Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2012 16:19:41 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Interesting Thing About My Brakes....
In-Reply-To: <1360388859.1575030.1347031941873.JavaMail.root@sz0063a.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net>
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here's what 'good vanagon brakes are like and feel like -
the brake pedal is pretty high ...doesn't go down more than about 2
inches before decent slowing down starts to happen.
if it's nearly half way down before things happen ..
that's not right.
how well the van slows down for a given effort on the pedal :
The 'brake action' should increse in a linear manner with increased
force on the pedal.
it's nice to see the nose of the van dive some under heavy braking..
then you know something is really happening.
You should be able to modulate how well the van slows down very nicely
and controllably by how much pedal effort you put in, and as you apply
more force to the pedal, you should get more slowing down ..
in a fairly linear progression.
if increased pedal force does not produce a corresponding increase in
slowing down ..something is not right.
As you get harder and harder on the brakes, the rears should never lock
up. If one or both do, something is defenitely not right.
It's hard to get a vanagon to do it on dry pavement ( mainly thinking
2WD here, Syncro AWD is a slightly different story ) ..
you should almost be able to lock up the fronts on dry pavement ,
not that you ever want that to happen, or that's a goal ..
but ultimately brake systems on cars should be able to deliver that much
force, especially to the front wheels, under serious braking.
If you ever do lock up the fronts, say on ice or wet pavement ..there
is NO Steering and you need to know to let off the brakes ( pre ABS cars
) ..many people have skidded into a tree with steering at full left lock
say,
with fronts locked ....and crashed, when all they had to do is let off
the brakes to get the steering back.
anyway ...
'good brakes' on a vanagon have a fairly high pedal,
with easily modulated nice progressive strong braking action.
That's what you want to aim for.
many factors go into that sometimes of course.
I had one 85 Westy ...'no matter' what I did ( short of replacing the
booster ) ..
it stopped fine ..
always had a slightly lowish pedal ..otherwise it was perfect, not bad
enough to be concerned. about, but not 1000 % perfect.
what front brake pads you use matters a lot too, IMO.
Scott
www.turbovans.com
On 9/7/2012 8:32 AM, J Stewart wrote:
> I forgot to mention, last week I ordered the stainless steel front brake lines, I'll see if that makes a difference too. Jeff Jeff Stewart ----- Original Message -----
>> I don't think Vanagon brakes are nearly as firm as modern cars to
>> begin with. You've probably had the rears self adjust so there is less
>> pedal travel, or perhaps a bubble worked its way out of the master. I
>> just did a complete brake job including rebuild calipers and new hoses
>> all around and they still feel softer than I'd like. I found these
>> brakes difficult to bleed, even with my Motive Products pressure
>> bleeder. I needed to do it twice a day apart.
>> Stuart
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
>> Behalf Of J Stewart
>> Sent: Friday, September 07, 2012 7:43 AM
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Subject: Interesting Thing About My Brakes....
>> I've had my '85 Westy a little over two years now, and when I first
>> bought it the brake pedal went all the way to the floor. I did a
>> complete brake job including fluid flush, and the pedal got a lot
>> better, but never as firm as I'd like it to be (and not like my other
>> Westys) Since I have a company vehicle the Westy gets weekend use
>> only. Well, do to a labor dispute at work, the company vehicles are
>> now parked at my office, and I have to drive 60 miles round trip every
>> day to/from my office. Since the Westy is now getting daily use, the
>> pedal has gotten a lot firmer. What does this mean? I'd always assumed
>> a new master cylinder was not far off in the future... Jeff
>> Jeff Stewart
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