Brakes

A

andicole0

Active member
 Tunbridge Wells
The last MoT had a note that the brake disks were getting thin so I guess I should be looking at replacing them. Does anyone have any suggestions for the best place to get them, I'll fit them myself.

Also has anyone had any problems with insurance companies by using third party disks.

Mine are currently drilled, is there any advantage in going grooved and or drilled? Also best pads for 'fast' road use? 8)

Cheers.

Andi.
 
andicole0 said:
Also has anyone had any problems with insurance companies by using third party disks.
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As with any mod, disclose it to your insurers. Advise that you have uprated the brakes. If they say that they want extra premium for that ask why - given that you've made the car safer. That usually does the trick...

However, all insurers tend to be very, very wary of any mechanical mod that hasn't been carried out a qualified mechanic...
 
Really? Considering real cryogenic treatment starts at around -190C on steel to be effective. What you'll be doing is effectively keeping them in a cold winter before fitting.
 
I realise that real cryogenic treatment starts at much low temperatures than in our freezer. Whether what I do works, or not, I don't know. But I got the idea a few years ago after watching a programme about BMW's best F1 engines, from a couple of decades or so ago, being made from engine blocks which had done well over 100k miles in saloon cars, and then they were left outside in the snow before they were rebuilt as racing engines. After further research, I learned that the Swiss watchmakers also bury their steel in snow before using it in watches etc. It may be a case of temperature v time, where -18 degs C in my freezer for 28 days is equivalent to X hours at -190degsC?

As I see it, I have nothing to lose by doing this and I've done this before to the brake discs on my Z3MC fitted over 4 years ago, and they've virtually no lip on them today.
 
At work we cryo items to start with at -160C to -190C, but its the application of heat after they have returned to room temperature that is part of the full treatment, this will give ultimate resistance to wear.

Holding them at -18 will do nothing as you're trying to get them so cold it alters the microstructures of the steel.

You wouldn't cryo those blocks you speak of after 100k miles due to the possibility of micro-fractures within the material, this would actually have an adverse effect. Modern F1 engines are built in controlled climate conditions to make sure tolerances remain standard. What i love about their engineering is its SO fine, that the engine has to be at minimum operating temperature before it starts as the pistons wouldn't move in the block when cold! madness.
 
Steve220 said:
its the application of heat after they have returned to room temperature that is part of the full treatment, this will give ultimate resistance to wear.
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Right, I'll put them in the oven with our roast dinner then! :D

But they'll get a good heating the first time they go on the car with braking. In any event, even if what I've done does absolutely nothing, I've lost nothing.


Steve220 said:
You wouldn't cryo those blocks you speak of after 100k miles due to the possibility of micro-fractures within the material, this would actually have an adverse effect. Modern F1 engines are built in controlled climate conditions to make sure tolerances remain standard. What i love about their engineering is its SO fine, that the engine has to be at minimum operating temperature before it starts as the pistons wouldn't move in the block when cold! madness.
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I too like the ever increasing refinement of ideas and techniques that gives us technical progress. All pioneering comes from individuals with lateral thinking and the willingness to try and fail rather than play safe and run with the crowd.
 
AlanJ said:
Always worth doing a search as there's a lot already said in various threads :thumbsup:
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I did a search and didn't see much specific, up to date advice on M compatible brakes, particularly experience with insurance companies who appear in recent years to have changed attitude on replacement consumable parts.

Andi.
 
off to place myself in bottom part of freezer to cryogenically keep myself alive for more time. Thanks for the advice guys!!!!
 
Interesting, I'd not heard of cryogenic hardening before so I tried it with ice cubes, unfortunately it had the opposite effect and they kept dropping out of my boxers :cry:
 
Ewazix said:
Interesting, I'd not heard of cryogenic hardening before so I tried it with ice cubes, unfortunately it had the opposite effect and they kept dropping out of my boxers :cry:
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:rofl:
 
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