Discussion
Hi all
I've had my Chimera 4.0 HC for 3 months now and have enjoyed it a lot, great noise.
It's a 1994 model and I am generally happy with it but IMHO the brakes are'nt up to much. They are sufficent for a slower car, but as the Chim picks up speed so quickly they need to be worked hard to haul it in.
Are there any simple upgraded replacement brake disks and pads which I can use with the exisitng calipers. I don't want the hassle of changing calipers and getting bigger wheels blaa blaa. I'm just after say 30% more braking power from the front for say £200 - £300. Say standard sized disks but cross drilled and with some form of fast road pad?
Anyone got any idea's, recommendations, names of suppliers, prices etc... I would really appreciate it.
Regards
K
I've had my Chimera 4.0 HC for 3 months now and have enjoyed it a lot, great noise.
It's a 1994 model and I am generally happy with it but IMHO the brakes are'nt up to much. They are sufficent for a slower car, but as the Chim picks up speed so quickly they need to be worked hard to haul it in.
Are there any simple upgraded replacement brake disks and pads which I can use with the exisitng calipers. I don't want the hassle of changing calipers and getting bigger wheels blaa blaa. I'm just after say 30% more braking power from the front for say £200 - £300. Say standard sized disks but cross drilled and with some form of fast road pad?
Anyone got any idea's, recommendations, names of suppliers, prices etc... I would really appreciate it.
Regards
K
Give them a good service. Make sure the discs are in good condition, replace if necessary, fit some decent fast road pads and BED THEM IN PROPERLY (this is the bit that always seems to get forgotten), use fresh DOT5.1 fluid and make sure the calipers are in good condition and the sliders all work properly.
The brakes aren't as heavily servoed as your average production car and will need more weight on the pedal, but they're perfectly capable of stopping the car if they're working properly. The main issue with the standard brakes is how long can you keep using them hard before they overheat, and that's not a problem you should encounter on public roads.
The brakes aren't as heavily servoed as your average production car and will need more weight on the pedal, but they're perfectly capable of stopping the car if they're working properly. The main issue with the standard brakes is how long can you keep using them hard before they overheat, and that's not a problem you should encounter on public roads.
I think that the brakes are ok, but no more. Personally the biggest problem with my V8S is the excessive rear bias. It means that my back brakes and wheels are sometimes so hot you can't get near them, while the fronts don't really work as hard as they could. It also makes the handeling under braking far from idea IMHO. I have just bought a set of RWD disks and calipers from a Cossie Turbo Sierra (285mm and huge calipers), these are the fronts designed to go with the back brakes that TVR fit as standard. For what ever reason they just put the standard sierra XR4i 240mm fronts on my car, but with the 273mm rears from the Cossie, rather than the rear 253mm and calipers from the XR4i. I really don't know why they did this, perhaps cost, or rear axel choice. With a much lighter car at the back it was never going to be ideal.
Easily sorted for (ca. £100 inc p&p used). People will disagree, but hey. I'll post some before and after shots when I get around to fitting them.
Oh and don't bother with RS500 4 pots they need different hubs and suspension.
Z
Easily sorted for (ca. £100 inc p&p used). People will disagree, but hey. I'll post some before and after shots when I get around to fitting them.
Oh and don't bother with RS500 4 pots they need different hubs and suspension.
Z
I agree, it's possible to improve on the standard brakes and I also definitely agree about the brake balance - it seems to be a recurring theme with TVRs of that era. The point I was trying to make though, is that the standard brakes are pretty good when they're working properly, and if they're that heavy then perhaps they aren't working properly. It shouldn't be necessary to upgrade the brakes just to get decent bite and pedal feel.
the 4 pots were not just on the RS500 they were also fitted to the original 2 door whale tail model apx 85/86 and your right they dont fit and there not worth the bother.i agree the standard 240mm fitted on the early chims are just not balanced with the rears,i for one wouldent spend any money on them.260mm at least are needed to correct this.
Edited by That Daddy on Friday 29th September 14:57
That Daddy said:
the 4 pots were not just on the RS500 they were also fitted to the original 2 door whale tail model apx 85/86 and your right they dont fit and there not worth the bother.i agree the standard 240mm fitted on the early chims are just not balanced with the rears,i for one wouldent spend any money on them.290mm at least are needed to correct this.
For what it's worth... I went with standard size EBC discs (groved and dimpled), front and rear. Also went for greenstuff pads all round and switched to dot 5.1 fluid. Oh, and I also replaced the front calipers with standard refurbished ones.
BIG improvement!!
If you're looking for performance upgrades, I found that moving the original single pots on the front out from 240mm to 285mm balanced the brakes up nicely (very slight bias to the front, which is ideal) and increased the heat dissipation by miles. Still reckon that getting the standard brakes working correctly should be the first step.
Green V8S that sounds like a good cheap upgrade,i also referred to 290mm discs in my 1st post i meant to say 260mm as on the later chims.I have 283mm discs with the cossie granada callipers and standard pads and im a happy boy,i also have none of the warming up problems sometimes linked to fast/road pad compounds.as a cheap upgrade from the 240mm early brakes,i would just go for the later chims 260mm ones.
GreenV8S said:
That Daddy said:
as a cheap upgrade from the 240mm early brakes,i would just go for the later chims 260mm ones.
Smart move I reckon, if you can get them for a good price. Ideally find somebody who's going for a monster brake upgrade and take their old ones.Here's one I made earlier
www.pistonheads.com/sales/100308.htm
I have just bought a 5L Chimaera and I do feel let down by the brakes. What sort of propper upgrade can we fit in beyond the basic EBC & co? is it possible to fit calipers like AP racing or simply fit what you now find on tuscans & sagaris etc? if so, what sort of costs are we looking at? Cheers
jellison said:
Yep std disc are utter crap - for that price you might at the AP 285mm disc and the space kit. These are damn good - ideal for a 4.0 and a must / minimum on a 500 if driven fast.
Nothing wrong at all with the standard disc size.
Just make sure you use a good quality pad and replace the discs when they look tired.
Check the inner facing side of the disc for excessive corrosion which is common.
Aaron C. Reskew said:
jellison said:
Yep std disc are utter crap - for that price you might at the AP 285mm disc and the space kit. These are damn good - ideal for a 4.0 and a must / minimum on a 500 if driven fast.
Nothing wrong at all with the standard disc size.
Just make sure you use a good quality pad and replace the discs when they look tired.
Check the inner facing side of the disc for excessive corrosion which is common.
jellison said:
Aaron C. Reskew said:
jellison said:
Yep std disc are utter crap - for that price you might at the AP 285mm disc and the space kit. These are damn good - ideal for a 4.0 and a must / minimum on a 500 if driven fast.
Nothing wrong at all with the standard disc size.
Just make sure you use a good quality pad and replace the discs when they look tired.
Check the inner facing side of the disc for excessive corrosion which is common.
On a car like yours used on the track, the specification you mention is probably ideal. The budget mentioned would not cover this, as i presume the spacer/bracketry is for the bigger Ford caliper as fitted to the later Chimaera.
This i cobbled together earlier is better suited to the present requirements.
www.pistonheads.com/sales/103942.htm
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