[Slam]

Well, here's the latest in my brake saga:

I rebuilt a couple of spare rear calipers I had lying around and this time made a template out of sheet styrene for the 20-degree piston angle. These I installed on Saturday in a 'let's get this ***** done befoe the weather improves' blitz on the car.

When I autopsied the rear calipers I found a host of issues (note that these were untouched by me - they were on the car when I got it). The frames were sticking, 1, the pistons were sticking, 2, the 20-degrees was off slightly on both, 3, and the pads were worn unevenly, 4. Okay then... I swapped rotors with a pair I had on hand, put in matched used pads, deglazed everything with 100-grit sandpaper and reassembled. Before you lot flame me for this, just know that my thinking was that I had to have a car to drive on Monday and I had to have the good rotors off the car to be machined. I'm getting new pads for the rear but won't install them until I get the rotors done.

On to the fronts! I pulled both calipers and adjusted the piston angle slightly on each. Template made all the difference. I could easily press in the pistons with my thumbs so didn't pop them out. What I did do was file, sand, polish and grease the slider contact area before putting the calipers back in the car. The pads had worn evenly, BTW. After all this it turned out my local guys had got me the wrong new pads...so... In the name of experimentation and learning I decided to leave the rotors on the car - no point putting in the good ones with old pads - and deglaze the pads and sand the rotor face with 100-grit Garnet paper. This is recommended. I also swapped over to my summer wheels and tires.

So now on to the results.

I have a power bleeder, and verified no air bubbles. I took the car out to bed the brakes as per the plethora of articles floating around the web. They all seem to agree on one thing: heat up the brakes to get material transfer. Okay, I can do that! My first three hard stops showed the judder had gone. I find this proof that warping is (as many of you have said) a myth. I sanded material off the rotors and now they weren't grabbing. Good. My next three hard stops and I was reaching more and more for the floor, but I understand fade in these circs is normal, so I carried on. By the 9th stop the fade was pronounced! And the smell was just as fun.

I gave them another once over on the way to work this morning.

The net result is I still have smooth braking but the pedal is still too soft. I'll rebleed on Wed when I have the time, but at least I won't have to pull the calipers again.

So, brake gurus, what's the score?