Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:53:06 -0700
Reply-To: David Kao <dtkao0205@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Kao <dtkao0205@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: I learned alot about my brakes today....
In-Reply-To: <c4e7c5f90806302000w4d315ddel3d249725d0dc3638@mail.gmail.com>
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My understanding of brake fading is reduced stopping ability of the brake.
It is not brake pedal sinking lower. If the pedal is too low for the stopping
to begin it is normally the drum bakes that need adjustment. If brake fades
my understanding is somehow the pads and shoes (rear) are not able to slow the
drums and discs fast enough.
Somehow when I used after market pads (at least twice, possibly three) they
never worked. I suffered from brake fading for a long time until I listened
to wife and spent $70 for a set of OEM pads from a VW dealer. The brake fading
problem went away instantly. Not once, at least twice. Possibly three times.
After that I learned my lessons hard and used only OEM pads. People usually
need such lessons before they will believe it.
I use after market brake shoes and they work fine. But OEM shoes lasted a
very long time. I will not waste any more time and money on after market
pads and shoes.
David
--- neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> Hi Craig.
>
> On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 4:27 PM, craig cowan <phishman068@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The mechanic who failed it tells me the pedal is too low and it needs to be
> > pumped a few times to get up. ..... Well yesterday i bled the
> > brakes and it seemed to give the pedal a bit more of a consistent feel, but
> > the pedal is still low and fades a bit.
>
> By "fades a bit", do you mean the pedal sinks a bit after you pump it
> up, sinks even if not pumped up, or that it returns (if brakes not
> used) to the lower pedal height some time after you have pumped pedal
> up?
>
> Regardless of pumping, if it sinks, that might mean master cylinder problem.
>
> If it returns to the "lower" height, then the need to pump up the
> brakes can also mean the shoes aren't adjusted right.
>
> I'm not certain if a really worn drum would make it impossible to
> adjust the shoes out far enough, but this could be the case. i.e. you
> adjust shoes as far as possible, but you still need to pump the brakes
> to push the shoes out far enough. Kinda guessing on that one though!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Neil.
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Neil Nicholson '81 JettaWesty "Jaco
> http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines
> http://web.mac.com/tubaneil
> http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
>
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