Is there any REAL benefit to those shields? Seems to me that leaving them off would improve brake cooling and reduce unsprung weight (by a little). I'll be using 914-6 rotors and 914-4 rear calipers.

for a street car, i'd say leave 'em on.
they help keeping dirt and rocks out of your brake pads/calipers ...

on a track/ax car, it depends ...
Andy

and....spraying/leaking oil off the brake parts...although we know that never happens!

QUOTE (SirAndy @ Mar 10 2005, 01:33 PM)

for a street car, i'd say leave 'em on. they help keeping dirt and rocks out of your brake pads/calipers ... on a track/ax car, it depends ... Andy

I've actually had them cause rocks to get stuck between the shield and the rotor. (not on a 914 though)

Put them in. There's a bracket that bolts to the shield. It fits between the caliper and the control arm. Without this bracket the venting clearance couldn't be adjusted properly on my 914-6. Once I got everything in place everything lined up perfectly.

Oh, good point. It's been a while since I took them off, and all the related parts are in a ziplock somewhere. It'll be a while before I put them back too.. right now I was just trying to figure out if I should bother bending them back to flat.

they'll help keep brake dust from getting all over your susp./tranny/eng./etc. etc.

QUOTE

right now I was just trying to figure out if I should bother bending them back to flat.

Flatten back to normal, powder coat them or paint them semi-gloss black, and put them back on. I even re-plated the brackets. It makes your rear suspension look very pretty and that's a gud thing.