you'd need specific calipers for rear discs, they have a connection on them for the hand brake cable. i have a rear disc conversion on my cinquenceto and it uses punto gt rear calipers and custom made mounting plates. i dont know what you'd need for the punto tho.

be a lot easier just to pain the drums black or summit!

arc said:

you'd need specific calipers for rear discs, they have a connection on them for the hand brake cable. i have a rear disc conversion on my cinquenceto and it uses punto gt rear calipers and custom made mounting plates. i dont know what you'd need for the punto tho.

be a lot easier just to pain the drums black or summit!

Click to expand...

think im going to paint them,thats got to be easyer:idea:

Mine are red with 'EBC' brakes stickers on them, they look mint through the alloys

Black/Grey ftw!

On my old mk1 55s 5 door I painted the clipers and rear drums with dark green hammerite, looked nice through the alloys.

My current car is bright red though so I don't know whether to paint them black to hide them or red to show them off.......all I know is its a hell of a lot easier to paint them than convert them.

Rather than start a new thread, I'll jump onto this one.

I am interested in rear disc brakes for reasons others than aesthetics. Drum brakes have a tendency to lock up at an inappropriate moment in the bends, whereas I would prefer more feel.

My car is a Punto mk1 55s. I understand that the Punto GT had rear disc brakes, therefore I presume that a swap is possible. My search reveals loads of tips for the Seicento, but not so many for the Punto.

From what little information I have gathered, I need the following...

Punto GT rear trailing arms
Punto GT caliper mounting bracket
Punto GT caliper
Punto GT discs and pads
Flexible brake line to replace solid line used in drum

Is that it, or have I massively underestimated this?

Cheers,

Mike

Mike the conversion has been done several times on puntosportsclub.

I suggest you have a look on there for a list of parts, but to me your list seems right to me.

You may also need other bits for example handbrake cables.

Oh yes, handbrake cables. The cable terminations are different at the disc/drum end. Some of the Punto Sports Club members have modified the cable, but, being that this is my emergency brake, I would rather buy the proper cables. I will need Punto GT hubs too I think. Probably not viable in terms of effort and cost really.

Cheers,

Mike

Most just take the whole rear beam, they can be had for ~£100.

Personally I found rear discs of no benefit on my HGT compared with the drums on lesser models.

Money is always best spent up front.

Just realised that if I did a GT brake conversion on the rear of my 55s, I would have 262mm discs on the back and only 240mm on the front. I would have to do a conversion on the front to either Punto 60 (which I think may just be a caliper, pad and disc swap) or a Punto GT swap (may be more complicated due to the different driveshafts). Would only be viable as a hobby of interest rather than a genuine performance enhancement.

I'll probably have to join the Punto Sports Club if I took this on since it seems that many GT conversions have been done there. Basically, I am not trying to create a GT, just picking and choosing bits that will improve handling and stopping.

Cheers guys,

Mike

rear discs on the gt are 240mm

on the front, the GT (257mm) discs and caliper should just bolt on if you have wheels that are 14" or larger (this is the brake setup i have on my cinquecento)

Cheers arc, that is very useful information indeed. Further research reveals that what is currently required for GT brakes all round is...

REAR
Punto GT backplate
Punto GT caliper
Punto GT pads (or compatible)
Punto GT discs (or compatible)
Punto GT flexi-hose
Punto GT handbrake cables (or modification to standard handbrake terminations)

FRONT
Punto GT calipers
Punto GT pads (or compatible)
Punto GT discs (or compatible)

I think that you can use the same hubs on the rear, and I have 14 x 6" wheels, so that is not a problem. Might take a trip down to the breaker's yard and strip down a GT. If it looks easy enough, I'll buy the parts I've removed, otherwise leave them on the back seat for the next person.

Sorry for jumping onto this thread, but now I have the answers I was after, I will get it back on track.

I did once see a Peugeot 206 with a sticker over the rear brake drum designed to look like a drilled disc. To be honest, it looked awful, but it gave me an idea. Basically, my idea is a really thin wheel spacer (0.5mm) that fits between the wheel and the drum, but, rather than being the diameter of the wheel centre, instead having an outer diameter the same as a disc brake. Drill some holes through it, finish the surface so it looks like a braking surface and there you go - rear drum covered up and it looks like discs (albeit missing the calipers). The finish would have to be weather-resistant though to be an advantage.

not worth the effort, anyone how knows anything about cars will spot it's a 'fake' and mock you for it, i know i certainly would !

I suppose I did mock the Pug's attempt. You would only have to get a few feet closer before my idea reveals its fakery.

In the meantime, I have realised that there was something missing from my Punto GT rear disc conversion list. As well as the flexi-hose, you need a differently shaped rigid hose since the original is bent into the drum backing, whereas the GT version is bent into a bracket on the disc backings at 90 degrees off-angle. Would probably have brand new rigid lines fabricated anyway as a matter of course.