Simon, Before I changed my calipers (EMC supplied) I used to file the pads down there's about 2-3 mm before the friction material, with no noticeable ill effects. Gerry
Plate Lift
- Thread starter Cater_Racer
- Start date
Hilux
New member
When I had my 944T before I refurbished my calipers I got an engineers scribe and scraped out the crud lifting the plates (soak in white vinegar for an hour or two as its a great electrolytic/aluminium crud cleaner/dissolver) tapped the plates back so they `rested` better and ground off the pads with a mini grinder so they were a loose fit. Ran like that no problem and pads subsequently went in and out without issue, in fact all my pads on all my track cars are/were strategically ground down a bit where `tight` as this ensures the pads release properly when the backing plates are warm and expanded.
944 man
Active member
Being serious though, three are suffering from very minor lift, but one is knackered. Im not sure what to do with the set but I will set-to with 500ml of Sarsons and a scribe when Im nest at a loose end on a sunny day, to ensure that the fronts are fit to use as spares without any further investment.
924nutter
PCGB Member
If you have plate lift then the likelyhood is that already you have been loosing braking efficiency as some of the force that closes the pads is being used to overcome the tightness in the calipers when everything expands. They may feel reasonable enough when cold but guess which is the hottest part? The pad of course, and this will expand more than the caliper due to the small heat path to the caliper via the insulating effect of the damping plate, and the edge of the pad itself. Yes the caliper will be hot but not as hot as the pad. Having said that, I did exactly what you guys have done, and reduced the overall length of the pad using the dimensions of the friction material as the limit. This is only a temporary cure, and worst possible case you will eventually end up with a hard brake pedal and strangely, a disc that appears nice and shiny on the outer face, but with an inner face like a rusty hacksaw blade. The amount of time you spend with a bottle of Sarson's per caliper is probably the same amount of time it would take to remove the caliper, and do what my local indie does, i.e. give the head of the stupidly small (4mm ?) button head a hefty whack with a cold chisel in the right direction, once you have heated the caliper up with a hot air gun. If you can get an assistant to apply torque with a "T" bar hexagon wrench at the same time, the combined force should be enough to break the steel in aluminium electrolytic bond. Then the surface can be cleaned, and protected with red caliper paint and usually the plate tapped flat, and re-used. Any good fastener retailer shoud be able to match the bolt. Of course you will have to bleed the brakes but something like a Gunson's eezi-bleed kit make this a real doddle.
If you already have plate lift DO NOT do any "hockus pockus" quick and dirty repairs. Plate lift means you already have a serious corrosion problem with your Brembo's aluminium body. If you do not remove plates and make a proper rebuild, Brembo body will have deep big holes under plate area sooner you notice. These holes are very difficult to fix. I have rebuilt over 100 pairs of Brembo's, so i do know what i am writing about. Iron brakes
Brembos
I had a feeling we were going to see Olli's tablecloth again on this thread! He's right though; grinding the pads is a botch. It will work, but it's not the right way forwards, and can lead to more damage to the caliper. Also, the longer you leave the plate lift the harder it will be to get the bolts out to cure the problem properly. If you catch it very early then it's a doddle to fix. If you catch it later on then it gets progressively harder. The right and proper thing is probably to take the plates off every couple of years, give them a good clean and put some fresh paint and copper grease behind them. Oli.
You guys will see shortly some more tablecloth of ours [
] I am fixing 924 Turbo's odometer gear. Unfortunately got wrong spare part. Manufacturer says US model have a 17 teeth gear (for miles) and euro KM should have 11 teeth gear. 924 Turbo's odometer have this US models claimed 17 teeth gear. This gauge was unopened, so it still had original gear inside of it. Any of you have any glue which gear to install to KM version ?
] I am fixing 924 Turbo's odometer gear. Unfortunately got wrong spare part. Manufacturer says US model have a 17 teeth gear (for miles) and euro KM should have 11 teeth gear. 924 Turbo's odometer have this US models claimed 17 teeth gear. This gauge was unopened, so it still had original gear inside of it. Any of you have any glue which gear to install to KM version ?
Hilux
New member
Not a botch but a temporary fix. The original poster needs to live with it for a while (as did I) and the method I suggested works but in the long term it is not the solution. Regarding the corrosion (electrolytic action requiring salt and water) the white vinegar will dissolve/remove a lot of it and then stick some coppergrease in there. It enables 1) the pad to be removed albeit with difficulty and 2) once ground - the pad to release/relax - all in the interim. PS: its not Sarsons malt vinegar its distilled white vinegar - marvellous for removing scale and corrosion on alloy and chrome and soaking rusty fixtures and fittings in it for a couple of days brings them a new life - try it on your shower head/tap if especially if you have hard water and used on windscreens and wipers removes the road grime and leaves them streak free.
944 man
Active member
This is a spare set and Im not sure whether to leave them as-is and store them as spares or whether to advertise them for sale. The PL is minimal on three of the calipers but severe on the remaining rear. Im now split between refurbing all four (unlikely) or keeping hold of them knowing that the fronts can be used as spares if the need arises.
This sounds like an odd situation - are they all from the same car? Any idea how this arose? You'd expect plate lift to be similar on all the calipers on one car, or at least similar on an axle (or on a side, perhaps). To have one grossly different from the other three sounds odd. Oli.
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