Ridex brake parts from Autodoc

[Pondrew]

I bought a full set of Ridex discs and pads from Autodoc for my daughter's Mini a couple of months ago.
They were the cheapest I could get. My thinking was it is a cheap car and it isn't going to be ragged around at all, so brakes are brakes.
First problem was that the front pads were painted yellow and the paint was so thick on the locating "T" pieces they were jamming in the calipers.

So took them all off and filed the paint off. All good, I thought.
Yesterday I happened to notice that the front discs had rust marks on the outer 50% but were clean on the inner 50%. On closer inspection it was apparent that the outer half still had the manufacturing scoring, so was obvious the pads were not touching that part of the disc. It was the same on both sides.
So today I dismantled the brakes (again) and found the problem. The outer pads had 2 small 'pins' or 'nipples' cast into the rear of the pad. These nipples were 'just' fouling the caliper edge, so causing the pad to tilt when the brakes were applied. This explained the 50% wear. The inner pads have the 'nipples' aswell but the piston doesn't go near them so they were fine.

So I ground the nipples flat on both outer pads and re-assembled. Quick test drive and nice shiny discs all over and obviously the brakes are 25% more effective.
I know some will say I should have checked the seating when first installed, but I couldn't see the problem with the caliper fitted (and it fitted easily, so no cause for concern).

So the moral of the story is to not presume parts are correct, even if they fit. And potentially don't buy cheap shite! :|

 

[DonDon]

Only expensive shite for me :rofl:

 

[ronk]

Buy cheap = Buy twice!

 

[pvr]

Very satisfying to get it fixed yourself though

 

[ronk]

It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When
you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay
too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you
bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The
common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a
lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well
to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will
have enough to pay for something better.
John Ruskin

 

[Pondrew]

Very satisfying to get it fixed yourself though

Yes it is, but took a while to work out what was wrong. Not something you really need with brakes!

Now it has another issue which I'm not going to be able to sort myself! A loud ticking in the engine which only appears when the engine is warm, which is confusing. Just hoping it needs new oil and not the timing chain; Mini's suffer from this problem aswell! :x

 

[Nictrix]

Very satisfying to get it fixed yourself though

Yes it is, but took a while to work out what was wrong. Not something you really need with brakes!

Now it has another issue which I'm not going to be able to sort myself! A loud ticking in the engine which only appears when the engine is warm, which is confusing. Just hoping it needs new oil and not the timing chain; Mini's suffer from this problem aswell! :x

Cant remember the model you have but have you been checking the oil levels on a regular basis.
The R56 we had used about 500ml of oil every thousand miles and Mini reckon that up to 1 litre of oil every thousand miles is acceptable.
Dont rely on the oil light as they dont appear to come on until its too late.
Basically as far as Mini are concerned the car could empty itself in 5000 miles.

 

[Pondrew]

Cant remember the model you have but have you been checking the oil levels on a regular basis.
The R56 we had used about 500ml of oil every thousand miles and Mini reckon that up to 1 litre of oil every thousand miles is acceptable.
Dont rely on the oil light as they dont appear to come on until its too late.
Basically as far as Mini are concerned the car could empty itself in 5000 miles.

It's an R56, the 1.6 n/a engine. Oil level is fine, I have been checking it regularly. I can't think of (or find on the web) anything that would cause a loud tick only once warm. Quiet as a mouse when cold, although it can come and go when stone cold!

No other symptoms; pulls fine, no smoke, nothing. Just extremely loud tick which sounds pretty serious IMO!