Anyway. Quick update on this. i'm going to write this assuming none of the above comments so it works better as a how-to
I did it at the weekend.
FTO Brake Calliper and Clio Disc Upgrade.
I used Renault Clio 172/182 (or just 2.0l) Disc brakes from a 2003 model (also the same brakes are used on lagunas and meganes)
I got the Mintex Drilled/Grooved, for the looks
(Total diameter is 280mm (so you know what to look for) about £60
I also got some Mitsubishi FTO GPX Callipers. (The GPX Callipers are the dual piston compared to the standard single pistons on all other FTO's) about £30 (Second Hand)
(I got a calliper refurb kit, £30 and some Red calliper paint £10 and refurbed and painted before installing) (since I had the opportunity)
I also got 4x Ebay Special 5mm Wheel Spacers (complete universals for 4x100, 5x100 5x108 ect) (the real cheap nasty ones,) about £5)
I got the Wheel Spacers as I was told the Clio disc brake sits further back (i.e towards the inside of the car) by 4mm than the Mitsubishi Callipers will hold.
I had a few bits of advice, as to how resolve this spacer issue. i.e shave 2mm off the Almera hub at the calliper mounting points and 2mm off the FTO Calliper carriers. ect
However I decided rather than (possibly) reduce the structural integrity of the parts, I would rather space the Disc out 5mm from the hub, and space the calliper out 1mm from the hub to get them to fit./... hence the wheel spacers. (I also wanted to space my wheels out wider anyway)
The idea was to fit the wheel spacers, between the hub and the disc brake, however they didn't fit inside the recess in the disc brake, so I went down to the local machining shop and paid an engineer to machine the spacers down. I'm guessing with them being universals that would fit a 5x114.3 fitment, they had a much wider diameter than some specific 4x100 would be and some 4x100 specific spacers are more likely to fit but I wouldn't like to guarantee that.
Once I had the spacers re-sized to fit snuggly inside the disc, I proceeded to test fit the parts before putting them on permanently.
The Clio discs fitted on the hub fine with the spacers, and the callipers fitted fine over the discs, ( with the spacers in place,) and my wheels fit over the callipers.
FYI the wheels are Rota Grid V's at 15inch and they fit fine. I cant say anything for the standard GTI Wheels.
Now out of interest the FTO GPX Calliper Carrier bolts which attach to the hub are 12mm diameter bore, where as the Almera calliper bolts are 11mm bore (don't quote me on the Almera size) , but what it means is the hole inside the Almera hub is too small for the FTO GPX calliper bolts.
I had to buy a 12mm metal drill bit, and enlargen the holes in the hub.
It was because of this permanent alteration that I test fitted everything first (test fitted the callipers with the 11mm Almera bolts that didn't fit, but held it pretty much in place)
The drilling of the holes itself was easy, but actually drilling them out central was nigh on impossible, and on both hubs I didn't manage to get the callipers to fit correctly first time, as the drilled holes didn't mate up with the calliper holes directly. I had to drill the hub holes out in an oval shape to get them to fit. (Use some logic at which ones to drill oblong so that under heavy braking all the force isn't sat only on one bolt).
Once I had done this I put all the parts on and spaced the callipers out by 1mm, to make the difference between the callipers and discs, to be 4mm from standard. (Out of interest, this turned out to be incorrect for me, and when I test drove the car, the brakes were binding, and once I removed the 1mm spacing for the callipers everything worked out fine. So I would recommend a 5mm difference personally)
Once I had put it all together I did notice that the outside edge of the disc, and the inside edge of the calliper were really close, and when I rotated the disc to make sure it fitted, it didn't properly. every one turn of the full wheel resulted in a part of the edge of the disc rubbing on the inside edge of the bridge of the calliper carrier as the disc wasn't absolutely central.
I took the wheel back off and these particular mintex disc, had 2 centring screw holes (along with the 4 stud holes) but the Almera doesn't support centring screws. The disc didn't also fit completely snuggly over the wheel studs. What I did to resolve this was to put the disc on, (loose), and put the wheel on, and tighten the wheel nut bolts until the wheel was just starting to get tight against the disc brake (i.e putting some friction to start to hold it in place.) I then rotated the wheel until it started to rub, rotated backwards 180degrees, then placed the rubber end of my hammer between the wheel and the disc (on the opposite side of the calliper) and pushing the disc towards the calliper. (having the wheel on loose enough for the wheel and disc to move slightly). I repeated this a few times until I was happy it was no longer going to rub.
I also bled the brakes and took it for a test drive, and had a very got a noticeable difference under foot. whether that is because of just having new pads or the better brakes I don't know. However what was of concern to me the whole time was putting on larger capacity callipers was going to create a spongy feel under foot, as is usual on cars when you install bigger brakes, and that I would have to install a larger master cylinder to compensate for this, however it turned out to not require this as the brake performance is excellent under foot.
I have recently upgraded my tyres to Toyo proxies, and with those tyres and these brakes, it takes a considerable amount of braking force for the wheels to actually lock up and cause the ABS to kick in. Which of course is a good thing.
I couldn't say how much of an improved braking experience I have had compared to just putting some new good pads on Almera callipers and discs, however if anything they look far better with this upgrade, and I am very happy with how much better it is now, than before I did all this work.
I will post some pictures up later, however the pictures aren't good enough to support a full how-to
