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advice with brakes needed please

2K views 17 replies 6 participants last post by  David C 
#1 ·
Morning all.after some advice here I have a Alfa romeo 156 1.9 jtd on a 53 plate currently the front brakes are vented disc can I replace with solid disc hope so.as that's what I have brought please I hope some one can advise on this
Kind regards
Scotty
 
#2 ·
No you can't replace vented with solid and why on earth would you want to...!

BUT (and sorry again to state the obvious) are you 100% sure of what "vented" means?
 
#4 ·
They'd overheat even if you could fit them . It would only be right to fit non vented if you competed in short motorsport events where the pads would never reach best grip temperature on vented --- like sprint and hillclimb , as I compete in .
Perhaps you're meaning drilled or grooved or both ? Personally I'd leave drilled alone as under regular hard braking cracks can appear between holes and if this happens then the disc could fly apart stripping everything in it's wake ---- scary . I found the cracks in mine before they joined up thankfully .
 
#5 ·
Personally I'd leave drilled alone as under regular hard braking cracks can appear between holes and if this happens then the disc could fly apart stripping everything in it's wake ---- scary . I found the cracks in mine before they joined up thankfully .
Sounds more like bad / low quality discs? I got both drilled and grooved discs, 3 years down the line and they're completely fine. Guess you need to watch out for the no-name ebay brands, and instead go for tested high quality.
 
#6 ·
I have a pre 2000 1.8 156 with solid discs all round. Think they may need replacing soon, is it worth switching to vented, assuming they'll fit the calipers? I've heard you can get upgrade drilled/grooved discs for original calipers- is this true?
 
#8 ·
You can switch to the 284mm vented fronts, but you'll need the calipers to go with them.
Should be easy to find a s/h pair though, all 2.0TS/2.5v6/2.4JTD had them, it was only the early 1.6TS/1.8TS/1.9JTD8v that had the smaller solid fronts.

Drilled/grooved won't make much difference.
 
#7 ·
Brakes can be solid 1 plate or vented two plate. They can also have a flat, grooved or drilled surface, sometimes flat and grooved.

Solid discs are more prone to warping due to the heat generated under heavy braking. As a result,almost all modern front brakes are vented for heat dissipation. Perhaps some pictures will help, these are from AlfaWorkshop's site who sell both OEM (original equipment manufacturer[Alfa]) parts.

The rear discs are one solid piece as below:

http://www.alfaworkshop.co.uk/images/46542702-363-1-800.jpg

Front brakes should always be vented which means two discs with a space between them for cooling as below:

http://www.alfaworkshop.co.uk/images/1001006-98-1-800.jpg

Brake discs are often drilled or grooved or both. Standard Alfa items aren't, infact the consensus is that only grooved discs should be bought because drilled ones are prone to cracking. Brembo forge them with holes in which is supposed to resolve this issue but unless you drive regularly on a track, the larger surface area of flat discs dissipates heat just fine. These are drilled, grooved and vented:

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Alfa-Romeo-147-156-164-GT-Coupe-Front-Brake-Discs-Drilled-Grooved-90-10-GPX-888-/00/s/MTQ2MFgxNjAw/$(KGrHqVHJEwE-uYih-oKBP4JQ66-8w~~60_12.JPG

http://www.ebspares.co.uk/alfa156/more_alfa156.cfm?id=EB1

Calipers can be spaced to accommodate vented discs as required where alloy wheel clearance allows.

Hope that helps,
Nick
 
#18 ·
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