Quote:
Originally Posted by Zach
I replaced my rotors and installed new discs and pads and holy [fizzle]ing [shizzle]
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Maybe now you know why I roll my eyes when people talk about the "weak" brakes they have and how they need a big brake kit. Cue eye rollie icon...
Its not the brakes fault that you keep it in piss poor condition and feed it a steady diet of substandard parts
"you" being the "royal you" of course.
As mentioned, I like ATE superblue/Type200. Its kinda up in the "elite" ($$$) brake fluid realm (Neo, Motul, Castrol SRF, etc) but its more rounded and practical for even a daily driver. Cheaper too. The local store here carries it so its also a nice convenience. For something more widely available and a little less exotic try Valvoline syn-power. Very good wet/dry boiling point numbers and available at tons of retail chains.
Change the brake lines to aftermarket braided lines if you havent already. They are getting close to 20yrs old now and have gone through _thousands_ of expansion/contraction/heat cycles. Change them, theres really no reason not to especially when a set of braided lines are cheap.
I want to mention some thoughts on philosophy and technique for a sec....
My philosophy on performance is something akin to "performance through product selection and/or rigorous maintainance".
Sure, pimpy stuff is nice, but without maintaining them..whats the point? Also, pimpy stuff tend to need more upkeep at times, but what I tend to see out in the wild is
less upkeep (the notion of longer intervals for motor oils, brake fluid, etc). It smacks of conservation of cash more than anything else.
Castrol SRF is arguably some of the "best" brake fluid money can buy...at $75 a pint it better be. But it has a very short shelf life in a car and needs repeated flushing (sometimes every track session). I see people tripping over their dicks to put the stuff in their street cars on other forums all the time. Why? The name impresses people (
I have racecar quality brake fluid in my street car, y0) but the truth is they really cant afford it(or understand the needed maintainance for it) so they ignore it and wind up with junk in their car. Its utter nonsense.
I
guarantee you that 6month old valvoline synpower from oreileys/vatozone/pep boys will be better in the end than castrol SRF at 3months. AND It wont bankrupt you to flush on a regular basis. Itll stay fresher because you can afford to keep it fresher and thus offer better performance. Its less impressive/pimpy though, but who the F cares? Cliffs: new and unpimpy > old and pimpy
My rotors are blanks @$20 per. I dont even bother resurfacing them. I toss them when they are low and get another new set. Have fun with cross drilled/dimpled/scalloped rotors that cost $80+ per....that work no better and are really worse overall.
Pads, I dont skimp on because you DO get what you pay for here. I have no issue getting race pads for a track day that cost $300 a set and will only be used for that one day. They will save my life every time I hit the brakes. But I am realistic..I cant expect one pad to be all things all the time. $10 pads from pep boys cant act like race pads. I expect they will be hard as rocks and last forever. They will stop the car(eventually), but I wont complain about their meager performance. Likewise, race pads on the streets would be as pointless as "tits on a bull". They need HIGH temps to be usable, something that really wont happen daily driving. You get the tool for the job at hand. If you get the wrong tool for the job, dont blame the tool.
Techniques...
For brake fluid flushes I take my time. If I am doing large component changes(brake lines, master cylinders, calipers) I usually use a gallon of generic ultracheap brandX brake fluid. I flush the system as thoroughly as I can, usually 2-3times over a period of 1-2 weeks. After than I flush with the good stuff. I want to make sure that all the air is purged from the system and sometimes you need to actually drive the car for things to percolate out. Im going to be doing repeated flushes then...think Im going to be doing that with expensive fluid? F-no, that would be retarded. Cheap and disposable...thats the product to use.
To flush I use a two-man system. The system I use is a variant of a setup I saw in use on a couple Speed world challenge cars and ALMS teams. Its a bit involved, but guess what....its thorough, repeatable and it works. Every time...all the time. I dont use speed bleeders (used to for a bit though), one man setups and I dont use pressure bleeders as I find they have a lot to be desired.
Brake pad bed in is important if you have real performance pads. Even pep boys pads have recommendations on break in periods (though few people read the package to see what that is). When you start getting into performance pads and other exotica the break in becomes even more important. In general the pads need some of the remaining binders and glues to be cooked off so they cant transfer material to the rotors and cause hot spots, brake rotor shudder and all sorts of annoying stuff to make braking inconsistent.
The system that I use is also long and involved but it works(anyone see a reoccurring theme here?). Ive mentioned it before, but the end result is the pads have more consistent initial bite and better wear.
Aside from all of that rambling....."extended braking periods"? 0.o wtf? D00d, where the hell do you live that you have extended periods of braking to be done? Is Parkland like SF or something? My daily commute is over a mountain to get to work and back. I pretty much never use the brakes despite some pretty steep grades and serpentine road.
Gavin
