Allen Hefner:
This is cool, but I have never experienced
such a difference in brakepad wear from
side to side as "lister" mentioned, without
having the car obviously pulling to one
side. The difference in his side to side wear is simply horrendous in
extent for
the vehice not to be pulling.
First thing I thought of after reading his
message was he'd recently purchased
the car and the guy before him has simply
replaced the right side, without replacing
the left, at an earlier point in time prior
to selling this car to the present owner!
While a "flulidics" engineer I know would
fight you tooth and nail, I will not as I
realize there is a bit of truth to both
"worlds"! And I am sure there is in this
case.
>From the maintenance aspect, I could not
agree more. Not cleaning the pucks and
the world they inhabit when replacing the
pads is bad news indeed. This is also
the time to drain and replace fluid, as
well, obviously.
Thanks for taking the time to explain
your thinking and experience to me.
Regards,
Bob - '61 Frog
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From Ajhsys at aol.com
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 10:03:36 EDT
Subject: Re: Front disc brakes
To: PilotRob@webtv.net
Cc: spridgets@autox.team.net
In a message dated 6/18/01 11:00:41 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
PilotRob@webtv.net writes:
> Lines are always full of fluid, right? A
> "push" on this fluid should result in
> equal pressure? Evidently, it did for
> the the brake wear from side to side
> in apparently weird, the car did NOT
>
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Well, yes, it should, but in the real world the longer brake line will have
less pressure than the shorter line. This is due to microscopic air bubbles
in the fluid and the little bit of water that is attracted to the fluid as
soon as you open the container. The closest set of pads always wears more
than the rest, in every car. This does not necessarily mean the car will
pull to one side.
If a caliper piston is jammed, the car will probably pull. If the piston is
just sluggish (we saw this on Amy's Sprite when we went out there to rebuild
it) you may not notice it pulling. Your foot on the brake can move a
sluggish brake piston because it exerts a lot of pressure, but when you
disassemble the caliper to inspect it, you will be able to tell if the
pistons are OK or not. Attach an air hose to the brake line connection and
see how quickly the pistons move out.
(CAUTION! If you have never done this before, the pistons may come out with
a vengeance! Wear eye protection and cover the caliper with a heavy rag. If
you don't know what you are doing with brakes, leave the repair to a
professional.)
BTW, I did this on my car before I bought a compressor. I just used an 11
gal. air tank. It worked fine.
Once again, Safety Fast. As chuck suggested, the best fix is to rebuild both
calipers, paying attention to the condition of all 4 pistons, and also
replace the flex hoses at the same time. It is an easy repair and not
expensive.
Allen Hefner
SCCA Philly Region Rally Steward
'77 Midget
'92 Mitsubishi Expo LRV Sport
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