

I've just checked the hub play by lifting the car up and grabbing the wheel 12-to-6, can't really feel any. There's a little play in the steering when going sideways 9-to-3, which I suspect is the original tie rod ends.

I've got a full set of new Remsa pads, I'll get the rotors machined, ditch the half shims on all front pads and see how I go. Fingers crossed.

Only remove the shim that goes half way.

Replace it with a full shim or No shim, nothing wrong with no shim, if your worried about noise you can buy sound absorbing stick-on backing pads or lightly smear some copper grease on any metal to metal pad to caliper contact points such as where the pistons push to the back of the pads.

In the case we had, we just removed the shim and ran without one, we just smeared a little copper grease on the backing plate to caliper contact points.

No more side wear, all the others that still run the half backing plates still have the sideways wear pattern.

  • Like 1

I got the car back from the workshop today:

  • All rotors machined
  • New pads all around
  • All front half shims and clips removed
  • Gear oil changed (went with Shockproof Light again)

They also worked out that the leak at the front top left of the engine was the cam seals. We then decided to do the whole timing belt + belts + pulleys + water pump service kit whilst at it, so it got expensive really quickly... Lucky it was done though, couple of the pulleys were in a pretty bad shape.

Anyway Duncan was right, the front brake pistons are starting to seize. So next up it's either rebuild time, find replacement OEM calipers, or go aftermarket. I'll run it as is for a while whilst deciding...

Thanks for all your help and input everyone!

  • 2 weeks later...

Anyway Duncan was right, the front brake pistons are starting to seize. So next up it's either rebuild time, find replacement OEM calipers, or go aftermarket. I'll run it as is for a while whilst deciding...

...

Ok rebuild us going to be in the $500 ballpark, depending... Options:

1. Bite the bullet and do it

2. Replace with second hand OEM calipers of unknown history

3. Aftermarket brake kit

Rest of the front is fine Inc rotors pads lines so would be nice to get some use out of those...

Suggestions?

I'd go either 1 or 3, and it depends what you are doing and planning to do with the car in the next 2 years. I can't see why good, standard brakes wouldn't be sufficient for street/light track use, especially if you run semi slicks on the track.

2 is just a path to more pain, everything is 20years old by now....

  • Like 1

Anyway Duncan was right, the front brake pistons are starting to seize. So next up it's either rebuild time, find replacement OEM calipers, or go aftermarket. I'll run it as is for a while whilst deciding...

...

Ok rebuild us going to be in the $500 ballpark, depending... Options:

1. Bite the bullet and do it

2. Replace with second hand OEM calipers of unknown history

3. Aftermarket brake kit

Rest of the front is fine Inc rotors pads lines so would be nice to get some use out of those...

Suggestions?

Anyway Duncan was right, the front brake pistons are starting to seize. So next up it's either rebuild time, find replacement OEM calipers, or go aftermarket. I'll run it as is for a while whilst deciding...

...

Ok rebuild us going to be in the $500 ballpark, depending... Options:

1. Bite the bullet and do it

2. Replace with second hand OEM calipers of unknown history

3. Aftermarket brake kit

Rest of the front is fine Inc rotors pads lines so would be nice to get some use out of those...

Suggestions?

Tbh, I would go option 1) then consider upgrading the brakes if you find out that what you have just absolutely cannot cut the mustard.

It'll either happen eventually and you will want more stop power but getting there and having fun at the track is a good way to find that limit. And if you find you never need to replace them then eh you haven't gone to the track that much and as a result don't really justify a $2k+ brake kit.

Either way, you win out. Its not too hard to sell a set of front GTT brakes when/if you decide to upgrade later, especially if you have a receipt from them being rebuilt at XYZ shop on XYZ date.

  • Like 1

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