Hi guys

I've ordered a brake kit from Ed Miller last year in May with the C4 12" Front and the 11,6" rear pbr brake conversion. I've got an 350 GTA with the 9bolt rear end with the iron caliper setup.

After waiting 4 months for the parts because he didn't had all the parts (1st month) nor the time to send the parts (the other 3 months) I also have missing parts in my kit. I'm really pissed about that and he also doesn't respond to mails or phone calls. Good advice from me, DON'T buy any parts from flynbye.com. They were maybe ok years ago but now they are my US commerce nightmare. I order parts for thousands of dollars every year in the states and never had such a bad experience with a shop...

My problem is that I mounted the backing plates to the axle but the caliper doesn't center over the disc. I used some shims between the backing plate and the caliper carrier I had laying around but I can't use them as the caliper isn't perfectly centered. At least they don't touch each other but I'm not feeling well about that. On the e-shop of flynbye.com I saw that with the backing plates normally a set of shimms with different thickness is provided. They are missing as well as the hard line bracket for the driver side and the banjo bolts for the calipers.

I'm absolutely frustrated. I've ordered the parts in May 2012 because one of the rear calipers were leaking. I couldn't drive the car since then and now I can't mount everything. It's my friday driver car where I went working alone because my wife is at home with the kids. Because I can't use the TA I have to use the family car and my wife couldn't do anything because we are living in a area without trains etc.

I've searched alot in the forums and didn't found much about this issue. Some guys are saying that for the 9bolt it is not necessary to have the shims, in another thread I've read that the guy had to use shims. I'm totally confused and clueless right now. I've spent $2000 (inkl. shipping) and I don't want to order parts to try it out. Shipping to Switzerland is really crap and quite often the shipping is more expensive than the part itself.

Will the shim kit from http://www.andyz28.com/catalog.htm solve my issue? Again another $55 for missing parts I don't receive but I'm glad to order it from there.
Do someone know a place to buy washers/shims in different thickness?

I tried to get them here but It's really hard to find and if you do they want to sell you a 2000pc kit but I only need maybe 8 washers...

That's the saddest part here in Switzerland. We don't have any shops left where you could get car hardware/parts. The two I know here in my area do not have the banjo bolts nor shims etc. like that. It's real pita.


Hopefully you have some advice for me.

 

The C4 12" front brakes are a joke. I have driven 2 vettes with them and they both sucked! I can't get rid of a set of them off my 90 vette they are considered that bad. I upgraded to J55 13" brakes and made a big difference.

 

Since the caliper slides, perfectly centering the caliper over the rotor probably isn't necessary--though, because I'm a bit ****, I'd get it as close as possible. Note in the following link (post #2) that I only used 1 of 4 shims purchased from AndyZ28.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/faq-...iscs-89-a.html

Apparently shims were used on the 10-bolt at the factory, but not the 9-bolt.

JamesC

 

Most of these kits will need shims because the machining tolerances on the spindle or rear parts are off. I've had to use shims on one side and none on the other B4. Normal. Shim stock assortments can be purchaced most anyplace here, its a pain but.

10 bolt axles (C-clip play) have more movement than the 9bolt axles do (pressed on axle bearings/ no C-clips).

You only need to get the caliper carrier centered over the rotor/axle movement.
The PBR caliper slides and is self centering.

 

Do you have the ability to measure how thick of shims you need?

If you have an industrial supply store they should be able to help you. I use McMaster Carr for shims but I don't believe they ship internationally anymore. If you can get the dimensions I would be happy to order a set and send to you.

John

 

Thanks a lot for your help guys!

@ John, thanks for your offer. I have to organize a feeler gauge (right word?) to meassure it. I'm using a 1,5mm shim between carrier and the backing plate. With that the inner side of the carrier is nearer to the disc. I'm a little bit concerned about the axle play. The 9bolts shouldn't have much play but a little bit is possible and then it could be that the disc rubs on the carrier. The issue is getting M12 shims which are only 1mm thick or even less. I was already in 8 stores where they sell hardware stuff like that. I've found 2,5mm/2mm/1,5m shims but no thinner ones.

For uncommon parts like that Switzerland is a pain to organize them. Of course you will get such alignment shims in the industry but you need to know where to ask. Internet was not helpful with that.

@ JamesC, I'm like you. I want to have it pretty close. Even if it is not necessary it gives me a better feeling doing as much as possible to align everything right. I want to enjoy my car and that for a long time :-)

@ Jeff, I don't have many options. In Switzerland you need for every part you change on the car a certificate with a proof that this part is allowed to use on this car etc. Without that you are illegal and if something happens you're the donkey. We have lots of police checks on the streets where they check if all the parts are noted in your cars paper. on my Alfas I have 4 A5 sites full witch changes which have to be authorized and checked by the states car authority. This C4 brake kit looks completely stock, especially compared to the newer F-Bodies! I mean there was not a big difference in the price of the C4 kit to a 14" CTS-V for GM 3rd gen F body Kit.

It's even so complex that we export cars to Germany. Do the tuning on it, let it go through the german TÜV which is easy compared to switzerland. With the approved tuning we import the car back to switzerland. This time, because the car doesn't exist like this in Switzerland you will get an exception and the car will be allowed in Switzerland. Only the exhaust and the smog test have to comply to the general rules like 75db passing or a mandatory CAT. This will cost maybe 10-12 thousand Swiss francs but it's still 4 times cheaper like that than doing the certification in Switzerland! I hope you got the impression how awkward it is to tune your car in Switzerland. ;-)

My car is an import from California. Because of that in my car paper the values for PS and Torque etc. were missing. Because of that I can setup my bird with a 900PS 350ci V8 and they are fine :-) Sadly the cui is in the paper so I can't go officially with a stroker set. Of course this part is so hidden I will risk it in the future and build a 383. But that comes maybe next year. This year all the suspension (airride) will be overhauled and "pimped" :-)

I will try to find the matching shims or otherwise come back. Actually I still hope Ed will respond to me and send me the missing parts. Even the bolts for the rear calipers were missing. I had to organize them here. I'm normally not an *******-customer but I've paid a lot and expect therefore that everything is complete. $2000 is a lot of money even in Switzerland where the price niveau is way off...

 

A feeler gauge should work just fine. Like you I would try to get them as close to centered as possible.

I can get 12mm inside diameter / 18mm outside diameter stainless steel shims in the following thicknesses:

0.1mm
0.2mm
0.3mm
0.5mm
1.0mm
1.5mm
2.0mm

The cost is around US $8 for a package of $25, plus of course the shipping to Switzerland, which I have no idea how much that would cost.

John

 

@ John
You're right. McMaster Carr will only ship to established customers outside of US. However they will not allow to become an established customer if you can't order something. The shop is really cool and exactly everything I would need is available :-)

Could you help me as offered?

I have ordered the following in the attachment
It's about $34.25. I asked them if its possible to use my credit card to pay it and to send it to an address in the US. They said something like no, not possible because the final destination will be outside of US... *******. I can transfer the money to your account + the shipping. I work on a bank :-) So no issues with that ;-) I really appreciate your offer! Please PM me if it is ok.

Regards
Andi

 

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