Brown trouser moment in the wedge

[mrzigazaga]

Hi peeps..I went out earlier to get some new bolts for my steering wheel and screws for the spoiler..Travelling down the motorway for a short journey and suddenly the lorry in front of me braked heavily but without brake lights..I hit the anchors a bit lively and the back end skipped out about 5 feet to the left and i really struggled to straighten it up without putting it into a fishtail..Especially at 70mph..Not sure if it was my bald edged tyres as there was some rubber left on the tarmac..I subsequently had new tyres fitted when i got home..I also had to change me grundies..

[wooly350i]

Hope you shook em out the window first Mark ,don't take much to block the old discharge pipe!
I can just see you now grinning like a chesure cat at the bird in the outside lane and she pointing back to say that lorry is slowing then you hit the brakes and slew sideways still sort of grinning in I've st myself sort of way

Edited by wooly350i on Wednesday 7th December 16:43

[mrzigazaga]

Hang on..How did you know that!!..wait a minute i thought i recognised that blondini..I think the beard gave it away mate..Besides i was only looking cos i thought i knew ya..Honest!!

[Dave Meredith]

You've left rubber on tarmac?

Simply not possible with my brakes!

[Big Daft Lad]

Dave Meredith said:

You've left rubber on tarmac?

Simply not possible with my brakes!

You need to get them rebuilt then, you should have no bother locking the fronts.

Speaking of front and rear Zig, are you saying the rear locked before the front? If so there's something not right with that as well as the front should always lock up first. That's twhat the brake compensator on the inner wing is for.

[Dave Meredith]

Roy

The one thing that has always stopped me driving too quickly is that the brakes are not brilliant.

I've got the standard set-up (Ford Granada I think) and I replaced all the seals in the master
cylinder a while ago. What do I need to do?

Dave

[mrzigazaga]

Thats correct mate..The rears locked up before the fronts..I have just had a vented disc and princess caliper upgrade to the front..When travelling along i can hear a constant rotational squeaking that gets quieter when braking coming from the rear?..I think the original brake fluid is still in there along with fresh top ups..I was going to put fresh fluid in but the rear caliper bleed screw wouldnt undo and left it alone for fear of it snapping..I know that water can get drawn into brake fluid and i assume after all the years its been in there it is surely contaminated..I have had new pads fitted front and rear and maybe they are not bedded in yet..Any help appreciated..Cheers..ziga

[Big Daft Lad]

Dave, I'd make sure your calipers are in first class order, rebuild them with new seals and pistons if required. A decent set of pads with braded hoses and dot 5 fluid and they should be pretty good. It's an old car though so they'll never be as good as anything made in the past 10 years. Get used to it or upgrade them

Mark - I'm no expert but if your rear wheels are locking before the fronts then there is something not right in your system. Maybe get a garage to test them to see how much percentage of the braking force is going to each axle.

[Aeroflop]

Big Daft Lad said:

A decent set of pads with braded hoses and dot 5 fluid and they should be pretty good.

One slight notion, in case someone doesn't know: do NOT mix dot 4 and dot 5 -fluids together (nor replace dot 4 with dot 5). That's a stupid anomaly, but dot 5, which is in the middle of the series, is not compatible with other brake fluids. Use dot 5.1 instead, which continues the series and is compatible with dot 4 and can replace dot 4 fluids properly.