Tin dust plates behind the disk

[Eddy77]

Non tech post here so bear with me. The thin tin plates that sit behind the brake disks on my car are properly corroded. I think they are dust shields??? Anyway, the front one was catching as I was driving along so I got out and prised it back (done this many times before on cars). Only it crumbled away this time as so rusty. The noise went away (hurrah) but do I need to bother about the fact that it’s corroded and broken. Or can i ignore and get it fixed at the next service? I never really understood the point of them anyway! Cheers!

Ps car only does 2k miles a year on sunny days so waiting until next service ain’t going to result in thousands of miles covered with broken shield.

 

[optimusprime]

Wont hurt till next service if it clear of the disc and brake lines .
Thes cost a few pounds to purchase .But the price is now are on the way down i can see .I used to make these 1000 at a time for Jaguar RR and Rover .Trouble is all the disc and caliper will need removing to get the new ones on .You pick a set of them up yourself and give them a good coat of Hamerite before the garage fit them,, or like me do it yourself .

 

[Eddy77]

Cheers! Useful information there. I’m not equipped to do it myself so it can wait until next service. Noted about the hammerite. I’ll buy them in advance, paint em up and then get them fitted at the next service: Cheers!!

 

[optimusprime]

Regards

 

[johnsco]

Cheap to buy - But a pig to fit !
One of the joys of running an older car.

 

[Stratman]

The point of them is to protect the disc from all the stuff that caused it to rust and disintegrate, ie water and salt to name just a couple.

 

[optimusprime]

I dont think they are cheap,, but i will say they are a pain as above .

 

[Abb]

I paid around £40 each for mine on the W202. Ended up cutting them in half and slotting them over the hub. Worth a read....

W203 Rear Brake Back Plate Renewal

 

[Petrol Pete]

Some cars require complete hub removal to fit these making it a massive job (sometimes impossible) for a DIY er. So do some research online, I have seen drawings online showing where to drill and cut the plates to fit without removing the hub. On many MB the (rotting) plate holds the spring for the rear handbrake, that can cause problems in itself. I have the same 'problem' on my run around Toyota Yaris, I have not got 'round to having a closer look at them yet. Lock down will force me into that no doubt.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Cheers! Useful information there. I’m not equipped to do it myself so it can wait until next service. Noted about the hammerite. I’ll buy them in advance, paint em up and then get them fitted at the next service: Cheers!!

Just check on what is involved in replacing them before you ask you garage to change them. If it is a hub off job you could be looking at the cost of new wheel bearings and a good few extra hours labour £££. Depends on model .

 

[Chrishazle]

The rear NS of my SLK had to have one replaced a little while ago after my "Wheel came off" incident, hub off, new wheel bearing required! Don't know the cost as garage did the repairs FOC as they'd forgotten to torque up the wheel bolts!

 

[Petrol Pete]

The rear NS of my SLK had to have one replaced a little while ago after my "Wheel came off" incident, hub off, new wheel bearing required! Don't know the cost as garage did the repairs FOC as they'd forgotten to torque up the wheel bolts!

Wheel came off !! Do tell ! No injuries I hope.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

The rear NS of my SLK had to have one replaced a little while ago after my "Wheel came off" incident, hub off, new wheel bearing required! Don't know the cost as garage did the repairs FOC as they'd forgotten to torque up the wheel bolts!

Reminds me of the time very many years ago that I was a passenger in the back of a mate’s car. Glancing out of the side window I spotted a wheel starting to pass us. I exclaimed, “Some poor bugger has lost a” Unable to finish the sentence as our car tilted over and ground to a halt!

 

[Chrishazle]

Wheel came off !! Do tell ! No injuries I hope.

Long story!

Bought the SLK 11/11 19, took it straight to my indie for inspection and service, he found a lot of problems, trader took the car back and fixed quite a few then delivered the car back to my indie.

£800 of service and repair later, collected the car late on Wednesday, straight into her garage until the Sunday. Drove 4 miles into Tenterden including a brief blast to 60+mph, then about another 4 miles towards Ashford on the fairly busy A28, doing about 35mph when back of car dropped and rear NS wheel undertook me and headed off up the pavement - luckily no-one on it at the time! Called our breakdown service (indie not answering his mobile phone!), a Good Samaritan stopped, taking pity on 2 OAP's standing in the cold, managed to get the emergency spare on and we drove slowly home.

Monday indie's mechanics came, put proper wheel back on car and took it to their garage - where it stayed for 4 1/2 frustrating and annoying weeks! All 4 rear control arms, brake discs, one cross member, dust shield (which meant wheel bearing as had to remove hub) and a set of bolts. Their apprentice had been tasked with checking the wheel bolts were greased and OK, had cracked all 5 on the rear NS, pulled 1 and found it greased already so spun it back in but did not torque them. Lied about it left right and centre, even tried saying one of the other mechanics had checked them - apprentice got fired.

Guess where my cars will NOT be going when they need service! Bloody annoying, I'd used him for about 4-5 years, and he's now a mile away at the bottom of our village, I'll insteaad have to go 8 miles to Ashford.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Many years ago I took my brand new motorcycle for its first new rear tyre. After leaving the tyre place I found the rear brake felt 'funny' , upon inspection I discovered that they had somehow managed to get both brake pads on one side of the rear disc !!! Needless to say I never went there again.

 

[Trickythemerc]

There are lots of reasons why wheel bolt/nut fitting procedures should be strictly followed, As a young apprentice one of the first things hammered into me by Jaguar was this, a wheel nut is either off or on and torqued up. When I ran a specialist classic car workshop knock on's had to be on and knocked up and double checked and signed off by the mechanic and the service manager before the car left the ramp. This measure was brought in after an a Lotus Elan nearly came to grief after someone just spun the spinner up hand tight, then took a break. He was going to knock it up when he came back.....????????????????

 

[Petrol Pete]

As above ^^^ I have shown many up and coming technicians (I was never an official trainer, but often new guys were put to work with me to learn certain procedures). I was the same , we knew at some part in the setting process we would be loosening the very same bolt we were tightening . I was often asked 'why did we tighten that bolt only to loosen it an hour later to facilitate an adjustment' my answer was always 'If by a stroke of luck the setting was bob on we would have no reason to go back to that bolt and it would remain loose ...unless we had tightened it an hour ago..'

One bolt (just 6mm) I Christened ''The Jesus bolt" (I believe it's an aviation term) if left loose tens of thousands of pounds of damage would be the result, not life and death like wheel bolts , but attention to detail is what saves lives/money.

 

[Dichtung]

If the rear shields are rotten, you cannot wait `until the next service` because rear shields usually support hand brake shoe mounting pins.

 

[JOHNO978]

This is a Job that has landed in my lap..Started off just doing the Rear brake shoes,ARB bushed and drop links..(still no sign of the ARB)..The discs looked worse for wear so decided to change them, when I got them off the Hand brake shoes on one side were all loose...the shield had rotted where the retaining spring holds it on...the other side was rusty but intact..obviously they have to be changed. I managed to get the Hub Nuts off no problem at all...but can I get the Hub out..no...I have a hub puller that I used on my w202 with no problems..but its not moving these at all...Ive soaked them as best I can with a Graphite spray the same as I did the Hub Nuts so I hope that this helps the same way...I have 12 weeks to sort it anyway...

 

[Petrol Pete]

Cutting the old ones off and cutting the new ones to fit is an option, it has been done before.There are templated out there on the www. You might be able to find one that suits you if you want to go down that route.