Brake upgrade - braided hoses?

[pete]

I'm about to embark on a simple upgrade of my Griff 500's brakes. After much perusing of the archives, it looks like Tower View's 283mm front upgrade will be sufficient. However, I don't know whether to bother with stainless braided hoses. I'd welcome feedback from anyone who's done this upgrade with or without the hoses.

On the subject of braided hoses, if I fit them only to the front brakes, will I need to bleed the rears as well? I've replaced plenty of Ford pads and discs before, but I've never had to disconnect the calipers completely. Any other gotchas around replacing the hoses, e.g. having to slot the mounting brackets?

Thanks in advance,
Pete

[GreenV8S]

I'm about to embark on a simple upgrade of my Griff 500's brakes. After much perusing of the archives, it looks like Tower View's 283mm front upgrade will be sufficient. However, I don't know whether to bother with stainless braided hoses. I'd welcome feedback from anyone who's done this upgrade with or without the hoses.

On the subject of braided hoses, if I fit them only to the front brakes, will I need to bleed the rears as well? I've replaced plenty of Ford pads and discs before, but I've never had to disconnect the calipers completely. Any other gotchas around replacing the hoses, e.g. having to slot the mounting brackets?

Thanks in advance,
Pete

Had mine replaced with braided (by Tower View, as it happens), can't say I noticed much difference to tell you the truth. Flushing the brakes with fresh fluid made far more difference. Hope you like the 283mm upgrade, I thought it worked very well.

Cheers,
Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)

[silverfox]

I guess the difference might manifest itself over a period of time - let's say over a period of repeated heavy braking - under these circumstances it might be that using braided hoses prevents reduced braking due to no flexing of the brake lines.

As Pete says maintaining fresh fluid is also good practice on braking systems.

Although I can't recall ever seeing Pete use the brakes and hence his fluid will always be fresh

[bogbeast]

Whilst I haven't done it on my Griff, I replaced the hoses on my 4x4 Cosworth (I suspect thay some Griffs use Cosworth brake parts anyway..) and it made a huge difference to pedal feel & responsiveness. Of course this maybe because the old rubber hoses were knackered but it is certainly an upgrade that I would perform on any car that I own. In fact, as soon as I figure out the relevant Goodridge PN’s I’ll be wanting to do it to the grif…

[bikerkeith]

Can only speak from a bike perspective, having replaced the original (rubber) hoses with braided. They were 5 years old and were definately spongy, the braided lines brought everything back to new.
Depending on how old your brake hoses are, also how old the fluid is (do you know when the brakes were last bled through?) will have a bearing on what difference braided lines will make. What is the recommended period for replacing original hoses? If they need replacing, then it would make sense to use braided lines instead of rubber. Also, were the brakes adequate as new, or are you looking for an improved performance over original?

[joospeed]

bogbeast said: Whilst I haven't done it on my Griff, I replaced the hoses on my 4x4 Cosworth (I suspect thay some Griffs use Cosworth brake parts anyway..) and it made a huge difference to pedal feel & responsiveness. Of course this maybe because the old rubber hoses were knackered but it is certainly an upgrade that I would perform on any car that I own. In fact, as soon as I figure out the relevant Goodridge PN’s I’ll be wanting to do it to the grif…

why do you need to figure out the part numbers when you can just get a griff set off the shelf from a tvr specialist?

[joospeed]

silverfox said: I guess the difference might manifest itself over a period of time - let's say over a period of repeated heavy braking - under these circumstances it might be that using braided hoses prevents reduced braking due to no flexing of the brake lines.

As Pete says maintaining fresh fluid is also good practice on braking systems.

Although I can't recall ever seeing Pete use the brakes and hence his fluid will always be fresh

teehee .. Peter also has a clever new flippable front air brake assembly on the front of his V8S. he claims it's for cooling but we know better don't we ... ;

[pete]

bikerkeith said:Depending on how old your brake hoses are, also how old the fluid is (do you know when the brakes were last bled through?) will have a bearing on what difference braided lines will make. Also, were the brakes adequate as new, or are you looking for an improved performance over original?

The brakes were bled last Tuesday, when my car was last serviced, unless they are lying on the receipt! The pedal definitely feels a bit firmer than when I put it in.

The main aim of upgrading the brakes is to push the bias forward a bit to improve stability under braking, and to reduce fade on the track, although I don't really drive it hard enough to induce fade too often. As I need to change the front pads and discs I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to upgrade rather than simply replace with standard.

Thanks for all the replies - I guess there's no hard and fast rule on replacing the hoses, so I'll probably leave them until I next need to bleed the brakes.

Cheers,
Pete

[bogbeast]

joospeed said:

bogbeast said: Whilst I haven't done it on my Griff, I replaced the hoses on my 4x4 Cosworth (I suspect thay some Griffs use Cosworth brake parts anyway..) and it made a huge difference to pedal feel & responsiveness. Of course this maybe because the old rubber hoses were knackered but it is certainly an upgrade that I would perform on any car that I own. In fact, as soon as I figure out the relevant Goodridge PN’s I’ll be wanting to do it to the grif…

why do you need to figure out the part numbers when you can just get a griff set off the shelf from a tvr specialist?

Good point... But I was under the impression that Griffs were shipped with various different brake parts making a kit a bit difficult..

from your post, can I assume that you have such a kit ob your shelf

[GreenV8S]

Peter also has a clever new flippable front air brake assembly on the front of his V8S. he claims it's for cooling but we know better don't we ... ;

I guess you spotted that it hides the front number plate when it is flipped 'up', gosh officer how did that get there?

>> Edited by GreenV8S on Monday 11th November 18:28

[jellison]

Yep done the same with Tower - Hoses all round - std reaplacment rears - AP283 or 285mm front on Mintex fast road pads - Braking definately better but still not as great as I'd like!

[joospeed]

bogbeast said:

joospeed said:

bogbeast said: Whilst I haven't done it on my Griff, I replaced the hoses on my 4x4 Cosworth (I suspect thay some Griffs use Cosworth brake parts anyway..) and it made a huge difference to pedal feel & responsiveness. Of course this maybe because the old rubber hoses were knackered but it is certainly an upgrade that I would perform on any car that I own. In fact, as soon as I figure out the relevant Goodridge PN’s I’ll be wanting to do it to the grif…

why do you need to figure out the part numbers when you can just get a griff set off the shelf from a tvr specialist?

Good point... But I was under the impression that Griffs were shipped with various different brake parts making a kit a bit difficult..

from your post, can I assume that you have such a kit ob your shelf

not on the shelf but can get in within a couple of days. I have cerbie sets on the shelf but don't do much griff / chim work.

[pete]

For anyone who's interested, I decidedto go for braided hoses on the front only for the moment. I'll do the rears when I change the rear pads.

I've gone for the basic Tower View kit, consisting of:

283mm Black Diamond discs
Mounting brackets to re-use my existing calipers
Tarox red dot pads
Front stainless braided hoses

Total cost for that lot is £400 plus VAT, or £650-ish plus VAT fitted.

Cheers,
Pete

[veg]

Talk to Peninsula on 01884 35341 (yes only 5 numbers) and they will sort you out with a kit no problems. I've just upgraded my 500 and the whole package is nothing short of miraculous.

I hate brake fluid with a passion now though

[Leadfoot]

That's not far off what my 4pots cost M8