This is kind of a company review and just a show of my woes!
So after needing discs for a while and getting an advisory on my MOT I thought I'd best get down to changing them and quite fancied doing it myself. So after seeing Nige's Mtec brake discs I had a little chat with him and decided to go for the same Grooved Black Edition Discs to match the car and help prevent rusting on the blank metal. So I placed my order on mtecbrakes.co.uk (they also sell on eBay) for a set.
I also ordered some new Toyota pads from CTP which I must say was a pleasure and they were even delivered in person and left in my 'safe place' by Chris (much appreciated).
Then is where the 1st of the issues started! I took the morning off to take the delivery of my lovely new brakes. On my return from work at the end of the day I opened the box up and this is what I saw in the box, they were the correct discs but not the Black Editions I'd paid extra for:
(http://www.azekiel.co.uk/mrs/images/brakes/wrong1.jpg)
So I rung up Mtec the next day sent them a couple of photos and to their credit they were very helpful and said they'd send me a new set out and get the others picked up at the same time to return them but obviously I didn't want to take more holiday from work. So this was all set up for a Saturday and I waited for the delivery, keen to fit them that weekend.
So the delivery came and the box seemed a little heavy, so I checked the top discs before the delivery lady left and they looked fine so I gave her the old discs and let her go. Went to put my 'car clothes' on and unpacked the box... guess what I found (even worse this time!):
(http://www.azekiel.co.uk/mrs/images/brakes/Discs1.jpg)
One set of 260mm Diameter, 18mm thick MR2 Rear Discs (which were the two on the top I'd checked)
One set of 330mm Diameter, 32mm thick god knows what discs!
Being Saturday Mtec closed at 2pm, I managed to ring up straight away with about 10 minutes to spare and after calling 3 times I got through, gave all my information sent some more photos and measurements and was told that I'd get a call back at 9am Monday morning to get it sorted.
Monday morning: 09:05am I got a call as they had said, kudos there. They had already instrucuted ParcelForce to bring a new set of front discs out and pick the massive ones up... "sorry it must've been a packing error". God knows who they're employing that would ever think those two sets of brakes should be put in a box and sent out together! I told her I wasn't taking more holiday for yet another mistake on their part so could they please get them sent to my work, this was done without bother, they turned up the next day, all sorted!
So very good resolution service and a nice friendly company to deal with but not very good at the 1st attempt!
Brake Install
So I followed Les (http://www.midshiprunabout.org/mk3/replacing-rear-disks-and-pads/) and Richie's (http://www.midshiprunabout.org/mk3/front-brake-pads-and-disks/) guides (thankyou!) and fitted the new discs/pads myself.
I spent a couple of hours on the fronts one day and then did the backs the next as I had to go and spend £32.99 on a Caliper Piston re-wind tool (rip off Halfrauds!) and they were already shut. Here's a few photos:
Old front discs, not too bad:
(http://www.azekiel.co.uk/mrs/images/brakes/oldDiscFront.jpg)
Back's of them were very pitted and awful!:
(http://www.azekiel.co.uk/mrs/images/brakes/oldDiscBack.jpg)
(http://www.azekiel.co.uk/mrs/images/brakes/oldDiscBackZoom.jpg)
So once I had them fitted I took them out for a quick spin. I put the handbrake on then when I went out in the morning the rears were stuck on hard and the car wouldn't move (oh great!), obviously the black coating had heated up then stuck when it cooled overnight. I tried rocking the car, and all sorted but it wouldn't budge. In the end I had to take everything off again and lever the pad off with a screwdriver which obviously left most of it behind! s:( :( s:( :
(http://www.azekiel.co.uk/mrs/images/brakes/stuckpad.jpg)
It took me ages to get all the pad off the discs and refit them. Luckily it's the rear pads otherwise I would've had to buy some new pads straight away but still very annoying!
After a few miles driving they were then like this:
(http://www.azekiel.co.uk/mrs/images/brakes/slightlyWorn.jpg)
Haven't taken any pictures since but they are now pretty much in good shape after about 50 miles or so of driving, only done small journeys so a bit of advice if anyone else buys these is to leave it in gear with the handbrake off when you stop until the black has worn you see pure metal.
Sounds like one of my installs!!
Glad you are sorted now. Couple of good tips in there too.
If you dont need the wind back tool, do you want to turn it over? Sure Ill have a no-lazy day and do some rear calipers sometime. s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
Thanks for the write up. These are exactly what I was thinking of getting, until I found out that my discs and pads are good enough to pass an MOT without even an advisory!! s:D :D s:D
I will however be going down this route at some point!!