Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 12:43:10 -0800
Reply-To: dylan friedman <insyncro@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: dylan friedman <insyncro@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Seeking Input - Big Disc Brakes & stock rear brakes
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Brake bias control when upping the rotor size in the front and changing to disc in the rear made complete sense to me. I have done this on a couple of vans now that had more horsepower swapped in and the drivelines beefed up. I used a Tilton brake bias found in most speed shops to control the percentage of balance front to rear when braking. In lay persons terms it is like adjusting the fader on your stereo front to rear.
I have different settings marked on the dial for easy switching. One for everyday driving, one for lead foot driving and one for towing my trailer. The trailer is an aluminum utility with electric brakes as well.
The settings take some driving to figure out, but starting at a 60 front 40 rear setting was a good baseline.
As for cost, it was bucks to do this. I replaced the entire braking system from master, to booster to lines, upgraded to stainless braided at flex points, larger front disc, disc rear, Tilton bias, ATE superblue fluid.............and all the labor. Material cost at retail would be roughly $1500+ if you use the kits available from Small Car or GoWesty.
My reason for doing all of this is that I have worked on and drive a SVX conversion Syncro van and feel that balanced power to braking scheme should be used for safety reasons. Running larger rims and tires on a Syncro alone will show you that the brakes need to be well maintained to have the stopping power needed for emergency stops. Add in more horsepower, more engine weight in the rear and larger wheels to bring the revs down and stock brakes just don't cut it.
dylan
----- Original Message ----
From: Bob Donalds <donalds1@VERIZON.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Sent: Monday, March 5, 2007 3:08:20 PM
Subject: Re: Seeking Input - Big Disc Brakes & stock rear brakes
Hi John
I might suggest if the rear brakes got adjusted on a regular basis then you
would not go threw pads as often
When I adjust the rears I pull just the drum adjust, and test fit the drum
back in place. I find this improves braking
Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Rodgers" <inua@CHARTER.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 1:01 PM
Subject: Re: Seeking Input - Big Disc Brakes & stock rear brakes
> I suspect this is very true. In the 10 years I have owned my 88 GL I
> have replaced the front pads many times. But until just this year I have
> never had to replace the rear shoes. There was always plenty of material
> on the shoes. But those front pads did wear out. So9 most of the braking
> load does occur on the front brakes. To me this is ONE of the obvious
> reasons for going to front disk brakes by the engineers.
>
> Regards,
>
> John Rodgers
> 88 GL Driver
>
> rpc wrote:
> > In respect to balance between front and rear brakes, the front does the
brunt of the work in any vehicle. It is unbalanced, learned this riding
motorcycles.
> > Chris C 90mv
> >
> > Kim Brennan <kimbrennan@MAC.COM> wrote:
> > I suspect sales in SA were higher than several hundred...
> >
> > On Mar 5, 2007, at 10:09 AM, Sam Walters wrote:
> >
> >
> >> FWIW, there probably are at least several hundred Vanagons on the road
> >> now with 15" front disc brakes and stock rear brakes. I don't
> >> remember
> >> any discussion of this creating any problems for any one.
> >>
> >
> >
> >
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