Technical 500 brakes

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Technical 500 brakes

Baglady1990

One job always leads to another
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Took the opportunity to remove my wheels yesterday and clean de rust & rust protection everywhere I could!

I’m unsure but I think my brakes need attention my discs are rusting around the edges & my pads look thin of course I don’t know a thing about brakes hence this post!
When I’m stopping I brake it’s firm but I’ve noticed it presses down further after stoping almost spongy .. I figured since the pads may need changing the discs should be changed too

Any advice?
 
Took the opportunity to remove my wheels yesterday and clean de rust & rust protection everywhere I could!

I’m unsure but I think my brakes need attention my discs are rusting around the edges & my pads look thin of course I don’t know a thing about brakes hence this post!
When I’m stopping I brake it’s firm but I’ve noticed it presses down further after stoping almost spongy .. I figured since the pads may need changing the discs should be changed too

Any advice?
Next time wheels off please take a picture, it is said to speak a thousand words:)
 
Yes, a picture would be good. It's normal for discs to be rusty outside the area that the pads rub on. They generally need replacing if they are excessively scored, or if they have worn below their minimum specified thickness - you need some digital calipers to measure this.

There will also be a specification for the minimum pad thickness, this is normally about 3mm. It's often hard to see this without removing the pads and having a good look, remembering it's just the friction material you are measuring, not the metal backing.
 
I wish I had taken a picture! I found a very thorough video on YouTube on how to change discs /pads and it’s within my capabilities! All I can say is the middle & top of discs are very very rusty ... bits falling off when brushing ect and although I’m sure this is normal seeing as I’m going to change the pads I may as well change discs too
 
You might want to read this thread before you start. If you clean them this thoroughly, and lubricate them properly, you'll be rewarded with first class brakes for some time to come.

And, just in case you might be getting complacent, this thread illustrates the sort of thing that can happen when things don't go quite the way you planned it. When you're working on car that's more than a couple of years old, corrosion can turn a simple instruction such as "unbolt the caliper and remove it from its mounting bracket" into a multi-day nightmare.

The moral is to invest in decent tools before you start, and don't try dismantling 500 brakes using an old allen key and a hammer.

Old hands have an instinctive feel for just how much pressure you can apply to a fastening before it shears and back off before that happens. Unfortunately, that sort of skill comes only with experience and you can't teach those sort of things online.

If you want something that's good for removing rusted fastenings that you can make at home, try a 50:50 mixture of acetone and automatic transmission fluid. Actually any mixture of acetone and oil works pretty well, so you could even use nail varnish remover (basically acetone + a little oil). Just don't get any on the paintwork, or you may be getting some experience of panel refinishing.
 
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Took the opportunity to remove my wheels yesterday and clean de rust & rust protection everywhere I could!

I’m unsure but I think my brakes need attention my discs are rusting around the edges & my pads look thin of course I don’t know a thing about brakes hence this post!
When I’m stopping I brake it’s firm but I’ve noticed it presses down further after stoping almost spongy .. I figured since the pads may need changing the discs should be changed too

Any advice?
Hi,
From your description of
The pedal feeling you describe immediately after coming to a stop,
Don't worry that's not a spongy pedal.
What it does mean is there is plenty of servo assistance available should you have needed to brake harder.
If you had come to a stop and the pedal felt rock hard with no give left then that would indicate an issue with the brake servo.
To feel what the pedal feels like with no servo , sit in drivers seat with engine off, hand brake on, do not start engine, pump brake pedal several time, after a few pushes the pedal will feel very different . That is how things feel with no help from the brake vacuum servo.

Jack
 
61193482703__C1026ADE-01FC-421C-9229-73EC1C6829B3.JPGView attachment 1View attachment 1the black paint is anti rust before I knew I could replace the actual disc
 
Those discs have worn dangerously thin; you've almost been driving on razor blades. I'm guessing someone in the past has changed the pads, but not the discs. False economy on the 1,2; decent aftermarket discs can be had for peanuts. The discs are usually more than half worn by the time of the first pad change; common sennse and a quick calculation will tell you they won't make it to the second without wearing beyond the limit.

Edit: having turned up the brightness on my monitor, there's more material remaining than I first thought (but they're still worn out).

I've seen worse; I once found a completely worn out brake pad (with no friction material whatsoever and half the metal backing worn away) on the ground in a parking bay :eek:.

You photos don't show how much material is left on the pads (we need a side-on shot), but since the discs have to go and the pads are quite badly scored by the worn out discs, you'll need to replace them anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

Just checked on Euro; current price for a set of Pagid front pads & discs is £60.43. I'd recommend these; the quality is excellent and the anticorrosion coating on the discs means you don't need to degrease them before fitting, saving you a messy job.

Remember to buy a litre of brake fluid; it's always a good idea to change the fluid after you've done a brake job. Do the clutch as well while you're at it and you may save yourself the need to join the "my clutch isn't working properly and I've got difficulty selecting gears" thread.

Given the amount of wear on those brakes, you will need to push the piston back into the caliper quite a long way - in the absence of the proper tool, a G clamp works quite well on the 500 caliper. I'd recommend clamping the brake flexible hose near the caliper and loosening the bleed screw before doing this, so that you don't push the old fluid back through the lines - any contamination could damage the ABS module, which is machined to very fine tolerances. If you don't, keep an eye on the brake fluid reservoir and be prepared to syphon out some fluid, as it could well overflow when you push the piston back. There's no need to do this if you clamp the brake hose.

Take care not to get any brake fluid on the paintwork; it strips paint (better than some of the new-fangled so-called eco friendly paint strippers you buy in B&Q these days).

If you're in any doubt about anything, come back here and ask; lots of us here have done this loads of times.
 
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Oh gosh,

Yes those discs look well past their best.
The pads look like they have friction material left (hard to tell in pic) but not worth fitting old pads to new disc because friction face no longer flat so would take ages to wear flat again against flat face of new disc.

There was a recent thread about decent cheap discs and pads available online.

I like discs that are lightly painted with a silvergrey paint that you don't have to remove before fitting as opposed to the oiled discs that have to be degreased prior to fitting.

Parts in motion on line are very good prices their juratec discs are painted and excellent value for money.take your choice of pads , I had cheap QH pads recently and they are good.
Pagid pads are my go too preferred brand though .

You may be able to replace the discs and pads by pivoting your caliper up around it's top slide pin rather than attempt to remove slide pin. I reccomend not attempting to remove slide pin

If you need to clean and regrease the slide pin it is possible to lift the inner boot out of the groove in the slide pin and then slide the caliper off the pin leaving pin screwed into pad carrier frame- ask Jock for further details.
 
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Borg & Beck 2x Brake Discs (Pair) Solid

Part Number: BBD4001

£22.72 *x*

***x

£22.72

Bosch Brake Pads Set

Part Number: 0986495255

£12.58 *x*

***x

£12.58

*

Sub-total:

£35.30

Total:

£35.30

Looks like those discs are painted type.

Free delivery

If you need new lower pad retaining pins the juratec pads come with new pins and spring clip for £14.09
 
Thanks chaps! I know nothing about brakes but even I thought they looked worn!! So I’m on it!!! I’m quite pleased I’ve managed to learn how to do this myself I should imagine it will all go ok but if I need help I’ll shout!
 
Those discs have worn dangerously thin; you've almost been driving on razor blades. I'm guessing someone in the past has changed the pads, but not the discs. False economy on the 1,2; decent aftermarket discs can be had for peanuts. The discs are usually more than half worn by the time of the first pad change; common sennse and a quick calculation will tell you they won't make it to the second without wearing beyond the limit.

Edit: having turned up the brightness on my monitor, there's more material remaining than I first thought (but they're still worn out).

I've seen worse; I once found a completely worn out brake pad (with no friction material whatsoever and half the metal backing worn away) on the ground in a parking bay :eek:.

You photos don't show how much material is left on the pads (we need a side-on shot), but since the discs have to go and the pads are quite badly scored by the worn out discs, you'll need to replace them anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

Just checked on Euro; current price for a set of Pagid front pads & discs is £60.43. I'd recommend these; the quality is excellent and the anticorrosion coating on the discs means you don't need to degrease them before fitting, saving you a messy job.

Remember to buy a litre of brake fluid; it's always a good idea to change the fluid after you've done a brake job. Do the clutch as well while you're at it and you may save yourself the need to join the "my clutch isn't working properly and I've got difficulty selecting gears" thread.

Given the amount of wear on those brakes, you will need to push the piston back into the caliper quite a long way - in the absence of the proper tool, a G clamp works quite well on the 500 caliper. I'd recommend clamping the brake flexible hose near the caliper and loosening the bleed screw before doing this, so that you don't push the old fluid back through the lines - any contamination could damage the ABS module, which is machined to very fine tolerances. If you don't, keep an eye on the brake fluid reservoir and be prepared to syphon out some fluid, as it could well overflow when you push the piston back. There's no need to do this if you clamp the brake hose.

Take care not to get any brake fluid on the paintwork; it strips paint (better than some of the new-fangled so-called eco friendly paint strippers you buy in B&Q these days).

If you're in any doubt about anything, come back here and ask; lots of us here have done this loads of times.



My brake & clutch fluids were all changed when I had an engine swap in January will I still need to change?
Is it a hard job? I can search out videos on YouTube
 
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