Caterham Rear Brake Discs

 You have to remember that Caterham don't manufacture many parts. Their cars are made mainly out of bits that they have been buying from other manufacturers for years. The rear brakes are no different. The calliper is off a Ford Sierra, the hubs are seemingly from a racing car, and I've no idea where the discs are from, but they're not expensive.

The disks are bolted on to the back of the hub, but to make everything fit the heads of the bolts have been faced off and are very thin. You can change the discs, but it's tricky, and you might break something. Caterham would rather sell you a hub and a disk together and if you need to get the job finished quickly, or you're rich I would suggest that that's what you buy. If you're in cheapskate club with me, this is the procedure.

The hub nuts are done up tight, and the thread on the nearside is lefthanded. Loosen the hub nuts by half a turn while a friend or a piece of wood firmly presses the brake pedal. Then take the callipers off. Then undo the hub nuts and pull the hubs off the driveshafts.

You will find that there are 4 bolts behind each brake disc holding the disk to the hub. I successfully removed and re-used all 8 of them.

In this picture you can see the tool that I used. It's a single hex 14mm socket that has been ground flat on the end and very carefully deburred.

I applied heat to the bolts to disturb any threadlock and corrosion and I doused them in penetrating fluid and let them soak for 24 hours.

With the hub in a large vice I drove the modified socket onto the bolt heads with a hammer and undid them quite easily with a breaker bar.

Of course the bolt heads aren't really 14mm, so you also need to grind a 9/16 socket down flat to do the up again.

Richard "EBC D198" B