On Tue, 1 Jul 2003, Cris Hemingway wrote:
> Has anyone on the list installed a residual pressure valve in their front
> brake hydraulic circuit to help keep the pads from floating off the
> calipers in hard turns? If so, I'd appreciate some info on what was used
> and the results achieved.
This problem as described is fairly common. My "solution" for an
autocrosser is to run the bearings fairly tight. This has two
repurcussions - first off, you don't get stupid tech questions about your
bearings (all the modern stuff comes with double roller sealed bearings
which are great 'till they exibit play in which case they are gone... the
problem is that the old style bearings cannot be set to the same precision
(for obvious reasons).) The second benefit is no brake pad kickback.
But nothing is "free", as they say. The resulting tight bearings won't
last very long unless you are very lucky. You could also adjust things
"tight-ish" before you autox and then lossen things up to the recommended
setup before you drive home (I've done that too). It helps to weld a nut
on the inside of the grease cap to help get the cap off everytime...
But as far as things not being free...
To wit, I have gotten a max. of 5k street driven miles with this (tight
bearing) setup, but I like to take my front end apart to check everything
fairly often. I've been running this way for about 7 or 8 years. I've been
through probably three sets of bearings in that time with a few outer
bearings' replacements thrown in. This is in at least 30 k miles. Not
cheap, but cheaper then shedding a wheel at speed (bad) or having to pump
twice everytime you come to a tight corner (not the "fast way" to drive).
I might also point out that you should make sure that the rear brakes are
adjusted properly. Otherwise, you might be chasing the wrong problem. I
have seen loose back brakes show up with lots of pedal travel, and that
can be quite unsettling at the wrong time!
All the above said - apparently the Brits have a solution in some form of
anti-kickback kit. I saw this discussed very recently on the FOT list.
Contact Jon Wood for details: wob@dandrade.freeserve.co.uk
He's a good dude.
Jon's message implied that there is a quality control problem with many of
the stock felt-seal (orignal type) grease seals (the felt is too thick).
This makes sense because if you see the pedal to the floor thing a lot,
you will notice that the bearings seem very loose when you go to check
them. Of course one fix for the seal problem is to convert to modern
lip-type seals - set 'em and forget 'em. But you still have to check the
bearings!!!
Anyway - you aren't alone with your problem, but try to make sure that all
the basics are covered before you spending a lot of money chasing the
problem away.
rml
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