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MG MGF Technical - MGTF Big Brake

Hi,

got something for my birthday and I'm just on installing 304 mm brakes from a TF to my 99 MGF including new brake lines and new rims with Toyo tires.

It's about the complete hub with upper ball joint, disk, caliper, ABS sensor etc.
Plug and play, bought at fleebay in last year ;)

Anyway, I wonder whether anyone out there likes to share some user experiance regarding servicing this brakes.

Looking at the new one, it's shiny, no daubts.
(Just the caliper, pic from a friend)
http://www.mgf-portal.de/bremsen/bremsen9.JPG
and mine in the flesh
http://www.mgfcar.de/brakes/big_DSC01199_640.JPG
(rim bolt on check)
http://www.mgfcar.de/brakes/big_DSC01216_640.JPG

Is there anything I should grease or paint or whatever before I finish installation ? I changed already the both M6 disk fixture bolts from mild steel to stainless steel.
Also found the thread of the upper joint changed.
New is M12 x 1.25mm. I think the old at MGF was M12 x 1mm. The old nut didn't fit and I got some new already.

- pins and blade spring look suspect to rusting
Are this parts included in the service kit p/n SFP000310
Are there other options ?

- the red colour of the calipers doesn't look very _reliable_
any option to improve this ?

Your input is appreciated
:)

Regards
Dieter
Dieter

Looking good Dieter :o)

As it happens, my car's also away having AP304mm dics and calipers fitted, along with a set of new rims (not the ones you have though... pix later!)

The brakes are being fitted to MGF hubs, so I can't really answer most of your questions, sorry. Interesting question regarding the paint. What is everyone's experience with the paint finish on these calipers? Broadly it looks durable on all the cars I've seen?

Mark Leonard I think has re-painted his calipers - he'd probably be able to advise.

Are you paint the rear calipers to match?
Rob Bell

Hi Dieter,

As Rob says, the red coating lasts quite well provided the are cleaned regularly. The only problem I've had is the pad locating pins, which you've already spotted are mild steel and consequently rust quite badly and can be very difficult to remove. I spoke to AP Racing to see if they did these in stainless but no, mild steel is the only option. They did however send me 8 spares free of charge :o) The spring plate corrodes too, but is easily cleaned off.

Definitely a good idea to fit braided brake lines, although I found I had to cut down the banjo bolt by 4mm or so due to the slimmer mounting, and the crush washers supplied with the kit were much thinner than the OE ones.

You will like the improvement, I'm sure ;o) The standard pads are quite good, however the SBS Carbon Ceramic pads Mike Satur sells are simply awesome, especially now that 304mm discs are available without the MGR price tag.
Mike Hankin

Hi Dieter,

I don't know if there is any particular reason for this or if there is anything you could do to prevent it from happening - but the bleed nipple stuck and eventually broke off on one of my calipers. Remember that my car gets a lot of attention from the Techspeed boys and so it wasn't due to the bleed nipple being unused for a long time.
Dave Livingstone

Hi,

ready for now.
Most difficult (for me) was bleeding the brake lines.
I used a hose with attached adjustable none-return-valve for _one-man_bleed_.

Works well if only a few air is in the system, but fails if there is a lot of air in the hoses. Finally I used a syringe with an attached half inch long plastic hose and sucked the dot4 from the expansion tank to the caliper ;) Then went on with standard bleed action.

Anyway, I don't think I'll paint the rears matching. They woun't look bigger in red ... LOL ;)

Got the braided stainless steel hoses (Diamond make) from Mike Satur a couple of years ago. He supplied just the pair of larger matching bracket to fix the front lines to the lower shocker mount. I also found the bolts longer thna needed. Less than half a mil, so I overcome this _problem_ with some more torque at the wrench.
:)

The rear brakes have got EBC green stuff pads now. I'm not a friend of them but who cares, I had them at home.
Couldn't believe, but I had done 117k km (73k miles) now with the first set of rear brake pads ..... almost Autobahn though. The inner pads wear quicker and had only about 2.5mm on. No noise from the rattle indicator by now.

OK, this was nearly three days works to doing a full service with oil change, fuel filter change etc. and getting in the new hubs brake disks and changing the rear pads and get on new rims.
http://www.mgfcar.de/brakes/done_DSC01228_480.JPG

Should last now for a couple of years. Lucky me sourced another set of original 304mm brake pads SFP000310 already cheap'ish.

I'll take care with the nipples. May be they had to much torque ?

Regards
Dieter

Dieter

Hi Dieter
Nice calliper, so red and so new,
i bought some in second hand and i had a real problem to remove the retaining pins, there were no grease at all on them so they were rusty and it was a real pain to remove them, it was impossible to push them out and we had to drill and to cut them, it was also the same for the 8 small screws who hold the small pieces of metal,the paint of the calliper is good but be careful with the brake oil, the paint can be remove by it, specailly when you have removed them from the car,
so please read that and i think it will be good for all ap racing user's.
Regards
Pascal

From mike (founded in the bbs, retaining pins)

It is essential to clean the calipers and check there is sufficient clearance in the caliper for the pad, the AP caliper has stainless thrust pads that are screwed to the cast aluminium, brake dust gets under these, swell and cause the pads to bind, IMO this needs to be undertaken at 6k intervals.Ideally it is best to remove these stainless pads and clean under and refit.. but in practice it is best to leave them as the small button head screw that holds them in place can become seized and shear or the head gets rounded.To overcome this problem remove a small amount of metal from the ends of the backing plate where it makes contact with the thrust pad until there is sufficient clearance i.e. the pads can rattle about. Clean pins and use a Ht copper grease to lightly grease before refitting.
Check condition of discs, run-out, cracks, thickness and deglaze surface using a production paper before fitting new pads, this is required to allow pads to bed in and remove any surface corrosion. It might be better to use a small G clamp to retract the pistons rather than lever against the disc with incorrect tools.
Always use a brake cleaning fluid rather than blow off dust. Do not allow the brake fluid to spill out from the reservoir bleed off some into a container via the nipple or syphon of from the reservoir first. Remember that waste materials such as brake fluid and pads have to be disposed of correctly.
PAD Pascandrea

Cheers :)

I'll copy that to the webside later.
(Refering to the source as usual)

Regards
Dieter
Dieter

This thread was discussed between 30/03/2007 and 31/03/2007

MG MGF Technical index

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