Centering the disk to the calliper

[DanE]

Hi guys,

Just been fitting some powerlite callipers with the M16 adaptors (from rallydesign) to my westfield ally uprights & standard solid disks. The passenger one went on no problem, pads went in nice and easy and everything was nice and central. Came to do the drivers side and I can only get the inner pad into the calliper as the disk is off center, offset towards the outer pad The outer pad needs approx 1mm extra and it will slot straight in.

Any ideas what I should do?

Do I trim one of the pads down to make it fit or should I try to center the disk to the calliper? If I need to center the disk how do I do it?

Thanks.

[stu999]

I would advise swapping bits from the non-fitting side to the good side bit by bit to ascertain exactly what is amiss. It *might* be faulty goods - no point in getting some machining done if a future replacement 'fixes' the problem, and then you have the same problem, but in reverse

Or if something does need machining, you know exactly what it is, and how much it needs

[Graham]

I'd be concerned about where the difference is coming from? Assuming the original calipers fitted centrally, there must be a difference in the M16 adapters mustn't there?

It's not unusual to adjust the offset with spacers between the caliper and the upright but it sounds like your difference is the wrong way for that? And in any case, the spacers would normally be equal both sides.

Graham.

[DanE]

I should have mentioned earlier, my old M16 callipers were fitted to my old ally uprights - no problems in 6 years running with a couple of pad changes in between. After a minor accident I had to ditch my old uprights and had my old disks installed on two new uprights which came with new bearings, axle, etc, basically as new from the factory.

Compairing the inner face of the brake disk to the outer face of the ally upright, the drivers side disk-upright gap is about 1-2mm bigger (hard to get an exact measurment). There is a definite difference in the gaps between the two though.

I've not tried fitting my old M16's to the new uprights but I did try swapping the Powerlite callipers & spacers over and the problem was still there. I'd need to machine some material off either the Powerlite spacer or the upright its self, or try to send the disk in towards the upright.

Putting it on milling machine would be a last resort though.

[Dave]

You mentioned an accident

Could the outer race of the bearing have been dislodged causing the disc to be in the wrong position

Only a thought but worth a look

Or as they are ally uprights is the stub in the correct position.

Dave

[stu999]

There will be a lot more tolerance on the M16's.

Try swapping the discs round. And then the hubs (have been known to have probs), etc, etc...

[brianm]

Contensious, but, from your post it seems you were using the car with no problems/ill effects prior to the caliper change. I agree with Stu, change stuff around to see if any new bits are out of spec, but I suspect the won't be, as Stu again says, tolerances etc will now be less. It will take forever to wear down the pads on your car, fettle a mil off and keep awatch in 20k miles,

Of course just MHO.

[DanE]

Thanks for the help guys, very much appreciated.

I've spent the past 3 hours doing as you've said. Stripped and re-fitted in all of the combinations of caliper, disk & spacer I could think of. Even tried fitting the caliper and disk to my old uprights but the result was the same.

Findings are:

Both calipers will fit passenger side perfectly

Neither caliper will fit drivers side with both pads in  

So after all that tinkering I've still no idea where the differences are, or where the 1mm is coming from... hence I've trimmed down the pad to make it fit