nice how to i quite like the idea of removing the shelds's saves the buildup of c**p that normally chooses to rest there , but have to do the same.

Jon

As Jon says it helps to keep the build up of dirt down and is more astheticaly pleasing But for me I've done it as in the early days of off roading Shaky I used to get alot of stones caught between the dust guard and the discs resulting in the loud squeeking noise and ultimatly a buggered disc This happened so often to both me and my m8 with his LR that I just roughly hacked the dust cover from off of Shaky to cure the problem But with snowy decided to buy the Bits4Vits bearing tool and do the job properly on Snowy

Little steps @ the mo but was very satisfying to get some jobs done

Here are some before and after photos

Before


After

Before


After

Im probably wrong but i thaught you couldnt fully remove those guards becuase they held in some bearings or something? I cant remember fully.

You're not wrong Jamie This is why I have cut out, painted and replaced the important bit of the dust guards

I thought they where heat shields not dust shields? If you look at the track rod end the rubber boot is very close to the disk . I accept that your not gonna get them hot enough on our mud pluggers but with lots of road use i could see them perishing.
Nice pics mate!

aaah i see now...

Nice work and nice cleanup on the undercarriage. Yours seems cleaner than most I see from the UK. When I see the undercarriages of many your British Vits, I feel sorry for you guys. They are all so very rusty. We occasionally see a badly rusted Vit here in the US but most like very they are in very good condition even if they are setting in junkyards. ( I think you call them breakers) Our roads are salted when there is snow on the roads but your Vits seem so much worse. What is causing it? Weather, sea air, paint quality lack of garages or car washes. Sorry I don't mean to get this tread off topic but I was just curious.

Everything except the carwashes!

the undersides of most cars in the ukwill stay damp for 6 months of the year due to weather. Add salt, road grime that isn't cleaned off, mud and Suzuki's legendary build quality and it doesn't take long for a tinworm infestation to take hold.

Steve

i think i'll have to add it to my todo list , all you need to do now is fit some vented disks from a lwb

"Am I asking an obvious question now, but why remove the dustshields."


me asking as well

mud and diesel said:

Mmmmmm..........

After reading your thoughts I had a good search through CarBibles, Wiki, Google, Mr Haynes and the Suzuki Vitara service manuel but can only find the Guard refered to as a Dust Guard and have found no mention during my readings of the Guard providing any form of Heat Shielding as part of its function So in conclusion I'm happy that its function is that of just Guarding other metalic components from the corrosive nature of brake dust

I then payed some thought to your comment about the proximity of the track rod end rubber boot to the disc Apart from the fact that as you say the Vitara is not a sports car and so the brakes should not ever really be very very very hot After some cosideration on the matter I feel that there should be no perceivable increased risk of premature failiure of the rubber boot due to its proximity to the disc now that the Dust Guard has been removed as I feel that the rubber boot is made from the same type of rubber that the belows on the brake caliper sliders are made from and they don't appear to suffer from premature ageing even though they are in direct contact with the potentialy hot braking components

Thanks for the thought prevoking comments though I didn't really know the answer until you pushed me to have a look and a think and I'm pleased I did

PS - I'm pleased you liked me photos, thank you

mightymini-5 said:


jon.g1 said:


sae70 wrote: