Failed Brembo brackets

[Tim.]

Bought in a group buy on here so I’ve tagged a host of others who were involved and/or may be interested.

@NorthloopCup @masekwm @nellyscaff @Korky @notfastnotfurious @eon172 @Fat914 @Christopher. @MartinR @james alford @bloke @Warner172 @OssPoop @ACS_Motorsport

These were fitted about two and a half years ago and since then the Trophy has done about 8k miles.

I recently took it to Andy Reid (ARM Ltd) in Newbury for Geordie to change the box. Luckily for me while he had the car he put it up on the ramp, had a look around and spotted this:

In the last few days I’ve read a little about galvanic corrosion and different types of aluminium (I believe these were 7075) but it doesn’t change much - I’ve got a weekend in Wales coming up soon and I shudder to think what could have happened... it’s worth regularly checking their condition!

The original callipers are going back on for now while I weigh up the options. I don’t believe there’s a current supplier of brackets compatible with 280mm discs so the Brembos might be up for sale depending on their condition.

 

[NorthloopCup]

Whoah!! That’s not good mate!!! This is the reason they should’ve been hard anodised to help prevent issues like this!

When I looked into making a universal 280/300 bracket, that’s exactly what we were going to do to prevent potential issues like this arising.

 

[car.crash]

Glad you spottted this.
That would have been a horrendous fail.

 

[Clio_fool]

Not good that. At all. I could knock some up in steel instead but they will obviously have a weight penalty.

 

[McGherkin]

Differential metals. Nasty! Looks like you caught it in the nick of time.

 

[Rob]

Jesus that’s crazy!

You say about getting rid of the brembos... could just get someone to make up a new bracket, would only take a couple of hours in CAD and someone like @Knuckles to make them?

 

[NorthloopCup]

Not good that. At all. I could knock some up in steel instead but they will obviously have a weight penalty.

Get on it mate! Zinc plated and they’d be fine.

 

[Rob]

Not good that. At all. I could knock some up in steel instead but they will obviously have a weight penalty.

Or this chap!

I’d be going steel all the way, it’s gotta be like 1 kg net difference!

 

[MarcB]

This is one of the reason I paid more and went Pure Motorsport ones.

 

[NorthloopCup]

Or this chap!

I’d be going steel all the way, it’s gotta be like 1 kg net difference!

It’s not even worth worrying about in terms of weight mate as the conversion still makes it lighter than the oe calipers setup!

 

[Tim.]

Safety > weight

 

[Gus]

Good excuse to get the 300mm pure Motorsport mounts and 300mm scenic discs

 

[Krarl]

You need to stop parking the trophy in the canal @Tim [emoji23]

Nah but in all seriousness that's a proper close call! Are you running 280mm setup?

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[Tim.]

You need to stop parking the trophy in the canal @Tim [emoji23]

Nah but in all seriousness that's a proper close call! Are you running 280mm setup?

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I’m on the lookout for an alternative spot to keep the car!

It was the 280mm setup. I didn’t go for the PMS option as I don’t believe 300mm discs are compatible with 15s.

 

[Krarl]

I’m on the lookout for an alternative spot to keep the car!

It was the 280mm setup. I didn’t go for the PMS option as I don’t believe 300mm discs are compatible with 15s.

Yeah 280mm is as big as you can get under a 15" excluding an OZ F1.

I'm sure someone can knock up another set of brackets and this time not made from Brie lol

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[Clio_fool]

280 bracket is approx 420g on my kitchen scales in S275 steel.

 

[Clio_fool]

Yeah 280mm is as big as you can get under a 15" excluding an OZ F1.

I'm sure someone can knock up another set of brackets and this time not made from Brie lol

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?

 

[Louis]

View attachment 1406701?

Those are definitely Parmesan

 

[Clio_fool]

Those are definitely Parmesan

I only buy gouda. But I wouldn't waste it making caliper brackets?

 

[Krarl]

I only buy gouda. But I wouldn't waste it making caliper brackets[emoji23]

I've heard Red Leicester is pretty sturdy stuff

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[Clio_fool]

I've heard Red Leicester is pretty sturdy stuff

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That's what the caliper is made of??

 

[green]

I’ll be checking mine in the morning!

Thanks for sharing

 

[Clio_fool]

@Radugns care to provide some feedback please?

 

[Krarl]

That's what the caliper is made of[emoji23][emoji23]

And the gearboxes[emoji23][emoji23]

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[Christopher.]

Checked mine this morning. Iv got the 300mm version and their solid...

I'm still ordering the PMS version come payday !

 

[Radugns]

@Radugns care to provide some feedback please?

I am using the 300mm brackets from @OssPoop and since my Clio is a daily car, I drove it in rain and snow anytime.
The quality is just spot on, really just give them a coat of paint and install.
Very good and solid bracket, I will remove them this Spring and repaint them if something is not right.
The fitment is...just perfect? Smallest lip you could get.

Thanks,
Radu

 

[Clio_fool]

What's the torque setting for the caliper to bracket bolts? @Tim. @Radugns @NorthloopCup @green @Christopher. ?

 

[Radugns]

I just use 50nm and medium thread lock to be safe. Maybe a little to much, but nothing wrong.

 

[Usr117063]

Pms say 110nm for theirs

 

[Clio_fool]

81 Lbf then, f**king metric shyte! I'm having a play with the stress analysis in Inventor but it's confusing the hell out of me so far?.
Design is done and drawing printed out. I have some blocked up at work already and proved the stud fitment last week so I'll try to knock a set up this week.

 

[bozothenutter]

Checked mine this morning. Iv got the 300mm version and their solid...

I'm still ordering the PMS version come payday !

This has me wondering if the galvanic corrosion was caused because the calipers need milling?
They are either painted/powdercoated, or grey anodized from factory.
Removing that would expose the bare metal, and cause that damage exactly in that spot!

 

[NorthloopCup]

What's the torque setting for the caliper to bracket bolts? @Tim. @Radugns @NorthloopCup @green @Christopher. ?

I’m pretty sure they’re 120nm, but it was a long time ago that I had some off.

 

[Clio_fool]

This has me wondering if the galvanic corrosion was caused because the calipers need milling?
They are either painted/powdercoated, or grey anodized from factory.
Removing that would expose the bare metal, and cause that damage exactly in that spot!

I'm not sure that is galvanic corrosion an dI'm sure it's nothing to do with the caliper being machined. If you look at Tim's frist pic you can see where the caliper and bracket meet there is no damage, but in the third pic the bracket has broken apart. Looking at the group buy thread for those brackets I see that there was a bung in that side of the bracket which could be the cause if made from different material. However the gap between the caliper and bracket between the bolts seems to be full of corroded material, either it's full of crap or the bracket has suffered exfoliation corrosion. I'd be intrested to see if any others have corroded the same way as Tim's have. Could be his were dodgy material (doubtful really) or maybe pad dust has had a part to play depending on what pad material has been used. I'm sure these were made from 7075 aluminium which although aerospace grade sounds cool and is one of the strongest aluminium grades available its also not very corrosion resistant!
http://www.alfed.org.uk/files/Fact sheets/2-aluminium-and-corrosion.pdf

@Tim. Do you have the brackets? Would it be possible for you to send them to me so I can get our engineer at work to have a look and cast an opinion?

 

[Louis]

81 Lbf then, f**king metric shyte! I'm having a play with the stress analysis in Inventor but it's confusing the hell out of me so far?.
Design is done and drawing printed out. I have some blocked up at work already and proved the stud fitment last week so I'll try to knock a set up this week.
View attachment 1406766

If you have an STL send me it and I'll do some stress tests at work tomorrow on solidworks.

 

[Louis]

I'm not sure that is galvanic corrosion an dI'm sure it's nothing to do with the caliper being machined. If you look at Tim's frist pic you can see where the caliper and bracket meet there is no damage, but in the third pic the bracket has broken apart. Looking at the group buy thread for those brackets I see that there was a bung in that side of the bracket which could be the cause if made from different material. However the gap between the caliper and bracket between the bolts seems to be full of corroded material, either it's full of crap or the bracket has suffered exfoliation corrosion. I'd be intrested to see if any others have corroded the same way as Tim's have. Could be his were dodgy material (doubtful really) or maybe pad dust has had a part to play depending on what pad material has been used. I'm sure these were made from 7075 aluminium which although aerospace grade sounds cool and is one of the strongest aluminium grades available its also not very corrosion resistant!
http://www.alfed.org.uk/files/Fact sheets/2-aluminium-and-corrosion.pdf

@Tim. Do you have the brackets? Would it be possible for you to send them to me so I can get our engineer at work to have a look and cast an opinion?

I'm amazed they were ever sold in aluminium IMHO.

 

[NorthloopCup]

I'm amazed they were ever sold in aluminium IMHO.

I’m pretty sure the original Renault sport brackets were made from aluminium mate. These are just a copy of those.

 

[Clio_fool]

I'm amazed they were ever sold in aluminium IMHO.

They are basically a spacer though so not really stressed. Aluminium should be upto the job.

 

[Radugns]

I think only 5000 series prevent corrosion. But 7075 is not that bad at all. I use on brakes past and no problems. Imo they fail because of over tighten the bolts, that is how pressed aluminium looks like.

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

Glad it didn’t go horribly wrong for you!

This is what I always think about when people do the whole “get a set of calipers off eBay and then get brackets made to fit”. Were they done properly? Will they fail? Am I just paranoid? Apparently not.

 

[Louis]

I’m pretty sure the original Renault sport brackets were made from aluminium mate. These are just a copy of those.

Where they not anodised though mate?

They are basically a spacer though so not really stressed. Aluminium should be upto the job.

They brembos are bolted to the brackets, then the brackets to the hub, no?