rear brake dust shields

Why remove them?

------------------
93 VTEC 4WS & TC (JDM)
"and on the seventh day, God created VTEC"

Because getting to the lower rear ball joints with them in place is a pain. Yes, I take the suspension apart that often sometimes. Also, it might help cooling, but the rear brakes don't really get over heated.

------------------
Billy
North Texas Prelude Owners Group
www.ntpog.org

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by 71dsp:
Because getting to the lower rear ball joints with them in place is a pain. Yes, I take the suspension apart that often sometimes. Also, it might help cooling, but the rear brakes don't really get over heated.

</font>

Click to expand...

billy, i will be taking mine off later this week...they don't do much but protect the rear side from debris and dust. nothing but added dead weight.

d

------------------
Resist, and you'll be overcome

i was thinking about taking mine off for a while. they are something like 2 lbs a piece. so if you are a serious racer then you can lose 4 lbs. in the rear, and by removing them the brakes are supposed to be able to cool much better, two reasons i decided against it.
1) they have to be torched and cut, they don't just bolt off

2) with them off there will be a lot of brake dust thats constantly building up on your wheels, and i didn't want that happeneing.

so for me it wasn't worth it, but if i was a track racer, or only took my car on the track, then i would do it.

HRC: dead weight??
eheh
that's a joke right??

man i could ad like 200lbs in ur trunk without telling u..and u wouldn't even know
ok

so the mere .5 lbs theese plates weight..lol

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Merlin1xx1:
i was thinking about taking mine off for a while. they are something like 2 lbs a piece. so if you are a serious racer then you can lose 4 lbs. in the rear, and by removing them the brakes are supposed to be able to cool much better, two reasons i decided against it.
1) they have to be torched and cut, they don't just bolt off

2) with them off there will be a lot of brake dust thats constantly building up on your wheels, and i didn't want that happeneing.

so for me it wasn't worth it, but if i was a track racer, or only took my car on the track, then i would do it.</font>

Click to expand...

Uhh....2 lbs each is kind of a stretch. They are perhaps 1/4 lb (at most) each. I know because I just removed mine, and they are just thin sheet metal.

They do just bolt off, as mine are sitting on the floor of my garage right now (I am debating on whether to reinstall them or not). You have to remove the rear hub to remove them without cutting them, though. There are just 4 bolts that hold them onto the spindle.

The dust shields don't affect any of the dust. The wheels are exposed to the brake dust whether or not the shield is there.

------------------
Billy
North Texas Prelude Owners Group
www.ntpog.org

Anyway, it seems that no one has done it. I suppose I could just do it and see what happens!!

I know a few people that have removed the front dust shields with no problems, so we will see about the rears.

The main thing I was worried about is debris getting caught up in there, and water getting splashed directly on the rotor (I won't be driving in the rain, though).

------------------
Billy
North Texas Prelude Owners Group
www.ntpog.org

well the 2 lbs was just what i'd heard, as i said, i didn't take them off. i also heard that if you wanted to bolt them off it took a lot more work than it was worth so i didn't want to mess with that either....but you can't be serious about the shields not affecting the dust, mine shields(granted i do have a 4th gen) are just filthy, but my wheels don't get much brake dust at all, it looks like they would though...maybe not, cool. keep us updated.

one thing i was thinking of. lets say you take them off, now you're driving and suddenly have to slam on the brakes, the brakes heat up, now you hit a puddle of water and the water can now splash all over the rotor and cool it very quickly, how easily is that going to warp the rotor?

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Merlin1xx1:
one thing i was thinking of. lets say you take them off, now you're driving and suddenly have to slam on the brakes, the brakes heat up, now you hit a puddle of water and the water can now splash all over the rotor and cool it very quickly, how easily is that going to warp the rotor?</font>

Click to expand...

It might warp the rotor depending on how hot the rotor is, but again, my car is going to be used for track racing only, so that really isn't much of a concern. Also, the rear rotors don't do much of the braking (less than 20%), so they don't heat up very much.

Oh well, I will just do it, and see what happens.

------------------
Billy
North Texas Prelude Owners Group
www.ntpog.org

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by 71dsp:

Oh well, I will just do it, and see what happens.
</font>

Click to expand...

It's the only way we learn these things.....trial and error.

------------------
93 VTEC 4WS & TC (JDM)
"and on the seventh day, God created VTEC"

HRC, what did you do to plug the hole in the firewall, and how did you unhook the cable from the accelerator? I want to take out my cruise too as I've replaced that switch already.

------------------
Flavour
98 Base, Black
I/H, pulleys, tb, p&p, cams
Tein HA's, LSD, strut bars
JUN flywheel, Mugen clutch
www.hondaprelude.to

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Flavour:
HRC, what did you do to plug the hole in the firewall, and how did you unhook the cable from the accelerator? I want to take out my cruise too as I've replaced that switch already.

</font>

Click to expand...

Flavour,

i haven't removed my cc unit under the hood yet so i can't tell you. i just used that as an example of something that's serving no purpose(in my case).

d


------------------
Resist, and you'll be overcome