Date:         Tue, 5 Jun 2012 05:24:53 -0400
Reply-To:     Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: front brakes
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

        OK, from the land of been there done that.  For the past 6 ~ 7 years may more or less, I've lost count, we have spent our winters travelling to and from home to Mexico and all over Mexico.  So if you think you have some mountains around you check your Mexican geography.  Try the road from Penlenque to San Cristobal for starters.  Try the entire Mex 200 on the West coast.  Try the road between Puerto Escondido and Oaxaca.  I could go on & on.  So.......the story is our 1987 Westy with around 700,000 kms on her has its OEM brakes, nothing special, good new pads, shoes properly adjusted and new Dot 4 fluid every couple of years, should be changed every two years, did you know that ?, before setting out and using the gearbox properly for down hill decent, never overheated any brakes and never ran out of brakes so what's all the fuss about ?


On 2012-06-05, at 12:00 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> On 06/04/2012 04:39 PM, Dennis Haynes wrote:
>> Driving a vehicle in hilly territory requires some skill. While brake
>> upgrades and such buy some time or capacity any downhill application of the
>> brakes for an extended period will become a problem.
> 
> [description of techniques snipped for brevity]
> 
> I do do what is suggested, such as downshifting my auto trans to hold
> back my speed, etc. I have never smelt hot brakes, not sure if this
> vehicle's brakes stink up the joint when when overheat so that might not
> mean much; but after hearing so much about how wimpy the stock '84
> brakes are, how swell the Big Brakes are, &c., &c., a fellow starts to
> wonder if this isn't something he should look into before he plunges off
> the road to certain death and becomes a headline.
> 
> So my question is: will DOT4 brake fluid and attentive use of engine
> drag via downshifting pretty much make bigger brakes a non-issue?
> 
> If the answer is "yes," then I've saved money for something more
> interesting.



Cheers,    

Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 VW Westy, '00 Kawasaki 250 Sherpa, "98 Ducati 750 Monster & Lionel Trains (Collection for sale)
Frank Condelli & Associates - Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems
BusFusion a VW Camper camping event, Almonte, ON, June 07 ~ 10, 2012