At 09:29 AM 3/4/2000 -0500, Gerry Brinkman wrote:
>In reference to the MGB's brake design in the wet.
>
>>The problem with the B is in heavy rain with water on the highway
(motorway) and if you travel for a good distance without using the brakes
they get wet and will not work for a couple of seconds until the water is
removed by contact.
>....
>Land-Rover used to intestinally use drums brakes all round to on their 90
series until fairly recently to try to eliminate this problem .... it
seemed to be the right decisions. The problem with drum brakes is that once
water does get it, it takes a looooong time to dry the shoes out.
I agree, and I agree. The drum brakes are less suseptible to wet splash,
but they also go nearly useless if they get flooded. I once drove an old
Ford Falcon van through high standing water, and afterward it took about
300 feet to stop from 30 MPH. For a while the brakes had absolutely no
stopping force whatsoever. I stood on the pedal as hard as I could, and
after another 200 feet or so of travel the brakes finally shuddered
violently and pulled it down to a stop, but they never did lock up the
wheels with the wet pavement. I guess those were the days of real
anti-lock brakes.
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
http://www.ntsource.com/~barneymg
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