Urgent help needed with rear brakes on Mk1 MX5

[phat_phil1987]

Hi all. replaced rear pads and discs on my mk1 MX5 today. however when rewinding the piston using the allen bolt in the back of the caliper the allen bolt on both sides came out of the caliper. i attempted to refit one of them but this only resulted in the end of the splines on the allen bolt being stripped off. a mate from my work has done these before but said the allen bolt did not come out. the car now has no handbrake at all but the brakes are working ok. the bolt on the second caliper has not been damaged but i do not want to attempt refitting it in case it also gets damaged. has anyone had this problem? any help will be very much appceated.

[covmutley]

When i did mine one of the adjuster bolts fell out but it was just a case of pushing it back in. I did read they shred pretty easily but i think you can buy replacements from mx5parts.

If you need to get it adjusted can you just use the bolt that isnt shredded? It took me a while to get the handbrake right- theres a lot of info on here and nutz about adjusting handbrake.

[GravelBen]

You can hacksaw off the stripped part of the grub screw then push it back in to re-use, they're easy enough to slide in and out - make sure you push it right in before turning. However it may be that the adjuster or piston has seized as mine did, in my case the solution was to buy a reconditioned caliper.

[skinny]

mine sometimes fall out when they get stuck to the allen key - never had a problem just popping them back in tho? can you use the not-broken one to adjust up the other side?

[anonymous-user]

When you're setting the handbrake up you will need to loosen the cable at the handle end also (just remove the plastic transmission tunnel cover to get at it) - slacken this linkage off then adjust the rear brakes up using the allen bolt thing so that the brakes are just starting to bind, then loosen it off a tiny bit (IIRC about 1/4 or 1/2 a turn) then lock the allen bolts using their cover screws. Then tighten up the cable at the handbrake lever end so you're getting 3 or 4 clicks before it's tight. All being well this should give you a nicely working handbrake with just a few clicks on the ratchet.

The allen bolt things fell out of my car's rear calipers also, I just pushed them back in.

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 18th October 17:01

[bluetone]

Tip tip: don't use the handbrake for parking, just leave the car in-gear instead. Personally I only ever use my parking brake for hill starts and when jacking the car; less grief from the (notoriously problematic) rear brakes as a result..

HTH

Edited by bluetone on Wednesday 21st October 07:17

[TwistingMyMelon]

Good tip, I never use the handbrake on my 5, aprt from hill starts or jacking.

I always leave any car in gear as its always safer than a handbrake, shame my misses, never checks so has twice driven her car into our garage door and blamed me for leaving it gear!!!

[skinny]

i've never had any probs with my handbrake, as long as it's adjusted up properly it works fine