As title really, I have some knackered backing plates on my rear discs, there are some being sold on ebay at circa £30 posted, but the seller hasn't specified if thats per plate or for both (and also isn't replying to my emails).

What are your opinions? I'm super skint (as always) so if its not necessary then I'm happy to leave them off, alternatively if they are needed I'll need to shop around, because I'm not prepared to spend over £60 for a pair.
Ta in advance.

i'm with better on but not a problem if left off.

stops stones and things getting in, but also help trap stuff

I've voted to fit them to a hedgeback and don't worry about them. It makes your discs easier to inspect, lessens the chance of getting a squealy pebble in there and you can spend the cash you've saved on cakes.

Cool, that's what I was hoping for. Maybe a potential upgrade at a later date if I encounter problems. Thanks

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Originally posted by owelly
I've voted to fit them to a hedgeback and don't worry about them. It makes your discs easier to inspect, lessens the chance of getting a squealy pebble in there and you can spend the cash you've saved on cakes.

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They're not fitted on a lot of tin-tops these days. Leave them off.

adrian

Brilliant, money and weight saving. I love this place! Cheers everyone!

I think I remember seeing vented ones for cossie rally cars (to help cooling but stop the gravel getting in there)
and the old landrovers have them on the fronts (drums on the rear)

but both of those vehicles are designed to deal with mud/gravel.......

If they were that vital they would have back plates and front plates, or do stones only try to sneak up on discs from one side?

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Originally posted by Dusty
If they were that vital they would have back plates and front plates, or do stones only try to sneak up on discs from one side?

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Plenty stuff has them front & rear, so long as it's just a tin shield & doesnt hold anything of importance i would'nt worry.
If it's got a drum type handbrake built into the disc then the backplate may be there to hold the shoes & I'd make sure that bit is sound.
And yes, think cakes!

The reason they are fitted is to stop road spray getting on to the disc in wet conditions.

The story goes spray shields were first employed by Girling in conjunction with Rootes engineers in the late 1950s.

Durring the development of the Hillman Minx based Sunbeam Alpine. Rootes had tried brake calipers from both Lockheed and Girling but had run up against an excessive pad wear problem. They found that during wet weather testing pad wear was occurring at about 4 times the rate of wear in the dry, when spray shields were fitted the problem disapeared. As a result Girling were awarded the contract for the braking system on the Alpine, although Lockheed got the contract for the other models in the range.


A second advantage that later became apparent that only occurs during long motorway journeys in very wet conditions where it can many miles between applications of the brakes. In these conditions a thin film of oily traffic film can build up on the surface of the disc which takes a heart stopping split second for the brake pad to bight through and grip the disc.

On modern cars with wide wheels which have a lot of negative offset the brake disc is much better shielded from road spray by the wheel itself so the spray shields are now omitted from many models.



[Edited on 31/3/10 by britishtrident]

Brill, thanks everyone.

quote:

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Originally posted by britishtrident
The reason they are fitted is to stop road spray getting on to the disc in wet conditions.

The story goes spray shields were first employed by Girling in conjunction with Rootes engineers in the late 1950s.

Durring the development of the Hillman Minx based Sunbeam Alpine. Rootes had tried brake calipers from both Lockheed and Girling but had run up against an excessive pad wear problem. They found that during wet weather testing pad wear was occurring at about 4 times the rate of wear in the dry, when spray shields were fitted the problem disapeared. As a result Girling were awarded the contract for the braking system on the Alpine, although Lockheed got the contract for the other models in the range.


A second advantage that later became apparent that only occurs during long motorway journeys in very wet conditions where it can many miles between applications of the brakes. In these conditions a thin film of oily traffic film can build up on the surface of the disc which takes a heart stopping split second for the brake pad to bight through and grip the disc.

On modern cars with wide wheels which have a lot of negative offset the brake disc is much better shielded from road spray by the wheel itself so the spray shields are now omitted from many models.



[Edited on 31/3/10 by britishtrident]

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quote:

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Originally posted by Daddylonglegs

quote:

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Originally posted by britishtrident
The reason they are fitted is to stop road spray getting on to the disc in wet conditions.

The story goes spray shields were first employed by Girling in conjunction with Rootes engineers in the late 1950s.

Durring the development of the Hillman Minx based Sunbeam Alpine. Rootes had tried brake calipers from both Lockheed and Girling but had run up against an excessive pad wear problem. They found that during wet weather testing pad wear was occurring at about 4 times the rate of wear in the dry, when spray shields were fitted the problem disapeared. As a result Girling were awarded the contract for the braking system on the Alpine, although Lockheed got the contract for the other models in the range.


A second advantage that later became apparent that only occurs during long motorway journeys in very wet conditions where it can many miles between applications of the brakes. In these conditions a thin film of oily traffic film can build up on the surface of the disc which takes a heart stopping split second for the brake pad to bight through and grip the disc.

On modern cars with wide wheels which have a lot of negative offset the brake disc is much better shielded from road spray by the wheel itself so the spray shields are now omitted from many models.



[Edited on 31/3/10 by britishtrident]

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Now THAT is what I call an answer

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