Folks,

Firstly, it's long'ish - happy conclusion at the end with comments on the Metal Masters

Anyway, following (some of) my questions recently, I thought I post my experiences on doing the above jobs over the weekend. I realised just how much of a hack mechanic I am and that a MAF would be a DANGEROUS installation job in my hands

First the pads. Job seemed fairly easy. I managed to only break 3 of the wear sensors (yup! I saved one ). At the back of each, there's a plastic lip that holds the sensor in place. Well, in my case, there *were* ...
Spring plates are a pig to remove until you work it out. Brute force doesn't work; seems you have to push it in and down from the middle.

Next, the Bias valve. You'd think this was simple enough - least, I did. In honesty, it should be. Firstly, the brake line nut starting rounding (even with the correct 11mm socket). Anyway, managed to crack it with WD-40 and mole-grips. Valve itself came out easily enough fortunately and the new one went in. Then the fun really started - The brake pipe screw cross threaded on the way in and really got screwed. Ended up spending nearly 2 hours with a friend re-threading the screw and the valve bore with a stanley knife and a couple of tiny files. What a pig!

Once that was finished, we started the bleeding process (couldn't hook up the pressure bleeder since the tire pressure was too high - ask me how I know!). Plenty of air started coming out then fluid, then nothing. Verified the fluid level - it was around minimum. Refilled, started again - same thing happened. It took a little while to realise that fluid falling to the minimum level, although looking ok, starves the front part of the master cylinder of fluid. After that, job was easy. Oh, apart from one of the bleed screws getting almost rounded. Damn, these rounded screws are going to cost time to replace!

Anyway, brakes are now fantastic. Even though they're not run in, the Metal Masters make the PBR Deluxe pads I had on from last year seem positively cr*p and I wouldn't recommend them to an enemy frankly. Slowing from high speed with the Deluxe pads needed serious pressure and they needed to warm up extensively before working at all.

The brake pedal is also tighter now - the new fluid and the manual bleeding seems to have made a difference.

Since the pads are new, I can't hit the pedal *that* hard so can't judge fully the difference in the valves. Once the pads are bedded in, I'll let you know.

Finally, I spent a few hours Saturday evening painting the centre caps. Can't say they're perfect (I'm not that patient) but they are relatively good. FWIW, I used auto touch-up paints in the correct colours to do the job. I have to see if the paint lasts now ...

Anyway, hope this note points someone in the right direction if they are considering any of these jobs!