Brakes are now super smooth again...
Having closely followed philb1965's thread that led to his brake judder problems being resolved - in that case as a result of the wheels being powder-coated, it was time for me to see if Marcus (TOPHOOKER) could work his magic on mine.
viewtopic.php?f=102&t=61267
Background:
Not long after GUNs came into my ownership I decided spacers were necessary - yes, I admit for an improved stance rather than feeling there was any handling issue.
Fitting the spacers is documented here:
viewtopic.php?f=103&t=34297&hilit=spacers
Several thousand miles later I was getting juddering - my local Nissan HPC, after some prodding, agreed to skim the discs in situ. All was well for a short while but then the juddering came back. As I was told Nissan would not agree new discs I bit the bullet and bought some new OEM discs and pads - courtesy of ZMANALEX who was able to supply them at considerable saving.
Had them fitted at TGM (Fleet) and all was well again - up to Scotland and then some laps round Knockhill all was fine, but on the way back the juddering started to return. I was advised to do some serious bedding in as I might have sat on the brakes pedal after heavy use round Knockhill and had some build-up on the discs, but several attempts did not really change anything.
Spotting the outcome for philb1965 it was time to see what Marcus could do. I had started to conclude that something was distorted somewhere in the roundy-bit department on mine from what I was learning from his advice. So off to Soham in Cambridge to see what could be done in the week before Wales so that I could enjoy the drives to the full.
The remedy:
As soon as Marcus turned the wheels he immediately suspected the off-side front and his gauge readings confirmed '2 peaks and trough'. But what was causing that?
Off came the spacers. The Kei 20mm spacers were fine, Marcus being satisfied their manufacture being of good quality. However, the off-slip spacer when measured revealed a significant 'squashing' - basically down to the pressed alloy item simply not being up to the job - these ones:
So my good idea at the time - done because the OEM wheels would not fit on 20mm spacers because the hub studs projected too far for the recesses on the front wheels to accommodate, had proved my undoing.
I had anticipated there was a problem with the spacers and had previously purchased two pairs of 25mm Eibachs. I had taken comfort from G-man that this size on the 370 presented no issues. These were fitted to the discs that were then machined to remove the high spots - pics show the process - see pics.
Short vid
The rear discs were fine but the 23mm combination were removed and the new 25mm spacers added.
Wow, was it nice to drive home completely judder-free and after 900 or so miles pounding around the Welsh roads and there and back I am pleased to report braking remains judder-free.
I am in full of admiration for the way Marcus goes about his work. As an Engineer who clearly likes to get to the root cause of the problem rather than the simple fix of skimming discs, it means the 'problem' is addressed once and for all. Setting up his own business not so long ago he has quickly attracted the attention of many garages and enthusiasts and he can travel in the SE to deal with issues. See his website:
http://www.discskimmers.com/
I can cannot speak highly enough of his expertise - he has adapted off-the peg disc skimmers to carry out his work and also has a tyre skimmer he has developed aimed at those seeking to improve lap times by ensuring the tyre surface is uniform across the tread to help maximise grip. That is helping to shave not insignificant time off the laps and whilst I was there a set of wheels/tyres were delivered by a regular MX5 racer for some tweaking.
So top marks to our member TOPHOOKER - who I hope is going to sign up as a trader as we definitely have a great find for anyone (350 or 370) with disc/wheel problems on here. We did discuss the idea of him sorting out 2 or 3 cars as a group 'buy' as they would help to spread his travel costs by doing them all in one place.
