Brakes again!

[domcross]

I seem to have a brake issue again which I'm sure will be resolved by the factory in a couple of weeks, but I'm on the track again soon and I thought I might pass this by the 'experts' to see if you can suggest anything.

Basically, it feels as though the brakes are gripping more on one side of the disk than the other. If I brake from a slow trundle it feels as though I'm pressing the pedal soft, hard, soft, hard... although the pressure's constant?!?

It's a little more unpleasant at speed as it feels more like vibration until I get the speed down.

I've had a nose around the disks and pads this evening and the only problem I could find was that the vent holes in the front disks were pretty much all blocked with solidified brake dust. Is this likely to be the cause?

Thanks in advance.

Dom.

[joust]

Sounds like you have what I have

It seems to be explained here

www.stoptech.com/whitepapers/warped_rotors_myth.htm

I'm assured that 5 or so 80-0 HARD stops will sort it out, just haven't had the time to check out that theory.

From other people on here clearing out the crud in the holes is the first place to start.

J

[gizard]

Just take the right sized drill bit and twist it though the holes with your fingers.

[domcross]

I'm not sure that is the problem actually Justin as they were going smoothly beforehand and have suddenly got worse. When I first got the car I had bad vibration from the brakes from the outset. At Rockingham the engineers agreed that I had a bad brake disk which was probably from a 'bad batch' which they changed very efficiently on the day.

Having said all that, I'll do some hard stops tomorrow and see if that does the trick. I cleared out the vent holes so fingers crossed.

Cheers,
Dom.

[capelink]

I can confirm that the cleaning out of the holes in the discs can work - at least it did for me. Started getting brake judder, tried a few of the 80-0 hard stops but no joy (but loads of smoke !). Cleaned out the holes in the discs with a small drill bit (difficult to open up some of the holes because they were so compacted with dust/grime) and problem has gone away.

Laughing !

[turnbaugh]

Check the axle nuts also to be safe. That was the original cause of my braking issues. The brake shudder started out being very minor and then got worse. It was a good thing I got off the track when I did, because axle nuts coming completely off at 120mph could have been a big problem.

[Mr Noble]

I did a car limits day last week and had to do about 6 80-0 stops to "practice" my brakeing.

I used to get a strange grinding noise that the factory and dealer both looked at but said was ok.

Since the driver training day, the noise has gone, so the 80-0 thing worked for me too!

GN

[LaurenceFrost]

To make sure the discs are nice and clean in each of the holes and recesses, pop down to a motor factors and buy some brake cleaner. It comes in nice spray cans and will remove a lot of the dust from the pads that gets caught up in the calipers too.