more on these rear brakes then.
I tried to get a better pic of the carrier difference. But it's pretty tricky to show it clearly in a pic. In the flesh the difference is VERY clear though:
Although not one for being too bothered about visuals, even I didn't fancy some BRIGHT RED rear calipers, so I gave them a quick key up, and wire brushed down the LCR carriers, and gave them a quick coat of enamel black.
Forgot to get pics of them painted. it's not the best finish by a long way, but it's black, and it'll do!
As my rear discs were shot to bits, and the pads pretty old, I decided to go with a fresh set of standard Pagid rears this time around:
I bolted the LCR carrier up, and offered in the new pads for the moment of truth:
Success! No nasty unswept band!
Caliper on:
Repeat on the other side:
Bleed brakes, test drive.
Oh, wait. No.
The bleeding process was a nightmare.
I've bled the brakes on this car probably 50 times or more, and there still appears to be no guaranteed method for success, other than pouring LOTS of very expensive fluid through it.
I bought 1 litre of RBF660 on ebay, at extortionate cost, thinking a full litre would easily be enough.
After attempt 1 the pedal feel was SHOCKING. I bled the rears again, and it didn't get much better. So I ended up using all of the remaining fluid, and bleeding all 4 corners again including an ABS cycle on VAGcom.
This seems to have returned the pedal to what I'd call 90%, but it's still not quite as sharp as it used to be. I'll end up bleeding them again before it sees the track, but I'll need to speak to my bank manager before ordering any MORE RBF660
With that small mess sorted, we went for a drive, and they rear brakes scrub in nicely, covering all of the disc as you'd hope they would!
I'd like to think that that's the mystery solved, and the solution to the unswept band is the LCR carriers, but talking to many people on facebook, it appears that SOME factory S3's get this band, and some don't. Even more confusingly, I've spoken to some LCR owners who DO get the unswept band on factory 256mm 2wd rear setups!
What is certain is that there are definite differences in the carriers available, positioning the calipers differently by seemingly around 7-8mm.
On a totally unrelated note, Dad noticed over the weekend that the rear camber is really obvious with the car parked on the concrete slab, as only part of the tyre makes contact with the ground
Still impressed with the Khumos too. had a good blast out down some great little lanes with Dad at the weekend and they really do grip very well indeed. In the dry they'll withhold full boost in 2nd gear from 5k, which seems to be the marker for me.
