My 360R in 2016 had reconditioned Ford calipers, unfortunately they started leaking in the winter of 2017. Caterham replaced them under warranty with new Caterham branded calipers, no problem I thought. But after the replacement the car developed a nasty rattle. It turns out the Delphi rear pads if fitted to the Caterham branded calipers need a little adjustment for a quiet life.

  • Delphi pad as supplied
  • Top modified anti rattle spring, bottom is as supplied

The problem comes from the shape of the anti rattle springs you can see from the photos of the Delphi pads (supplied if you have uprated front calipers). Even if you compare them to other Ford Sierra rear pads, the anti rattle spring has a turn down appearance. To solve the rattle I bent the anti rattle spring up, mirroring the shape on other pads. This isn’t a problem if you have standard front calipers, because an AP pad is supplied for the rear. I used pin punches to bend the springs while the pad was held in the workbench.

  • Copper slip applied
  • Pads seated in carrier

The manual (v1.2 and v2.0) advises to apply copper slip to the back of the pad. This only needs to be applied to the surface that’s going to touch the caliper, so for the back pad it’s the piston, and for the front pad the caliper forks. On both pads the edge where it touches the caliper can also do with a bit of copper slip. Make sure the pads are seated in the carrier properly or the caliper won’t fit over the pads.

  • Slim spanner to hold the slide pins
  • Check the pad pushes the anti rattle shim
  • Check minimal vertical movement

The bolts that hold the caliper onto the carrier sometimes have pre-applied thread loc, the Caterham supplied bolts didn’t, so I decided to apply some Loctite 243. Make sure the spanner you use to hold the slide pins isn’t wider that the pin itself; if it is, you wont be able to remove it after torquing up the caliper bolt.

Now check the pads aren’t going to rattle, so test for any vertical movement that shouldn’t be there, and check the back pad is pushing on the anti rattle shim.

Bending right-hand-side brake line

With the caliper fitted, it’s time to bend the brake line into the caliper on the right-hand-side. I used brake pipe bending pliers designed not to kink the brake line, but it’s possible by hand, just don’t kink the line. Once the brake lines are attached, I used a flare spanner to tighten them to the rear calipers.

Remember: before the handbrake is pulled (or even fitted) it is important to get the self-adjustment system working, by operating the caliper with the foot brake, i.e. with brake fluid.

If you have a horrible rattle from the rear when you go over bumps, that goes away when you brake, check your anti rattle spring shape on your rear pads, especially if you have Delphi pads in Caterham branded calipers.

Tool Used

  • Brake pipe bending pliers
  • Slim 15mm open ended spanner
  • 13mm combination spanner
  • 7/16” flare spanner
  • Some pin punches