Sunday, January 28, 2007

Rear disc brake conversion III

And after a whole day's work. It's up!! Mine was slightly faster as I didn't have to do the suspension. So it was ready at about 5 pm for a test drive!

Obviously on Andrew's ride, it looked very impressive as he has racing/sporty rims that shows off the conversion very well.



Mine on the other hand, was pretty much all covered up due to the wide spokes blocking the disc brakes from view.



After we refilled the brake fluid, we went for a test drive and tried emergency braking at speeds between 80 to 120 km/h, on both wet and dry tarmac. The effects was good and the car held straight when emergency brakes were applied. The effects of the ABS working on all 4 brake sets could be felt through the brake pedal.



Something of interest to note is that after the conversion, the rear wheel seems to be spaced further out by about 10 mm. Probably due to the additional space of the rotor between the axle and the drum brake. Initially, I was thinking of doing the 15 mm rear wheel spacer like Andrew, but now, it didn't really seem necessary. A bonus!



Finally, I did my tyre rotation and I also decided to do my wheel alignment with Kenny as well since I didn't do it before. He was kind enough to slot me in despite the full schedule. After his diagnosis, he confirmed my suspicion that Alliance Auto did not do any wheel alignment when they installed the TRD Sportivo Set. I can't believe a shop like Alliance Auto can lie about these things. Anyway, correct the left steer and he mentioned that there was inner tyre wear. The wheel alignment only cost me S$40.



And as for the finishing touch, Riverview did a diagnostic test to confirm that all the wheel sensors are working for the ABS to be effective. My foot brake was also tightened slightly to my prefered level. But this will not be as tight a my previous drum brake setting.

So now, my car is a step closer to the Toyota Wish 1.8 X Aerosports package.



Latest picture today. Actually, it still look very stock as all the recent enhancements are not visible. Oh well...

Cheers,

p.s. Incidentally, Kenny the BOSS also did his rear disc brake conversion with RED calipers yesterday. So now, Ah Lim, Justin, Andrew, Kenny and me are all on original Aerosports rear disc brakes. Allan and Raymond to follow soon. Perhaps we can form another rear disc brake club!

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