braking efficiency

So today, after 3 years of ownership, I had to do my first emergency stop. Twice in fact. Once when I was taking the apex of a round-a-bout and some idiot pulled out on me and the second time, 5 mins later when I was doing around 50 and again, someone pulled out on me from a side road. The second time I stamped on the brakes so hard I can still feel a twinge in my ankle!! But the car was really difficult to stop and it didn't lock up either. Now the (Pagid) brakes are in good condition and so are the discs. It's passed its MOT a month ago, so the braking system must be efficient enough to pass. I also know these things have a reputation for poor braking and my wife has commented as such when she's driven it and I've noticed it's not great. But it didn't lock up and i assumed it would. I didn't feel the ABS kick in either. (Actually, it started to lock a couple of times and backed off, so maybe it did).

Anyway, I stopped about an inch from the bloke and was grateful I wasn't going any faster.

Other than checking the condition of the brake fluid, would better pads like Green Stuff (or any others you may suggest) make a noticable improvement? It didn't pull to either side, so the brakes must be working with the same efficiency.

Any first thoughts?

thanks

Nick

Yep your right these cars don't have fantastic brakes as standard.
Since I added braided hoses and fitted a break servo bracket the brake pedal certainly seems better. If it reduces braking distances I don't know! but it does give a more confident feel.


:beer: :beer: Steve.

I have an f & a tf, the tf has the four pot brakes, the f standard, when I get from one to the other it's the first thing I notice; with one you stop, with the other you ponder, then decelerate. I won't fit the four pots to the f as it would mean leaving the original wheels behind & ruin its essence, however over the next month or so I'll be experimenting with the 280mm brake kit from Mgf Mania. If it's great you'll all know, & …......

What brakes do you have? sliding or four pots?

Even with my four pot brakes, this time of year it is difficult to lock up the front wheels, as the grip from decent summer tires on warm dry roads is pretty good.

However braking should still be good, but does need a firm push on the peddal.

As stevew says a servo brace will help firm up the peddle and mean it needs less distance to travel for same braking effort, but it will not improve the actual braking force (it will just feel better, maybe giving greater confidence) or reduce braking distance.

Braided hoses will have little benefit, if your existing hoses are in good condition (in fact cheaper braided hoses are worse than standard hoses). Again the best they will achive is a firming up of the peddal, and less peddal movement. They will not make the brakes work any better, just give a better "feel"!

Changing the pads to "green stuff" and other high performance pads can help, but they only generely work better if at a higher temp, such as when driving on a track. If you are normally heavy on the brakes then they might give a benefit. Some of the high spec ones will actually be a lot worse than standard pads at cold temperatures!

Best thing you can do to give optimum braking is to regularily service the brakes, clean them, and ensure pads are not sticking. Check disks are not scoring or have any vibration. Use quality pads and disks from reputable manufacturers, and stay away from e-bay specials! Dont forget rear brakes at the same time.

If you really want to improve the braking, then you need to consider "big brake kits", particularily for the rear if you already have AP front brakes.

That and make sure you have some decent tires fitted

The MOT is more concerned about even braking than stopping on a dime.

I have done the following:-
Servo brace.
New brake hoses.
Fresh brake fluid.
Decent brake pads.

Thanks all. I half expected a chorus of "buy Green Stuff pads" but didn't get it! So rather that waste over £100 replacing perfectly serviceable pads, I'll strip everything down, clean disks and pads in brake cleaner and clean and regrease the sliders and change the brake fluid as I've no idea when it was last done and see how that goes...

cheers,

NIck

Hi Nick
Like the majority of people here, I was also not that chuffed with the stopping power of the braking system, so I went down the road of purchasing, drilled and grooved discs with matching pads.
You know what? They were rubbish, I needed leg muscles like “Swarrzenigger” to stop that machine, unbelievable.
Instead of going for another upgrade, I went for the tried and trusted set of mintex pads and discs. I can only say that the transformation on my machine was unbelievable. Not upto the standard of some of the guys on here, but I suddenly had more confidence in the car. It would stop without standing on the pedal, and, ABS would cut in pretty quickly when I called for it. At least it made me smile and not grimace, and the brown trousers went in the bin.
It may not be the solution for you, or some of the other guys on here, but it worked on my f.

Cheers
David

Stainless braided hoses made the single biggest difference for me. Unlike the existing rubber ones they don't expand under hard braking so all the effort you put in gets as far as the pistons.

Combined with a complete fluid change, greasing the guide pins and bleeding in the correct order should make a difference.

As far as drilled and slotted discs go, they do make a difference in the wet, and on track they do stay a lot cooler, but in the dry on the road, I don't really notice any difference. My discs are M-tech and I usually run with mintex pads on the road.. and as I'm lazy, quite often used to leave them on for events too... They aren't quite as good on track when they start to glaze, but again I found the difference quite small.

The main issue is simply the size of the brakes in general. Upgrades are possible, but then you are look at a wheel change too.

The lads above have just about mentioned every option for improvement. I have M-tec discs,braided hoses and a servo brace fitted too,
Mine is a 160, so comes with 4 pots as standard.
Think replacing the brake fluid is important, I do mine every two years and I am more than happy with the stopping power now.

I had three people pull out in front of me one day last year, so I decided to fit the daytime running lights...it;s not happened since (TOUCH WOOD)! My car is XP grey and its quite camouflaged against tarmac!
Maybe fit DRL's or leave your lights on during daytime may also help to prevent someone taking you out!

Sundance

SundanceUK wrote: ! My car is XP grey and its quite camouflaged against tarmac!

More people pulled out in front of my trophy yellow ZS in 5 years than all the other vehicles I have driven in 35 years put together.