Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2010 11:00:30 -0700
Reply-To: Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Parking brake pressure (was I've had it)
In-Reply-To: <20100704132711.O40X5.960153.imail@eastrmwml47>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
No Dave. Whitewall tires, in-dash navigation and 'loose pillow' seating
are sales gimmicks. Disc brakes on the rear dramatically improve both
braking feel and performance.
I have changed over several cars including 2 race cars and the results have
been outstanding. There is less pedal travel, better modulation and of
course, much better fade resistance with a disc brake over a drum.
First developed for automotive use by Dunlop for the C Type and then the D
Type Jaguar which subsequently dominated endurance racing, they are the
brake of choice these days for everything from bicycles to jumbo jets.
The reason that American manufacturers hung onto drums for 10 years after
European makers switched was simply cost cutting.
Same with our Vanagon rear brakes - they use the same slave cylinders and
drums as the '68 and up VW Bus! Believe it or not, people who are into cars
and engineers alike have learned a few things about brakes and vehicular
dynamics 40 or so years.
Installing the Audi A4 brakes on the front of Dixie has made a huge
difference in braking quality and I'm looking forward to replacing the rears
with discs from a similar car.
Seeya, Jake
On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 10:27 AM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote:
> ---- David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET> wrote:
> > At 08:35 AM 7/4/2010 Sunday, Dave Mcneely wrote:
> > >Now, if drum brakes are less effective than disc brakes, why do so
> > >many vehicles have rear drums? Vanagon content here in that
> > >vanagons are built that way.
> >
> > Drum brakes were the standard automotive brake for many many years,
> > although my grandmother's Studebaker still used band brakes. Some
> > time in the sixties IIRC disk brakes began to be available, and there
> > was discussion in the magazines like Motor Trend and Road & Track as
> > to whether the handling problems from increase in unsprung weight was
> > a greater disadvantage than any increase in brake performance would
> > make up for.
>
> As I recall, disc brakes were a high dollar option on high dollar cars when
> they were first available in this country. They were on European cars well
> before any American vehicles adopted them.
> >
>
>
> > But if you want my bet as to why cars are being built with rear disk
> > brakes (leaving aside race cars) -- I suspect it is purely cosmetic.
>
> So, if there is no real functional advantage, other than no need for an
> adjustment mechanism, then it is probably the "cool" factor, or the idea
> that folks who don't know better might think they are better -- in other
> words a sales gimmick.
>
> DMc
>
--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX 'The Grey Van'
1986 Westy Weekender/2.5 SOHC Suby 'Dixie'
Crescent Beach, BC
www.thebassspa.com
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27
