Having put up with squealing front brakes on my MGBGTV8 for thirteen years and 180,000 miles, I finally decided to sort the matter out properly. Over those years I had experimented with all types of brake pads and brake discs and, whilst some combinations provided short-term relief, the dreaded squeal always returned. You will of course know that brakes were originally fitted with stainless steel anti-squeal shims but these have not been available for many years. Our local scrap yard no longer have any early SD1 Rovers which used the same caliper.

Recently I achieved reasonable success by making some shims out of 0.003" stainless steel but the material was just too thin, so the shims just twisted and broke up. I then found a local engineering concern where I could get them produced and obtained a quotation to have the shims made in 18swg stainless steel but found I would have to buy a minimum of 25 sets to pay for the tooling. These shims would bear a close resemblance to the original factory parts but with small differences to avoid copyright problems. At this point I contacted the V8 Register since before

After beginning the preparation of this note, I found a new product made by Lucas and supplied by Moss as an anti-squeal kit for the MGBV8 comprising self adhesive aluminium strips. They come as part numbers 3GP02, GBP240ASK and PNO26581. I have fitted a set and after 50 miles it seems to be working!

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Footnote: We sought the views of Roger Parker (V8 Green 4092) on these anti-squeal kits and he commented that he noted the use of self adhesive anti-squeal pads and can confirm they are widely available from most auto shops under various brand names on the packets. They have been introduced as a consequence of the non asbestos brake pads now in general use which tend to be noisier than the asbestos type. The adhesive pads, which are simply glued onto the rear of the brake pad, act as sound dampers and absorb vibration generated by the friction lining to disc contact that is the source of noise.

spending my money I would have liked to have found out whether the V8 Register has an existing source of shims from which I could buy a set to avoid bulk manufacture, or alternatively, whether there might be a demand for these parts from existing MGV8 owners if I did order a production batch.