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MG MGF Technical - New Brakes Required

Well, just had a phone call from the MG Dealer, my car is in for the 36k service, and they have told me that I need new discs and brake pads, and quoted me a lovely £260. Thought to myself, I am not paying the dealer that much, and so am looking for what else I can replace them with.

I have the 16" Square Spoke Alloys, and have been told that larger AP breaks will not fit under these.

Can you give me some ideas on what I can replace these with, and approx. cost.

Cheers,
Steve G.
Steve Green - KX51 NUH

Steve,

Call Tech-Speed and they will quote you for Roversport grooved discs and Mintex pads. These are much better than standard, although may still cost you more than the dealer quoted price, as I think the discs are about £100 a pair and Mintex prices have gone up to about £80 a pair for 1144s.

On the front you can go for bigger discs/calipers, but as you say the Trophy/TF style AP four pots only fit under Trophy/TF 11 spoke alloys. Some people have used spacers to get around this for certain wheels, but I'm not sure whether this applies to your 16" square spokes. The alternative is Hi-spec (http://www.hispecmotorsport.co.uk/) - Paul Nothard has these and rates them highly.

There's quite a lot on these option in the archives.
Dave Livingstone

Steve,
EBC Grooved discs and green stuff pads, a good braking combo for the F, if you require some of these e.mail me for a price.
Cheers
Robert.
R J Hemphill

Interesting,

I have the 16" lots-of-small-things alloys ( can someone PLEASE give me the name )

Image here:
http://dennis.core-lan.nl/fotos/MG_F_Kijken_18-6-2003/thumbnails/medium_Mvc-049s.jpg

And I'm also wondering about bigger brakes. What we should have is a list of alloy vs. brake options. So that people can easily identify what they can and can't do.

Dieter, maybe something for your site ?
D Fleurbaaij

They are the 75th anniversary rim Dennis, hope this helps.

Regards, Ian
Ian L

Your picture shows the 'multi-spoke' alloys Dennis. These also do not accommodate the 4-pot AP calipers from the TF160 and Trophy. AFAIK, only the 11 spoke Trophy or TF alloys allow the calipers enough space behind the spokes, unless you use some sort of spacer.
Dave Livingstone

Also, check out Rob Bells' excellent 'wheel page' at http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/wheel_options_for_the_mgf.htm

Dave Livingstone

Thanks, that's it. Very nice that the page also reports that the alloys need a 1.5mm spacer and that the AP's fit then. Sounds tempting :)
D Fleurbaaij

>Steve, EBC Grooved discs and Green Stuff pads, a good braking combo for the F<

Look on the Brown & Gammon site or the MGOC Spares site. You will find both by clicking on ADVERTISERS at the top of the screen.
JohnP

Nik and Anita has these same wheels fitted Dennis - but the 1.5mm spacer info *may* be incorrect: are they 3mm spacers??? Can anyone confirm this, and I'll correct the 'site :o)
Rob Bell

Nik and Anita's car does combine the AP caliper on a spacer with the multispoke wheels, however the caliper did have to undergo a bit of (shall we say) 'fettling' with an angle grinder.....
tim woolcott

Do the EBC Grooved discs and Green Stuff pads fit under the 16" Square Alloys
Steve Green - KX51 NUH

Steve,

As far as I know, the EBC discs are just the standard size and therefore will fit under 15" wheels. You should have no poblems with them under you 16" wheels. However, I don't want to start a flame war, but I've heard some poor reports on them. I'm considering upgrading my brakes as well and I'm either thinking of going for:

1) MS uprated discs front and rear (standard size)
2) MS big discs front with standard rears
3) HiSpec big discs front and back.

All of the above will fit under my 15" square spoke wheels keeping existing callipers. I intend to fit Mintex 1144 pads to whatever setup I go for.

If I really wanted to push the boat out I could fit HiSpec big discs all round with their 4 pot callipers on the front (under existing wheels) or Trophy AP 4 pot callipers and bigger discs on front (need to change wheels). Howver, it's a well behaved touring car that I want and not a racer so I don't think that I can justify the cost.

I'd be interested to hear what people think of the above three options and will it affect the brake balance of the car?
David Clelland

>>Steve, EBC Grooved discs and Green Stuff pads, a good braking combo for the F<

http://www.spareshq.com/PartsBay.asp

for EBC stuff

Gaz
Gaz R

"I'd be interested to hear what people think of the above three options and will it affect the brake balance of the car?"

I have HiSpec Billet4 at the front and standard discs at the rear. Both under 15" 5 spoke VVC rims.
However, I run 1155s at the front and 1177s at the rear.
I wanted to run 1155s all round, but had huge problems finding them for the rear. :-(

The balance is surprisingly good with this setup. I think.
All I can really say is that it feels well balanced front to rear compared with any other setup I've tried on any other car. My fear was that the rears would be too "grabby" and lock up more easily now that the fronts are so strong - light rear and grabby rear brakes not being an ideal combination. I'd anticipated the rears locking up and causing ABS to kick in causing increased braking distances. I have had this only once ever and that was on a damp track.

In summary...
I love the HiSpec brakes (Email me for more subtle details of my experiences Dave) and I believe that I have managed to keep a good front/rear balance and get away with not having to uprate the rear disks/callipers.

Hope this help,
Paul.

Paul at nothard dot org dot uk
Paul Nothard

DC?
>If I really wanted to push the boat out I could fit HiSpec big discs all round with their 4 pot callipers on the front (under existing wheels) or Trophy AP 4 pot callipers and bigger discs on front (need to change wheels).

Are you telling me/us that you can fit HiSpec big discs and 4 pot calipers under 15" rims?

Neil

Neil,

Have a look at http://www.hispecmotorsport.co.uk/mgf.htm

DC
David Clelland

wow!

mind you at £440 plus VAT = £518
...it's a lot of bread

Only altenative is ..MGF centre for latest TF spec brakes and hope to stumble on some appropriate wheels on ebay...total cost ...about the same but you get bigger wheels...hmmm

Really they should have sold the car with better brakes in the first place!!...such is life

Neil

Steve

For what it's worth, I had EBC Grooved discs and greenstuff pads fitted in the summer at Brown & Gammons, and cannot fault them (the brakes and B&G!!!). I know from this site that others have had problems with cracked/crumbling greenstuff pads, but guess it's all down to how the car is driven? Can't fault mine, and the pedal feel is much improved.

Mike H
Mike Hall

.... or you could ignore the call of the dark side, go to Spareshq.co.uk and buy standard pads and discs for a lot less.

Brian

Standard disks & pads less than £70 in Hertfordshire.

IAM membership & tuition on road driving without constant use of the brakes less than £100 in Hertfordshire.

JohnP

....But the Darkside always calls!!

Neil

LOL
JohnP

I hear the voices, they keep on calling me...:-)
Steve Green - KX51 NUH

That's not voices Steve, it will be the wind blowing up the valleys.
JohnP

This thread was discussed between 02/01/2004 and 06/01/2004

MG MGF Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGF Technical BBS is active now.