Maintenance

Scotland road trip is coming up, so some basic maintenance to hopefully keep the car happy.

Oil Change ~3.5k miles

I have had a very minor oil drip from the back of the sump since build, while it is not showing up as anything major on regular dip-stick tests, its a good opportunity for an early oil change and just measure how much is left in the engine.

Engine oil change showed I still had 5 litres of oil in the engine - so the drip really is negligible and I'm not worrying about it other than regular level checks.

Diff also checked for levels (as per maintenance schedule), sitting within the required 10mm below the filler, so no problems there.

Brakes Disc/Pad change

My brakes developed a shudder/judder seemingly coming from the front left when braking at high speed. Its not wheel balance and there was nothing obvious visually amiss with the discs or pads, although turning the wheel I could feel a ever so slightly tighter/pinch spot consistent with wider disc, or more pad material laid down at that point.

Best advice seems to point to an issue with a warped disc - which can be caused by any number of things including - stuck guide pins, manufacturing defects in the disc, bad running in on the pads (read driver error).

I have read its possible to correct by hard braking from speed followed by letting the brakes cool with the brakes off; however due to the lack of time until Scotland I decided to swap out the discs and pads

The discs that came out are not obviously warped, by visual inspection and holding up against each other. The pads a little worn asymmetrically - outside pad more than inboard, but again nothing obvious.

On re-assembly, checked the calliper guide pins were clean and very lightly greased them too.

Discs replaced with: Maxtorq vented, drilled & grooved

Pads replaced with:  Mintex 1144

(Spec on Maintenance Page)

I took the car out for a brief test, checking the pedal before moving to remove any slack in the wound back pistons. The above new combination of discs/pads feels excellent - as much bite and stopping power, even on running in/light braking, as the original setup. So happy with the upgrade so far.

Hopefully all set for the Highlands road trip...