AP 300mm Rear Brake upgrade

[Matthew Poxon]

Good afternoon gents.

The rear brakes on my Griff are in need of replacement, I have completely worn out on of my rear pads and I now have metal on metal. As such i need to replace the pads and discs, I believe the rear discs are original anyway as they are quite heavily corroded on the outside so ideally need replacement anyway.

I already have the Alcon 4pot upgrade on the front of my Griff which I really like and fits under the 15" wheel. I am thinking as I need to replace the rear pads and discs anyway I could go for a cheeky upgrade. I am looking at the Reyland 300mm AP rotor upgrade keeping the existing callipers which I will probably look to get refurbished. Does anyone have any experience or opinions on the upgrade? It will apparently fit inside an OE 16" Estoril wheel:

http://www.reyland.co.uk/tvr/

[Matthew Poxon]

I am working on the basis that I replaced the front brakes with 4pot callipers and bigger discs so I have increased the front braking power so a minor upgrade to the rear should keep it balanced.

What situations do you use a manual brake balancer, it is something that you set and leave or is it something that you would adjust depending on a circuit?

[Matthew Poxon]

Thanks for the feedback Rob, it certainly looks like you put more thought into the upgrade than me, loving the calculations.

The bell looks slightly bigger on the Reyland kit so I am wondering whether that will resolve the pads not sweeping the whole rotor minor issue.

Did you have these running with Estorils or was the kit fitted after you had the Compotive MO6s? (correct me if I am wrong) fitted?

[Matthew Poxon]

I did contact Martin and he did say he thought they would fit. I have 295mm discs inside the front 15" estorils so I would imagine 300mm would fit nicely inside 16". Good to hear you are looking at the same kit and have measured it, that was the next step for me so you have saved me a job.

[Matthew Poxon]

Thanks for the feedback Gary. Good to hear you are happy with it. The rotor is definitely AP, and possibly the bell. The brackets are billet items made by Reyland and as you have mentioned the kit uses the OE calipers (4x4 cossie iirc)

Having seen the way Howard drives on the sprint courses I can see how he would have found the limits. As long as the brake balance is roughly right I think it will be fine for my modest needs.

[Matthew Poxon]

Just ordered this kit from Martin at Reyland if anyone else is interested might be worth getting in soon as the price of the kit is due to increase from £425 to £450.

[Matthew Poxon]

Hello Frank, good shout on the Sagaris discs, nice solution being an OE part from another TVR as those parts should always be available. The result is very similar to what I am about to do with mine so many thanks for the feedback. The 2 part discs are certainly a Brucey bonus.

I am going to get my rear callipers refurbished at the same time as I believe one of them is sticking and they are original anyway so probably in need of some attention.

[Matthew Poxon]

V8Bart said:

Evening Matthew ,
I have the later tvr calipers on the front (Tuscan/t350) and large 2 piece with original calipers rear.
Works a treat, but you have to think along the lines of better front than rear for a nice balance. I've never need to adjust the bias.

Hope that makes sense, I'm down the pub lol

Good evening Ian, hope you well.

I looked into the later TVR (Tuscan / T350) callipers which are TVR branded AP CP6600s iirc, I even bought an extra pair of 16" Estorils so I could fit them under the front wheels but went for the Alcon kit in the end which is similar but slightly smaller to fit inside the 15" wheels. I did really like the idea of the TVR logo callipers though as they look quality.

Good to hear you also have good experiences with the larger rear kit when used with a front upgrade. Thanks for the feedback.

[Matthew Poxon]

hansdaal said:

Hallo Matthew,

I sold quite a few rear 300 mm set-up for the Griffith and Chimaera. But if possible I would go for a 20 mm thick discs.
According to the add Reyland supplies 22mm and this is a very (too) tight (IMHO) fit within the caliper which is made for a 20 mm disc.


Regards Hans.

PS Still have a 300 mm xc 28 front disc with AP/TVR branded calipers for sale ( see claasifieds)

Hallo Hans,

I didn't realise you did a rear upgrade otherwise I would have given you a shout. I ordered the Reyland kit last week. Interesting about the 22mm vs 20mm disc I will keep an eye on that.

All the best Matthew

[Matthew Poxon]

Andyhebb said:

Fitted the reyland kit under the OE 16" Estoril wheel on the rear in combination with one of Hans's AP kits on the front a few years ago.
Both fit and work extremely well, I did not need to adjust the brake bias. One unexpected bonus of the the rear kit was the handbrake was much improved

Perfect, thanks Andy, I was pretty sure it would fit but had a nagging doubt as everyone else that has fitted the kit seems to have larger aftermarket wheels already. Thanks for confirming they fit under the OE 16" Estoril.

Happy days on the handbrake, mine has always been very poor so any improvement in that area is welcomed.

[Matthew Poxon]

Update on this. Rear discs fitted....


Rear pads indicating clearly something not quite right with the callipers as one side is clearly applying more pressure than the other.


Callipers have been sent off to Jody at Python racing for a full refurb.

[Matthew Poxon]

Andav469 said:

I am also making this change over the winter, still not decided on black or silver centre, how much of it do you see with the wheel in place, would you mind offering up the wheel and taking a pic please

Car is in my friend's workshop at the mo, I'll grab a pic next time I am there.

[Matthew Poxon]

Here is a pic of the silver one for comparison but like you say not that useful without the wheel.

I went black purely as it will look less dirty over time and I am not much of a polisher. The brakes will keep the disc clean for me

[Matthew Poxon]

Andav469 said:

I agree on the black, even if you don't mind regular cleaning.

I just don't want a huge black (or silver come to that) flat slab showing through the wheel

I know what you mean but for me it was better than the alternative that I have seen on another TVRs where they used a standard 300mm disc on the rear and the smaller rear pad only makes contact with half of it so the inner half of the radius goes rusty.

[Matthew Poxon]

Ferrodo DS2500 pads, they say racing but they are not really track focused pads more fast road. I have tried various racing pads in the past and they have been awful, most need heat in them to work properly and therefore no good for road use. Ferrodo and Mintex I have had good experiences with. It is primarily a road car after all.

The silver bolts will certainly blend in better with the silver bells, mine will get dirty soon enough though!

[Matthew Poxon]

As some of the parts for our cars have now become quite scarce, I have become a bit paranoid about putting parts in the post just incase they get lost. The Granada Cosworth 4x4 brakes TVR used on the rear of the Griff 500s are very difficult to get hold of now and are rather expensive to replace.

Rather than risk sending them to one of the usual companies that specialise in brake calliper refurbishment I opted to use a TVR local specialist with experience in this area. I picked up my callipers from Jody at Python Racing last week, I had asked him to match as closely as possible the original grey finish on Alcon 4 pot brakes I have fitted to the front.

Very impressed with the service and the end result.

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