Caliper swaps?

[m1tch]

Hi guys I have just done an oil/filter and plug service on my car, when I had the car in the air I noticed that the front driver side wheel doesn\'t spin freely, my ABS isn\'t working at the moment and I am getting clicking from that wheel.

I think it might be that the ABS has noticed that the caliper might have seized as it was doing its checks and hence I am getting the clicking and the ABS not working.

I could always rebuild the caliper or get a 2nd hand set, but I was wondering if there were any swaps for larger calipers that I could do? I know some mazdas can take the larger mazda 626 or xedos brakes.

I was just wondering what the options were for either an easy caliper swap or upgrade, I can\'t afford a 12 pot D2 caliper lol so don\'t put that down lol

Thanks

[pdtaylor18]

get a set of FD calipers on the front, they fit straight on, bit more reliable. pads are the same.  make sure that once the pads are out that it still spins as it might be the hub, worth a check.  I doubt that the ABS problem will be because of the sticky caliper.  The wheels will still turn at the same speed even if one is sticking once you have weight on the wheel and enough engine power to drive the car - it will overcome any resistance from a sticky caliper. But you never know !! I will keep an eye out for an ABS sensor but you will need to find which one is dodgy first, not many with ABS fitted.

[m1tch]

Ah ok, I wondered if the FD calipers would fit, I thought they were running a larger disk as well?

[dthebuk]

same disks, i posted a pic up a while back, if you have stock wheels it gets a bit tight, You can compensate a bit with spacers, but id advise on slightly larger wheels.

[m1tch]

Hmm its typical that I have just bought some new eagle F1 tyres for the rear mine are the turbo II 16" rims though what size spacers would I need? Im guessing that the FD brakes are 4 pot as well? Furthermore, would that mean you can fit FD brake disks to my FC?

[dthebuk]

um they may be ok? Im not clued up on wheels. i think mine are 15\'s so you may be ok there

[dthebuk]

yea just checked the faq\'s your wheels should be fine.
If you did need spacers they wouldnt been very big, you can look when you take the wheel off.

I really don\'t know about the disks tbh, I know t2rew had fd brakes on his car so maybe he knows?

Also rear fd brake conversions arn\'t popular for some reason, not sure why. Think it upsets the brake balance but don\'t quote me on that

[David Nock (RIP)]

Don\'t know about FC in particular, (my FB has never heard of ABS), but most modern cars have a reluctor ring somewhere on the hub or drive shaft. That sends a stream of magnetic pulses to the ABS system, to tell it the wheel speed. If the FC has that system it may be that it has come to bits and that\'s the clicking?
I would suggest looking for a toothed wheel and an electronic pick up at the back of the hub. If it\'s not the front, look for rusty reluctor rings on the back drive shafts.

[grinder]

first thing i would do is check the pads ! - take out the pads and see if the hub spins freely

also check that the front bearing is ok - you can adjust this and take out any slack

this is a cost of £0.00 - then work into the expensive stuff like a rebuild or swapping the calipers

[TiddlesRX7]

FD calipers go straight on with stock TII wheels. don\'t know about the discs although I suspect they fit also. Mine has FD calipers and grooved discs but they were on the car when I got it so don\'t know if the discs are FD or not.

[m1tch]

Just taken the wheels off 2 see how bad they are (they are rather bad lol) the ABS sensor and toothed wheel seem ok as there are inspection sections behind the wheel assembly (isn\'t that useful lol)

Here is the suspect front driver side caliper (you can see that the rear of the caliper, the brake pads are worn more at the top than the bottom)



And these are the disk brakes that Pete gave me (thanks soo much ) and as you can see they are a bit better than the 1s I have at the mo lol

[grinder]

that what my disc\'s look like !!

when i did the rear pads on mine - they were all worn at either the top or bottom - wonder if its due to where the calipers are located ?

just whip the pads out now and see if it spins freely

and good luck if you do need to change the ABS sensor - you can only fit new ones as they are a push fit and you cant get them out in one price - and they are MEGA costly from mazda

[Prof]

could be a siezed piston - where the brake pads have worn less - as that one is not moving.  From the pic - looks like the bottom back piston - it\'s the bottom ones that tend to seize - it\'s where the moisture settles out - causing rusting on the piston.

[grinder]

but my rears did that - and they are only single piston ( just to throw a spanner in the works !! )

[pdtaylor18]

single piston or not it still has to come out perfectly straight, they have been known to come out at a slight angle that will cause excessive wear on one side.  Also if the pads are not releasing correctly this can also give the same symptoms.