Suzuki Club UK

I put this here because it reads over to other models esp Jimny etc
We have a low mileage Grand Vitara 1600 (55k) which passed mot the other week with only 1 minor advisory.
But I had had the front wheels off to clean up the pad carriers etc and noted that all the components were very corroded,one of the problems with low mileage cars is that components/bolts/nuts etc get very corroded and can end up with 'smaller' heads (across the flats) - with this car it looked like everything was still original but approaching 20 years old

Never throw anything away LOL - trying to remove the caliper mounting bracket/pad carrier - crumbly heads which were no longer 17mm - luckily I had a 21/32'' AF socket which is approx 16.6 mm across the flats and fitted on with a gentle tap - well corroded in as can be seen using the wooden batten undoing technique ,the other bolt I also used the 21/32'' socket but had to use the hammer on the T Bar technique (no room for batten)



Me using my half starved 90kg body on wooden batten



The Brake Disc I was expecting trouble with (heavily corroded on) but it popped straight off using the 2 x 13mm head bolts as extractors




The Banjo Bolt on the lower end of the flexy pipe was super crumbly and no longer 14mm across the flats,luckily I had a 1/4'' x 5/16'' Whitworth Ring Spanner (1/4'' Whit = 13.35 mm) left over from an earlier life working on Canberras and Hawker Hunters ,this spanner tapped onto the banjo bolt and hey presto it cracked off ok.

Forgot to say - that I have loads of other 'outside jobs' which have piled up during our non stop rains,I will have to prioritise them but will carry on with this job as and when I get the time.

The weather has been 'on and off' and have had to prioritise the nice days to garden jobs,but I did manage an hour on the brakes at the weekend.
Been a mixture of good and bad - the Apec Discs look good but was surprised that the Apec Red Pads were 'directional' with no proper fitting instructions in the box,the old pads (Delphi) were non directional,but I will work it out LOL.
The LH flexy hose did not fit (Blue Print) - not sure if the upper bracket is at the wrong angle or if the upper hose section is just too short (maybe a bit of both) but I only have a 2 day weather window this week so I bought another hose from Halfords (Pagid) which hopefully will fit ok.
As usual - a couple of parts from Frentech were incorrect but only small stuff - the bleed nipples are just a little short and the 2 caliper bolts are too long,I have ordered some bleed nips from Bigg Red and hopefully can reuse the caliper mounting bolts.
Hopefully make the most of 2 nice (forecast) days .

Finished off installing all the new parts on both sides today in wall to wall sunshine
The RH bleed nipple was absolutely crusted in by rust,the flats just crumbled with a ring spanner,so after cleaning up around it I hammered an E14 socket onto the bleed nip and then managed to crack it off ok
I will now have to wait a few days for the 2 new bleed nips to arrive before I can bleed the system and complete the job.

Bigg Red delivered my new bleed nips ultra quickly so I finished off the brakes yesterday afternoon on a lovely sunny/warm day
Mostly bled the system using a vacuum bleeder but finished off with a little pedal action when my OH got home from work.
I changed almost as many parts as easily available.





Not driven the old girl yet but hopefully over the weekend