Date:         Sun, 16 Apr 2000 23:10:14 -0700
Reply-To:     bpchristensen1@HOME.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Brent Christensen <bpchristensen1@HOME.COM>
Subject:      Aaaaargh!  Brake failure (long)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Well, I just returned from a ~500 mile round trip to visit family up north.
(Just finished a white knuckle drive down the coast in pouring rain and
30-60 mph wind gusts - that was fun).

On our way up on Friday, we had to come down a relatively short (3 mile)
grade which we have done before without any problems.  Well, on Friday
night, I damned near drove the Syncro, and all four of us right through the
stop sign at the bottom of the grade and into a farm on the opposite side of
the T intersection.

As some of you may recall, I just finished a *complete* brake job, including
new rotors, semi-metallic pads, caliper rebuilds (thanks, Ron), drums, wheel
cylinders (thanks, Ken), and a set of shoes from my local German FLAPS.  The
stopping power has felt better (more solid), though it has still required a
preliminary pump of the pedal to achieve maximum firmness.

Anyway, we came over this no-big-deal grade, and I was braking on the way
down to slow our progress (as you normally would) and I noticed that the
brakes began to fade.  By the time that I got to the bottom and was
approaching the stop sign, I was pushing the brake so *#&* hard that I
thought I was going to either pull the steering wheel off or put my foot
through the floor.  Scary with your wife, three year old daughter, and 2
month old son all on board.

Once I regained my pulse and breathing, I pulled across the intersection and
pulled off the road.  Sure enough, the fronts and rears were hot enough to
sizzle spit (though the alloy wheels weren't that hot).

I got up this morning and pulled off all four corners and found that my nice
brand new (beautifully crosshatched) rotors were now blue and mirror-like,
and the pads and shoes were completely glazed.  (well the shoes were glazed
in a couple of spots, very unevenly - but uneven wear seems typical for
Vanagon brake shoes, right?).  Nothing seemed warped (by pedal feel), so I
went ahead and hit the pads and shoes with 80 grit sandpaper to roughen them
up, taking off about 0.5-1.0 mm of material.

We climbed three pretty good grades on the way home, and I have to tell you,
it was pucker factor 9 coming down the back side of each one of them.  In
one case, I had to shift all the way down to 2nd so that I wouldn't have to
use my brakes, since they would fade badly after about two or three good
pulls.

So, my questions are these:  #1 What the hell happened???  Are these damned
Syncro brakes so wimpy?  If so, why have I never had a problem before,
despite trips through the Sierra and Cascade mountains?  #2 How can I remedy
the situation?  I am at my wits' end and I can see NOTHING wrong with the
way the brakes are put together.  I mean, geezus, we're not talking fuel
injection here, folks - these are good old-fashioned brakes!  Shouldn't be
that tough!!!  I used all new German components (with the exception of the
shoes and the drums (Italian).

On another note, in studying the Bentley this morning, I noticed a note
about flipping a lever on the proportioning valve and removing a vacuum hose
from the booster before bleeding the brakes.  I never did either of these,
but I have never heard them mentioned here on the list.  Are these critical
steps?  Could that be what somehow caused my problems?

Any suggestions, comments, feedback would be GREATLY appreciated.  I have to
say that if I can't figure this out on my own, my only recourse will be to
go to my mechanic with my tail between my legs, and say "fix it".  And he
will (rightfully so) say "I'll have to put in all new parts, since I can't
be sure of the quality of the one's you used".  Ugh!

Thanks in advance.

Brent Christensen
'89 GL Syncro Westy
Santa Barbara, CA