Warped Rotors

You may want to have a dealer or well equipped shop actually measure
the pressures if you do not have access to the equipment. The
proportioning valve is the first thing I'd look at.

Regards.

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N38.6 W121.4

 

|
|
|"Barry S." wrote:
|>
|> On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 18:52:01 -0500, pars <"sdaro(remove)"@hotmail.com>
|> wrote:
|>
|> >I had to do some emergency braking the other day. Stupid shithead in a
|> >Celica,in front of me, decided to come to a hard stop in the middle of
|> >nowhere, while I was trying to pass him on the right. I got boxed out
|> >(no gaps in the right lane) and had to brake. Didn't help that the road
|> >was wet. Slid 30 feet and ended up 5 feet from the bastards bumper. (I
|> >hate it when the bastards suddenly stop without warning...it doesn't
|> >help when they have a good car with good brakes)
|>
|> Unfortunately, you can't prevent people from being stupid. Just drive
|> as if you expect them to be.
|>
|> > I definitely didn't
|> >like the way my brakes behaved. The front locked up too quickly, seems
|> >like the front were doing most of the braking. Anyways, as per your
|> >article, it might be time for me to have those rear adjusted. The rear
|> >drums are 145,000km and all original. The front are on their third pads,
|> >and the Brembo cross-drilled rotor have already seen about 100,000km of
|> >use.
|>
|> 145km is around 80k Miles w/ Original Drums... Hmm. It sounds like
|> the rears aren't doing anything! Does the car have a proportioning
|> valve? It may need to be adjusted.

Rear wheel cylinders on FWD vehicles have been known to rust solid from disuse.
It's even been a problem on late-model pickups with 4-wheel discs. It's wortch
checking, just by jacking up a rear wheel, spinning it, then braking. Repeat
for the other side.
The proportioning valve on most cars is fixed, based on OE friction linings
and average weight distribution, lightly loaded. Change to aftermarket pads that
do not match the OE, or shoes (ditto), change the load, use different tires at
either end etc and the proportioning valve is out of it's normal working
parameters. It's worthwhile to test your brakes at lockup conditions whenever
you change pads or shoes, allowing a few miles to get them seated in. In most
cases, you will find the rears will lock first. It's rarely severe enough to
warrant correction. ABS will mask most variations, but I've had vehicles with
enough variation that the ABS couldn't handle it without reducing front braking
to dangerous levels (which it can't, so it allows lock)
I test mine in varying coditions - wet, dry, gravel - periodically so i won't
have surprises when I need it least. Unnerves the wife ocasionally, I must admit

Rex in Fort Worth