Rear Disc Heat/dust Shield On A 1.9 Rear Axle

[mos 1]

Hi

 

last night i heard a horrible grinding noise underneath my car from one of the back wheels.

stopped at the side of the road to find out what the hell was going on,

thought the exhaust had fallen off at first, as it was that sort of noise.

had a look under the car at the rear and noticed the drivers side dust/heat shield (or what ever the hell it is?!) had fallen off, hope you guys know what i mean as i am not describing it too well

its the disc shaped metal plate that has a section missing where it goes around the caliper and it mounts on the the rear axle near the disc/calliper/hub.

well this had fallen off and manged to get itself jammed in between the disc and the wheel, rubbing on the wheel.

 

managed to prise it out and had a look to find out why it had just decided to fall off and check for serious damage.

fortunately no real damage, just a few marks on the back of the wheel and the plate/shield i discovered had basically just corroded around its mounting points come away and fallen into contact with the wheel.

i really do not feel the need to replace this part as i can't actually see it achieving a lot in reality to be honest and it looks like when i was working it out last night (with a torch in the dark with the wheel still in situ) that i would have to dislodge the bearing to replace it and i only replaced both bearings at the back 2 months ago.

lots of cars don't have this type of shield/plate etc and it does not seem to do them any harm, plus i have seen 205 1.9 gti's specfically running without them.

 

i am tempted just to rip the other side off so the car matches underneath (obessive i know)

or do you guys thing these shields are actually very necessary and therefore should i go to the effort/expense of replacing it and possibly the cost of a yet another bearing as the bearing trace is likely to come apart if i move the hub i would have thought.

 

thanks

 

mark

[niklas 1]

I wouldn't replace them, and I doubt they do much of a difference..

[pug_ham 245 3 Cars]

One of the first things I remove on a disc beam when I strip it to rebuild it.

 

I can't see any point them being there.

 

Graham.

[888rmb 6]

I think the theory is that they:

1) Stop stones and stuff flying up and hitting the disc

2) Keep some heat in the rear brakes

 

Somebody at Peugeot must of thought they were worth adding to the car.

 

You can probably throw them away and never have any issues though.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Most manufactures use the dust sheilds at the back for the reasons given, But I too don't bother with them, Let's more air to the brakes to cool them down

[mos 1]

i did not think they were necessary and certainly not worth the cost of a new rear wheel bearing if it came apart when replacing the shield

i think i will just whip the other one off so everything matches

and like miles says, with more air getting to both rear discs, it should make for cooler brakes.

 

thanks

 

mark

[pug_ham 245 3 Cars]

i did not think they were necessary and certainly not worth the cost of a new rear wheel bearing if it came apart when replacing the shield

There is no reason why the bearing needs to be touched to remove the heat shield, they are held on by three 5mm Allen key bolts (iirc) on the back of the radius arm. Only problem with thesei s they are often rounded off.

 

Graham.

[cybernck 403 1 Cars]

yeah i also hate them and remove them.

 

well if front brakes can work ok without them...

[mos 1]

There is no reason why the bearing needs to be touched to remove the heat shield, they are held on by three 5mm Allen key bolts (iirc) on the back of the radius arm. Only problem with thesei s they are often rounded off.

 

Graham.

 

 

thanks for that Graham,

i never looked properly to be honest

its just that when i had my head under the car in the rain at gone 10pm the other night (when the first one fell off) it looked like it would probably be a bearing off jobbie.

should make taking the other side off a lot easier!

 

thanks

 

Mark

 

 

yeah i also hate them and remove them.

 

well if front brakes can work ok without them...

 

exactly what i was thinking, never really saw the point of them

but i thought i better just check in case they had some obscure critical importance that had just passed me by!