Friday, October 2, 2015

RS Revival: Breaking Brakes

After two years of ownership and extensive repairs, improvements, and adjustments, I've worked on just about every part of this car... except the brakes.  So, in anticipation of the last two rallycross events for the 2015 season, I decided to order some Centric Brake Pads and Rotors to retire the older set.

As we dug in and started taking apart the old brakes, there were two things we noticed.  The first was there still seemed to be a good amount of pad left over, but the rotors were warped and had heat imprints on them from not being broken in properly.  We came to the conclusion that they were just a cheaper quality of brakes combined with the fact that they had probably been on the car for awhile but not driven on much.

The other bit we discovered was that the brake caliper bolts were rusted and frozen on the front calipers.  It was too late in the evening to run to a parts store and pick up replacements, so we finished the rear pads and rotors with the time we had left.  Once the front wheels had rotors on 'em, we put all 4 tires back on, rolled it into the garage, and called it a night.

Once the front calipers get the pins removed and de-rustified, I'll put the new hardware in and finish it up.  Just another snag in the progress we continually make on this car, but I'm glad we're doing it right.  I keep getting people asking if this car is for sale or how much I'd take for it or if I'll trade them cars.  I've come to the conclusion that, even if I added up all the money that has gone into it or if I did a "Kelly Blue Book" value on it that no sum of money would be enough to pry this car from me just yet.  When we started work on it, I was inheriting so many issues right off the bat... but the guesswork goes away when you've done the work.  Aside from all the blood, sweat, and tears that have gone into this car, it's very satisfying to drive something this FUN and to also know every corner of the car and what has been done.

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