Need help with brakes in west mids.
Turbo Mini Forums

Im at wits end with my front brakes, after a year and a half of forever fighting with them i bought a new set of calipers to go down onto 7.5" discs.

Now i cant stop fluid leaks, so ive downed my tools and admitted defeat.
So if anybody is very good with sorting out brakes, and if you can help me this weekend and get my brakes working as they should, theres £40 in it for you.
Id much rather pay somebody on here to help than somebody at quik fit, and as my brakes dont work, i dont see a way of me getting there anyway.

DY5 area,
Thanks,
Carl.

wot exactly is happening were is it leaking

Keeps leaking from where the braided hose screws into the caliper, ive tried copper washers and it still leaks when you try to use the brakes, i was most of the way through trying ptfe tape earlier when i just hit a wall and gave up.

Before the new calipers i kept having problems with the brakes pulling to one side, and the calipers leaking from the seals in the pistons.

Edited by Carlzilla on 17th Feb, 2011.

you could try some new brake lines from the subframe to the caliper - are the threads on the banjo ok?

Could there be something up with the master cylinder, possibly sending too much pressure to one side??? Does it leak from one side or both? If only one side, is it the same side the brakes used to pull to before???

one day boost will be mine!

Leaks both sides, banjo is fine for a change, i have new braided lines, one is 6 months old on the front, might change to the brand new one i just bought, and one is brand new, as i couldnt get it off the old caliper.

Brand new Calipers, although they were from minispares, the thread shouldnt be this shit, or the calipers be leaking. They should at least have machined the face of where the copper washer sits so the fluid dont piss out.

Fed up :(

From your last post - are you saying that there is not a flat machined surface for the copper washer to seal on ?

If that is the case you will not be able to get a seal.

Nah its just flat with minor suface imperfections from casting, tempted to take the calipers off and grind them flat or just bollock the thread on the hose with PTFE

http://www.minispares.com/Product.aspx?ty=...id=42536&title=

Thats the kit i bought as they didnt have the genuine AP calipers in stock

Edited by Carlzilla on 18th Feb, 2011.

I wouldn't grind the callipers mate.. Send them back if they are not perfect. I would pop over and help but I'm mega busy at the moment.

Edited by MarkGTT on 18th Feb, 2011.

If i send them back, likelyhood is i'll be left without a car for weeks.

Minispares is right cack at times.
I bought a waterpump not long back and the guides/tubes for the bolts that protrude snapped off as i was tightening it up, rendering it useless.

As the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words.

Maybe a photo could help locate the cause of the issue.

Brb then, ill get my whiffy turd of a phone camera on the situation.

Edited by Carlzilla on 18th Feb, 2011.

Something doesnt look right in that first pic. It looks like there is either two copper washers fitted or the copper washer is loose and not compressed between the hose fitting and caliper.

also, are those Cooper S calipers? Do they use a different hose fitting compared to the 8.4" calipers? I know my Goodridge hoses have quite a long fitting on the end off them and the 8.4" caliper hole is bottomless.

Is the hole in the copper washer a close fit over the thread or are they able to float about?

There is very little surface area under the head of the union on goodridge hoses on the calliper end for the washer to actually seal against. So any loose tolerance on the fit of the washers over the thread means there is little or no surface area of washer to seal against.

I actually scrapped the goodridge copper washers that came with the hoses as they were very baggy on the thread.
They'd obviously decided to supply metric washers with imperial unions.

I ended up buying some washers that had enough material for me to drill out the hole to fit the unions.
A total faff but it cured the leak on this union on my callipers.

Edited by adcyork on 18th Feb, 2011.

The first picture, is probably from me having to tighten it up that much its bowed the copper washer up.

One is a nice fit on the drivers side round the fitting, and this side is slightly looser, this is the one that leaks moreso, but either way, they both still leak.

The thread in both is about the same tbh, both you can see the caliper piston through, although i think the 8.4s maybe slightly deeper thread.
Those ones are the minispares version of cooper s calipers.
Chap i work with thought it may be metric thread in the caliper, and ive had that happen before when i was redoing copper pipe and picked up the wrong fitting, but with these it properly tightens up, it just still leaks. :S

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...yId_165562#dtab
Tempted to buy those as i can walk to halfords, not to minispares to get some.
Local motor factors is useless for copper washers....

Edited by Carlzilla on 18th Feb, 2011.

As above, the copper washer looks too big for those hoses.

There isn't much shoulder on the union to make a seal so you need to ensure the copper washer is an exact fit.

See how the union is almost the same size as the washer here...



Definitely worth the walk to halfrauds.

Aiight mate, ill get my mate to take me anyway, i need another bottle of brake fluid aswell as the washers, ive gotten through a gallon tub this year so far due to problems. :/

hope your not paying top wack from halfords

i have a friend with a trade card

also measure the depth of the thread hole and measure the screw i part of the brake pipe. technical names are beyond me this morning

i can pop over sunday if its any use to ya ?

http://www.fishfight.net/

Sort of sorted now, i have a very small leak passener side i CANNOT get rid of, so im taking the car to somebody now its drivable, this is why it was shocking before, the washer i got with the hoses just wasnt anywhere near the size it should be.

Edited by Carlzilla on 21st Feb, 2011.

Glad you have sorted it.