Vitesse Mk2 Calipers fitting problems

[Freyasgrandad]

So, here is a strange one. After a few weeks off the road whilst I was abroad the Vitesse celebrated my return by developing very poor brakes.

 

A quick inspection revealed that one piston on the nearside caliper (which may become significant) was ceased tight. After a few attempts to free it off on the car I decided to buy a pair of new calipers and rebuild the old ones at my leisure. 

 

I fitted the new calipers, along with new pads and shims and whilst the brakes were better they were still not as good as they should be.

 

Initial examination suggested that the same piston on the new nearside caliper was sticking but closer inspection with the help of a friend to pump the pedal showed that in fact one pad was hitting the disc earlier than the other causing the mounting bracket to flex and the caliper to move. The end result of all this was that when the brakes are released one pad is father back from the disc than the other causing a long pedal and reduced braking.

 

My immediate thought was that the ceased piston had been stuck for longer than I had realised and this had caused the mounting plate to distort but today I discovered that the offside caliper is doing exactly the same thing although to a much lesser degree.

 

Really close inspection of both calipers reveals that neither is actually perfectly parallel to the discs so that the pads do not contact the disc across their whole surface, the outer ones touch at the top, the inner ones at the bottom. Just to be clear here, the discs are recent replacements and run true.

 

So I'm left with two possibilities. 1) the caliper mounting plates are distorted or 2) the new calipers have had the mounting holes and faces machined out of line.

 

Wondering if anyone else has experienced anything similar and if it is worth changing to alloy mounting plates.

 

Steve

[Pete Lewis]

have you double checked there is not excess endfloat on the hub bearings ???

 

 

Ive not come cross the alignment problems but there's a good few out there with only partial disc area in use , surrounded by a rust ring

so this may explain why modern calipers are almost fully floating to take care of parallel pads etc  

 

 sorry not much help 

 

Pete

[Freyasgrandad]

Thanks Pete,

 

Bearings are new and in good condition, disc runs true but the caliper is at a slight angle.

 

Further checking shows that this is almost certainly the nearside mounting plate, loose, broken or wrongly fitted so I have gone down the alloy bracket route and will strip and rebuild at the weekend.

 

Am I right in thinking that the correct assembly order is sealing ring onto vertical link, bracket to link, disc shield over bracket and bolt all together?

 

Steve.

[Pete Lewis]

Sounds a plan

 

pete

[Freyasgrandad]

Fixed!

 

The Canley Ally mounts solved the problem, although fitting them is not a straight swap and you can't use the back plates with them. 

 

I'm going to put up a new post and send an article in to the Courier because I think other owners should be aware of this issue.

[Pete Lewis]

Probably most alloy parts tend to be aimed at race track lightening rather than road use

and splash plates are not as needed.

 

just a thought

 

pete