My FF has got to the point that, when the brakes are hot after a run home on country roads at least 2 of them are making loud chafing noises against the backplates.
Obviously, it's rather embarrassing to drive home with car making loud grinding noises so I need to sort it. If I can't resecure the backplates, I'm thinking simply dremeling them off. Are there any disadvantages to this, bearing in mind that I don't off road this one?

Thanks,
Matt NW060

"Red Shed" - 1982 Series 3 88" County Station Wagon
"Spirit of Great Britain" - Rolls Royce Meteor V12 engine
ZG875 - Westland Sea King (cockpit section)
"Carly Rae Jeepsen" - 2006 Jeep Commander 5.7 Hemi
"Pride Of The Road" - 1/4-scale Marshall traction engine - sold
"Georgina" - 2000 Discovery 2 TD5 ES - sold
"Windsor" - 2005 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 - dead

No they aren't necessary, car will pass an mot without them.
Before you start cutting them I would investigate the fixing bolts, normal problem is the bolt holes in the plates have corroded with the result the bolts become ineffective.
Over-size repair washers usually cures the problem and allows the back-plates to be securely fixed for a few more years.

Suggest a dismantle first to find out what the problem is.

You don't say if they are the rears or the fronts?

If front ones, they have probably rusted through on any of the three bolt mounting points. Usually a juducious use of large washers is sufficient to hold them in place. I did a howto on this a while back: http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic18371.html

If brakes are hot, this suggests sticky calipers (front or rear), a well known problem. http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic31282.html

If rear ones, Noises possibly generated by the holding pins and springs for the handbrake pads pulling through the backplate and grinding around inside the "drum", along with misaligned handbrake pads. There are a couple of good fixes for this on the forum. http://www.fullfatrr.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=454, http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic31053....rear+brake .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
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I ran my td6 without the front back plates for 2 years with no problems

Hi chaps,

My apologies for the very late reply - in the last month, my new job and several abroad trips have kept me rather busy and I havent been out much in the RR due to sharing another car

I shall have a look to see if any bolts have obviously rusted through the backplates. I think the noise is from the front drivers side and rear passenger side, so a bit of both.

The brakes aren't rubbing, the wheels spin freely - by hot brakes, I mean as a result of "making progress" on the b-roads around where I live

If all this fails to cure it, I shall resort to removing the plates - as I am intending to upgrade soon to the bigger 5.0 brakes anyway, which I gather needs them trimming or removing

Thanks,
Matt NW060

"Red Shed" - 1982 Series 3 88" County Station Wagon
"Spirit of Great Britain" - Rolls Royce Meteor V12 engine
ZG875 - Westland Sea King (cockpit section)
"Carly Rae Jeepsen" - 2006 Jeep Commander 5.7 Hemi
"Pride Of The Road" - 1/4-scale Marshall traction engine - sold
"Georgina" - 2000 Discovery 2 TD5 ES - sold
"Windsor" - 2005 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 - dead

5.0 brakes won’t fit on your 05my car sir! 4 pot, 4.2 brakes will but the front calliper mounting holes won’t work with the 6 pot 5.0 brakes...

Your rear back plates hold your handbrake pins so cannot be removed!

Front back plates are there to stop anything entering your front brake system via the inside i.e. flicking off the road or tyres etc... They are obviously there for a reason and should have the fault rectified rather than removed imho

I think the front ones are more there as an arse covering thing by the manufacturer, I've never come across any ill effects on any car having them removed. I have seen a few cars where they've trapped grit against the disc though!

They're probably fitted because of some infinitely small possibility of some thing that the manufacturer might perceive happening. Water splashing onto the disc marginally reducing brake efficiency or something, but i've never noticed any difference on any car where they've been missing

A big washer should be fine to tighten them again. Although I cut them off my td6 when I had it, then was told about washers

Thanks guys,

Craig - good job you mentioned that! NW060

"Red Shed" - 1982 Series 3 88" County Station Wagon
"Spirit of Great Britain" - Rolls Royce Meteor V12 engine
ZG875 - Westland Sea King (cockpit section)
"Carly Rae Jeepsen" - 2006 Jeep Commander 5.7 Hemi
"Pride Of The Road" - 1/4-scale Marshall traction engine - sold
"Georgina" - 2000 Discovery 2 TD5 ES - sold
"Windsor" - 2005 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 - dead