Wobz

[johnrando]

Good werk

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[az3579]

Thanks John.

[az3579]

Update on the status of the front calipers.
Yesterday, I had finished retrofitting the front calipers. By the time I finished, we were fast losing daylight, so I decided to go for a quick test drive. I noticed the car was kind of sluggish, and upon pulling back into Charlie's driveway, I noticed that the car was stopping itself when not on the brake (in neutral), even though his driveway is on an incline. After a few quick movements, I noticed that the brake pads were sticking and not fully disengaging from the rotor when off the brake pedal.

Since daylight was running out, I had no choice but to stay the night. Charlie was extremely hospitable and allowed me to stay the evening so I could tackle it in the morning.

This morning, I took apart the caliper on one side and found the reason for why it was sticking. The caliper was not centered on the rotor, which explains why only 2 of the 4 pistons in both calipers were extended out. That also explained why the outside pad in each caliper was pretty much lodged between the rotor and the pistons with zero piston travel, which is what was causing the pads to stick.

I had to find all of this out by trial and error because this kit, which was originally sold new from UUC as a front and rear kit, had no installation instructions on UUC's website. Wilwood does not have instructions pertaining to the Wilwood Superlite installation on an E46 330, only a 6-piston setup that had all kinds of extra steps that I didn't need to take. With no usable guide, I had to ping various folks on the forum as well as personal contacts. Then, while staring at the caliper disassembled, I had an epiphany and tried to relocate the shims that were provided with the kit to another area.

It turns out the seller who I bought the kit from didn't put the shims back in to the correct locations when he took it off his car. He tried his best to keep things as together as possible to aid in the installation of the kit for the new owner, but he just didn't have the shim locations correct. This is why it took me so long to figure it out. I moved a few shims to the mounting between the caliper bracket and the mounting ears (previously having them all under the bolt that attaches to the mounting ears) and voila; the caliper now sits perfectly centered over the rotors. I pushed the pistons back in, reinstalled the calipers, pumped the brakes a few times, and the pads seated perfectly on the surface of the rotor, with free rotor motion when sitting. Prior to doing this, I was NOT able to move the rotor at all by hand. I bled the front brakes and can now consider those done.

The rears will be a challenge of their own. I already cut the dust shield for one of the rears. I ended up having to cut the entire curved-in lip of the rear dust shield on the passenger rear yesterday. Now all I have to do is cut the driver's rear. The rears will be a challenge because the passenger rear brake line nut is stuck; I can't break it loose. I need to be able to re-use this, so cutting it off and reflaring is something I'd like to avoid at all costs.

[ELCID86]

Nice work figuring that all out!

[johnrando]

Glad it worked out BP

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[derbo]

Good job BP! I'm glad you figured it out. It was very strange that the caliper would cause anything like if it was setup properly. Good Job brother!

[FL116]

Glad you were able to fix it. Weird that that happened. Nice job BP!

[az3579]

Glad it worked out BP

Sent from mobile

Good job BP! I'm glad you figured it out. It was very strange that the caliper would cause anything like if it was setup properly. Good Job brother!

Glad you were able to fix it. Weird that that happened. Nice job BP!

I actually felt what Jeremy Clarkson must have felt in the "$1500 RWD coupes" episode when he proclaimed "I MENDED SOMETHING!!!"

[BMWCurves]

I actually felt what Jeremy Clarkson must have felt in the "$1500 RWD coupes" episode when he proclaimed "I MENDED SOMETHING!!!"

Did you use the only tool necessary, a hammer?

[az3579]

Did you use the only tool necessary, a hammer?

I absolutely did use a hammer. Its name is Thor.