Brakes

[transam]

As things have been a bit quiet here, plus I have been thinking about daft motoring stuff, brakes suddenly appeared above my head in a cloud shaped balloon.....????

What car had the worse brakes during you motoring life.....Well, for me I didn't have to think very hard, and considering I have been driving all sorts of rides since the mid 60's, mine was my 1976 Trans Am, how about you....????

[thaibeachlovers]

If one is a bad driver no brakes will save one.

A good driver should rarely have to brake anyway, except in pestilential cities.

 

Happily I've never driven a car with bad brakes, but I try to stay under the speed limit and I use the gears before the brakes.

[transam]

9 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If one is a bad driver no brakes will save one.

A good driver should rarely have to brake anyway, except in pestilential cities.

 

Happily I've never driven a car with bad brakes, but I try to stay under the speed limit and I use the gears before the brakes.

Then this thread is not for you.....????

[Kwasaki]

My worse brake experience was my 850 Morris mini going down hill in the west of England around the Ilfercombe area. 

They faded really bad so it was down to gear changes and handbrake as I remember. ????????????

[transam]

Just now, Kwasaki said:

My worse brake experience was my 850 Morris mini going down hill in the west of England around the Ilfercombe area. 

They faded really bad so it was down to gear changes and handbrake as I remember. ????????????

Yeh, I recall that too, back then brake fade was a real prob with drums all round...But I remember for normal stopping they were OK....????

[Kwasaki]

3 minutes ago, transam said:

Yeh, I recall that too, back then brake fade was a real prob with drums all round...But I remember for normal stopping they were OK....????

Yeah you've brought but memories my Panthers 600 motorbike had drums they faded on me too at one time. 

It was just a case getting the brain into another gear as well to make a save. ????

[Joinaman]

20 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

My worse brake experience was my 850 Morris mini going down hill in the west of England around the Ilfercombe area. 

They faded really bad so it was down to gear changes and handbrake as I remember. ????????????

Sounds like Porlock Hill, 

Used to have a traffic light system in the 60s, only go up when green. Could sit and watch cars coming down the hill backwards and then disappearing into the run off area. Even had a tank of water at the top to refill your overheating car !

 

[Kwasaki]

The thread made have a check, interesting.I

I recall a friend who had a Lexus coming up to a crossroads and the ABS was faulty and the car wouldn't stop, he was lucky no one about, the handbrake brought him to a stop.

 

https://car-recalls.eu/29-recalls-in-may-2019-brakes-related-problems-reported-by-audi-fiat-mercedes-opel-and-subaru/

[transam]

1 minute ago, Kwasaki said:

The thread made have a check, interesting.I

I recall a friend who had a Lexus coming up to a crossroads and the ABS was faulty and the car wouldn't stop, he was lucky no one about, the handbrake brought him to a stop.

 

https://car-recalls.eu/29-recalls-in-may-2019-brakes-related-problems-reported-by-audi-fiat-mercedes-opel-and-subaru/

Miami, 1995, we hired a big brand new Dodge saloon, we all drove it and all agreed the brakes are faulty. We were on a long trip so found a towns same name hire place to complain, they gave us another brand new same type car, brakes were perfect....????

[Rookiescot]

Had a MK1 Cavalier a looooong time ago where the brakes were virtually non existent.

The car actually did me a favour one day by deciding it had too many pistons and decided to get rid of one. 

[petermik]

7 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

 

The car actually did me a favour one day by deciding it had too many pistons and decided to get rid of one. 

Been there..done that often..piston broke

[ThailandRyan]

My first car was a 76 Ford Pinto wagon, and boy were the brakes horrible.  Maybe it was me being 16 and a new driver, but I remember putting brake pads on about every 6 months or so and having to replace the drums and rotors as well.

[Grumpy one]

I was given a 1948 Ford Prefect when I was 18

Got it started and took it out for a spin around Coogee Beach in Sydney.

First hill I came to was all it took for me to decide mechanical brakes were not for me  

[steve187]

On 10/9/2020 at 12:38 PM, thaibeachlovers said:

If one is a bad driver no brakes will save one.

A good driver should rarely have to brake anyway, except in pestilential cities.

 

Happily I've never driven a car with bad brakes, but I try to stay under the speed limit and I use the gears before the brakes.

i think the worst car  for braking was my first car an Ausin A40 farina,

 

gearboxes are expensive and their sole sole purpose is to build up speed, without over revving the engine, 

brakes are cheap and their sole purpose is to bring the speed of the car down, so way use a gearbox to slow down a car, steep downhill yes so as not to overheat the brakes.

 

[DaLa]

On 10/9/2020 at 1:35 PM, Kwasaki said:

My worse brake experience was my 850 Morris mini going down hill in the west of England around the Ilfercombe area. 

They faded really bad so it was down to gear changes and handbrake as I remember. ????????????

Absolutely agree. Same experience, don't know if it was a Morris or Austin though. Driving in Derbyshire where sheep want to play rabbit with you and I had 5 passengers on board.  No servo, no brakes. I was getting to the point where I wanted to open the door and use my foot on the road to slow down, like you would on a scooter!

 

[ThailandRyan]

28 minutes ago, DaLa said:

Absolutely agree. Same experience, don't know if it was a Morris or Austin though. Driving in Derbyshire where sheep want to play rabbit with you and I had 5 passengers on board.  No servo, no brakes. I was getting to the point where I wanted to open the door and use my foot on the road to slow down, like you would on a scooter!

 

Fred Flintstone style...lol

[AlfHuy]

mom's brakes always work.

She has her left food taped to the brake pedal.

[Yellowtail]

R-Model Mack pulling the Saturn 6.

 

South Florida in the mid '80s I had to turn onto the barricade in front of a toll booth to avoid hitting the car in front of me. Front wheels were a foot off the ground. I bet the guy in the booth needed a fresh pair of shorts...

 

Brakes seem find right up until it was time to give the final little push but there wasn't any more to push, slid right up the ramp to the block at the stop and hit the stop-sign. 

 

 

[Lacessit]

1950 FX Holden, drum brakes all round. Remember having an argument with a GM marketing guy who claimed disc brakes were no better. I asked him why the cars equipped with discs were winning all the races at Calder and Sandown.

[heist]

On 10/9/2020 at 12:48 PM, transam said:

Then this thread is not for you.....????

I dunno, I wouldn't be too proud that my one accomplishment in life could get gapped by a Toyota Yaris. Up to you. 

[jastheace]

hi trans. hows life?

my worst brakes, mk1 escort, had it for many years. (8 actually, the reason i learnt to weld!).

drum brakes all round. no servo. were fine as it happens, except in reverse, always had a hand on the handbrake when reversing as brakes weren't great in that direction.

the worst thing was the single line for the hydraulics. 

ex girlfriend was using the car when when of the cylinders decided to fail and leak, means NO brakes. i was accused of tampering with them to harm her. ???? no way. no way would i want to harm my pride and joy mk1 escort. ????

[DavisH]

My mini 1310cc. It accelerated faster than it braked. Took forever to stop it from 100mph. 

[mistral53]

I have to agree with the OP - my 455 SD Trans Am had the most ridiculous failure parading as brakes of all cars I ever owned. Ventilated disks the size of saucers in the front, drum brakes in the rear.........of course for tottering around at 55 MPH was all they were designed for.

[OneMoreFarang]

I only remember the best brakes. BMW M5. I didn't own one but I drove with my boss at that time thousands of km. Constantly braking from 250km/h down to maybe 100km/h and the same again soon after. No problem at all. Great brakes.

All other brakes I experienced were nowhere near that class.

 

[Lacessit]

6 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I only remember the best brakes. BMW M5. I didn't own one but I drove with my boss at that time thousands of km. Constantly braking from 250km/h down to maybe 100km/h and the same again soon after. No problem at all. Great brakes.

All other brakes I experienced were nowhere near that class.

 

I can't remember the year it  came in, but Mitsubishi were one of the first carmakers to have disc brakes all round on their Magna model in Australia ( Diamante in Asia ). Even today, plenty of brands that still have drums on the rear.

[OneMoreFarang]

Now I remember the car with the worst brakes. I repaired it with a friend when we were in school.

It was a Citroen CV2. It needed a new gearbox. We called junkyards for a used gearbox and they asked us if with disc brakes or drum brakes. That question was obviously very confusing when buying a gearbox. It turned out on that car the brakes are mounted on the gearbox. Crazy French design...

 

 

Edited October 12, 2020 by OneMoreFarang

[ThailandRyan]

32 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Now I remember the car with the worst brakes. I repaired it with a friend when we were in school.

It was a Citroen CV2. It needed a new gearbox. We called junkyards for a used gearbox and they asked us if with disc brakes or drum brakes. That question was obviously very confusing when buying a gearbox. It turned out on that car the brakes are mounted on the gearbox. Crazy French design...

 

 

That looks like it should fit on the Iron Buffalo the farmers use in the fields...lol

[OneMoreFarang]

42 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

That looks like it should fit on the Iron Buffalo the farmers use in the fields...lol

That is probably what it was designed for...

 

[transam]

13 hours ago, jastheace said:

hi trans. hows life?

my worst brakes, mk1 escort, had it for many years. (8 actually, the reason i learnt to weld!).

drum brakes all round. no servo. were fine as it happens, except in reverse, always had a hand on the handbrake when reversing as brakes weren't great in that direction.

the worst thing was the single line for the hydraulics. 

ex girlfriend was using the car when when of the cylinders decided to fail and leak, means NO brakes. i was accused of tampering with them to harm her. ???? no way. no way would i want to harm my pride and joy mk1 escort. ????

I am fine......????

I had a Mk2 Cortina with brakes that were OK, it didn't have a servo. I went to a scrap yard to rob the rear springs off a Mk2 Estate, they were stiffer, whilst I was there I noticed the Estate had a servo, off it came. What a difference it made to the Saloon's braking... 

[transam]

13 hours ago, heist said:

I dunno, I wouldn't be too proud that my one accomplishment in life could get gapped by a Toyota Yaris. Up to you. 

Not sure I understand your post...????