JMC

Pleeease Matt, it would be great if you can get the template sorted - I quite fancy doing this, but not until it fits right.

Chances are it has got gunked up. There are 2 metal tubes running from the motor to the bottom of either end of the spoiler. In these it's a bit like a bike brake cable, as a flexible section moves through the tubes to lift the spoiler up and down. Over time these get gunked up. Best thing to do is take the whole lot out, take it apart, clean it and fill it with new grease. I did that and it solved my woes - mine stopped going up and down automatically but would still work with the crank and switch. It has been covered before on here, and if you use the search there is a pictoral 'walk through' of what to do.

Cheers for the pic Yalan. The pins were filed down by the previous owner of the callipers - if anything they would be a mm or so too short now. Basically he was using 24mm callipers with 28mm discs. To do this he ground down the pads :shock: , and filed down the pad guide pins to get the discs to fit. Of course none of this was mentioned until after I'd bought them. As I didn't want to grind down pads when it came to changing them, I thought I would get discs which were thin enough to get the pads to fit without modifying. There is a surprising amount of clearance, the pictures don't show that though (prob becasue of the angle I took it from). I've made sure there is atleast 20mm all round so there is plenty of space for cooling. Definately just need to get thing thing off the ground and spin those wheels. Even after 30miles the discs are warm (wouldn't want to put my hand on them), but definately not glowing, so I am hoping this is just a "bedding in" phase.

Yep, it took me quite a while to find the right grade in the right pitch. These are 12.9 grade, which are the same as the Seat ones supplied with their Brembo setup. Didn't need to remove anything (according to the mechanics who did it anyway). They even rang me up and asked me to go over to the garage to have a look at it, as they were amazed went went on so easily, and that it all lined up (shows how confident they were with my measurements). Didn't need any machining. Must admit I was very please with BG who made the bells. The worked from a Seat disc (which is what I had on there before) and the G60 hub diagram to make the system. The only thing I can think, is that with the discs being slightly wider than they should be (1.4mm extra), is the calliper pistons have been pushed all the way in, and as such don't have much room to move - hence a slight bind all the time as they can't retract, until a little material is worn off the pads. Hopefully get time tomorrow to get it jacked up and have a look.

Their explanation makes sense from a physics point of view, but it made me smile a bit. Good to hear that'll I'll have to be going some to warp them too. Yeah I was wondering about the rear brakes as I've just had those changed (discs and pads) in the last few weeks as well, so they may need loosening off a little. The previous pads were shot, so they would not be providing any rolling resistance to the rear wheels. With new discs and pads (brembo discs and EBC green pads) they may be providing a little friction if the handbrake cable wasn't adjusted properly. I'm going to lift up the car and have a play with the wheels this weekend Kev, and check out how freely they rotate. It has got better since they were first fitted (just over a week ago), but as I don't do huge mileage in it, I get the feeling it will just take a little time to get back to normal.

Found out why the grooves face the opposite way to what you'd think. To do with the vanes inside - by having the grooves face forwards rather than backwards they can minimise the length of the thin section of metal where the groove passes over the vane. Simple really Question for you brake experts. Before fitting them I would get 30mpg on a good run. I now get 27-28mpg on a good run - presume they are binding a little. They have got better and I've done about 250 miles in them since fitting. I presume with it all being a tight fit in the calliper (as the disc is 25.4 rather than 24mm thick) they just need a bit of time to wear the pads down a bit?? I've been keeping and eye on the disc temperature and they not getting too hot - don't really want them warp given what they cost, so is it safe to assume that I just have to suffer a bit of poor fuel economy while they wear down a bit?

With regards to the electric mirrors - is it an early (square) or late (round) one? The late ones often fail, and the switch can be taken apart and the electrical contacts cleaned as they corrode. It has been addressed many times and if you use the search it will bring that up. Not sure if the early ones fail as often, and I've never taken an early one apart so don't know how easy that is. For the windows, AFAIK the unit is all one thing, but if you are happy drilling out some rivets then the motor can be replaced. First thing to try is greasing/lubing the edges of the glass - seems to work for some people. Otherwise it may have popped out of a runner at the edge. Again try the search, as there are loads of threads on the window problems. And yes, they have their fair share of niggly faults :?

The garage where I had them fitted took some convincing as well :lol: . I am waiting to hear back from AP as to why they are like this (when their curved vaned ones are facing backwards). Be interested to hear what they say.

I'll check that Kev. I think because the discs are 1mm more than they should be for the callipers the pistons are well in (there was room without shaving the pads, but not huge amounts). Could be that, and as you say it may need a few hundred miles to get a bit of easier movement, and before I can say anything for definite. Will take it out for a good spin at the weekend and see what happens.

Cheers for the comment guys (and for the help Kev). I think they need bedding in properly now, as I've noticed while they don't seem to be binding, my fuel economy has got appreciably worse than usual on my run to work this morning :shock: . Just wondering if they are that much stickier than my old setup, or if it is just because both the discs and pads are new, and that they need a few hundred miles to form the right surface on the pads.

OMG what a story :shock: . Is good to see that you brought it back rather than break it which is what happens to so many here. My hat goes off to you, sir.

Been ages since I added anything, so thought it was about time :D :D Well, got my AP 2 piece discs on. These are 315mm and 25.4mm thick, and better suit my Boxster callipers (meant for 24mm thick discs). Interestingly, despite the slight extra thickness the pads (Pagid Fast Roads) went in without modifying at all. Just have 500 miles of bedding them in now. All in all really happy with then, and having just changed the rears as well, have a whole new braking setup now.

Yay, they're on.... Well impressed with them - they're huge, and I thought the 305's were big :D :D

This happened to me when I did my loom upgrade. I found there was no side light bulb in the passenger side (while there was ain the drivers side) - fitted a new one and all was well. I think its something to do with taking out the big yellow resistor.

Put me down too please :D something I've been meaning to do for ages, and looks like good stuff.

Seen them go on here for around £150 when in good condition. £185 seems a bit high. If you can hang on for a couple of months I'll have a spare one as I'm having a G60/VR6/peloquin hybrid one made up at the moment and then mine will be coming off :D (and I'm based Near London).

Turns out that the quest for the right calliper to carrier bolts was slightly harder than expected. M12 normally comes in coarse (1.75 pitch) or fine (1.25 pitch) threads. Typically the Seat Brembo calliper carriers need 1.5 pitch thread. So after a few phone calls I found a company called "Non-Standard Socket Screw Ltd" (I kid you not) who said "Yep we have those, and can get you them in 2 days". Even better they're only 10 miles away from me :D so hopefully pick those up on friday.

Yeah, that price was for everything (bells, rotors, and disc bolts) and including some calliper spacers. Rotors were about £220+VAT each I think. Although I've just found out that the new calliper bolts I bought (which are longer as the calliper now sits further out) are normal rather than fine threaded. Doh. Looks like those will be going back. Shame - thought for a minute I was going to get these on today. Had to double check on the grooves as you're right - they are different to expected. Sure I'll get loads of people going "You know you've got those on the wrong way round mate" :lol: And as for replacing them - I'm hoping that never needs doing.... Btw, thanks for all your advice on this Kev. Oh, and Cheers Marcus - looking forward to getting them on the car soon.

Er, higher. These were over £700. However, not all the disc sizes are so expensive. These were not a common size so cost slightly more. The 305mm should be a more common size, althought you'll still be looking at atleast £600 I would have thought. Hope that helps.

More than I care to think about to be honest :shock: but they should be able to do 4x100 and 305mm (and 28mm presumably). I got them from BG Developments (as recommended by Kev - cheers for that). You'll need to know the pad swept area (I am assuming they're for Brembos or Porka ones) and they should now have the 4x100 hub dimensions, and Seat disk to work from for the correct disk measurements. Took a while though so I hope you're not in a hurry - been working with them on these for nearly 6 weeks.

Thought I was getting lucky earlier when 2 pizza box sized packages arrived this morning. Even better than lunch though - my front discs have arrived with all the bits :D :D . Going from the 305mm discs I have at the moment to 315mm, so should be fun once they are bedded in properly, and am going from Brembo pads to Pagid Fast Road's as well. All I need to do now is get them fitted....

OK, cheers mate.

Usually the excess friction will cause either the motor to burn out, or the fuse to blow. I would have thought it would have be unusual for bits on the circuit board to go. Although if someone used a fuse that was too large, that might cause it. Good luck with it, and don't buy a new one, there are always cars being broken on here, and you should be able to get one for £10-15. Cleaning the gunk out of the tubes will make it run smoother (the grease gets full of muck over the years), but they are fiddly to remove - there are some captive nuts which usually shear off.

Something else to check folks - spoiler problems are often caused by dirt building up in the rods that push them up and down. before ditching your control boxes, it is worth cleaning and regreasing the runners completely. I did that with mine and the system now runs smoothly again. Takes about 2 hours to get the damn thing out though, as it is firmly intertwined with the boot lock and rear washer piping.

Thanks Toad, the more information the better :D