New calipers / rebuilding current ones.

In message , Doki writes

If you have a binding brake then its probably just a grotty sliding pin which needs cleaning up. You would need a torx socket to undo them.

I think a calliper upgrade would cost you a fortune. I assume you are talking about the Ka? I agree the brakes are not up to much.

My Ka has the solid disks, but others and the Puma have vented disks. A scrappy set of calipers from the right sort of Ka or a Puma would let me fit vented disks, hopefully for not too much money. I reckon Mintex M1144s or Greenstuff pads could be on the agenda too.

In message , Doki writes

The vented discs will make you less prone to brake fade when you hammer the brakes but they won't make much difference at other times IMHO.

I've got Greenstuff on the Focus and M1144's on the Ka. The M1144's are the better pad although the Greenstuff produces less brake dust if you are worried about keeping any alloys clean.

If you do only have 13" steel wheels, you may find the Puma discs/callipers won't fit. The 14" alloys should be fine though.

I assume you're talking about the feel of the brakes. I am wondering about braided hoses but suspect the insurance company would hang draw and quarter me.

I'll get M1144s then, they're not that much dearer than Greenstuff.

Really? I thought Puma and Ka vented disks / calipers were the same. I'll check the part numbers with Ford or ask someone with the TIS.

The message from Paul Giverin contains these words:

Talking of brakes....

I've been driving the wife's Clio for the last ten days and the brakes are...weird. They seem to do very little when you start to press 'em, but if you keep a steady pressure on 'em they get more and more effective as you stop.

Part of it might be 'cos it's automatic and there's a sort of throttle damper so it's still got gas for just a moment when you start braking...but that seem unlikely. Is it reasonable to assume that it's just the pads warming up?

Some pads certainly need warming up. My SDI has dreadful brakes first stop of the day, then merely poor after that.

In message , Doki writes

What I'm saying is the vented discs may have only come on the 14" alloy versions. If you have 13" steel wheels you may find there's not enough room. I could be wrong but its just worth checking out before you splash the cash.

Well, I'm quite certain that both happen on the Ka!

When you lift off the power, the ECU continues to squirt petrol into the engine for a second or two (yes it's that long) depending on circumstances, and you get virtually no deceleration. This means it's entirely possible to lift off the power a number of seconds before you intend to decelerate. :)

But our front (vented) discs also benefit from some heat - if we've been on the motorway for some time, we dump the clutch and brake moderately firmly from 70, by the time we're going through 60 or so the brakes are feeling much better.

Nah, you should be fine. Ford have always mixed and matched what Ka gets solid and what Kas get vented, but the older the Ka the more likely it is to have solid discs. Having ABS helps, but doesn't always mean you'll get vented discs (we don't have many other ABS-equipped Kas, but of the two I know one has vented - Kermit - and the other has solids).

All of the Duratec-engined Kas I've fettled with have had vented discs, with either 13" steel or 14" wheels.

I would say this is unlikely. If it has a mechanical throttle system and this has closed, continuing to inject fuel will result in heavy emissions. More likely it slows down the closing of the butterfly - which of course has the same effect.

For most of the time it does feel as though there's a big damper on the throttle, i.e. it's slowly shutting off the fuel supply, however there are times when it feels as though the ECU is deliberately feeding the engine more fuel than your pedal position is telling it.

I was led to believe that this reduces pollution, although to be completely honest I'd have thought that simply shutting off the fuel supply would have done just that! :)

I'll be getting my hands on an OBD-II Scanner and I'll be able to log what happens when I lift off . . .

circumstances,

Whatever it's doing, it's bloody irritating when the engine suddenly starts braking like mad a second after your perfectly blipped change down into second...

of throttle

start

that it's

brakes first stop

If it has the same brakes as my Vitesse, I'm surprised you say that. Mine is the same as yours with the first application of the day, but after that they are fine. I've never had any sign of fade, and always thaught the brakes were excellent. Unlike the two 2600's I had, which faded quite readily. They were so bad I complained to Rover about them. Didn't do any good though. But the Vitesse brakes are equally as good, if not better, than my later Celica GT4 and Mitsubishi Galant. Mike.

assume you are

much.

vented disks. A

would let me

Mintex M1144s or

you hammer

times IMHO.

wondering about

draw and quarter

I doubt it. It's hardly a performance enhancing modification, but braided hoses wouldn't improve the actual stopping power of the brakes, just the feel of the pedal. As Paul implied though, vented discs would improve the high speed braking effect. Mike.

They're not bad, but my everyday car is a newish BMW which has superb brakes. Well the footbrake - the handbrake's pathetic, unlike the SD1's which is good.

I've not had them fade, but could do with more servo assistance and a self adjusting mechanism for the rears that actually worked. So saying, I've had a new set of adjusters and handbrake levers on the shelf waiting to be fitted for months.

Strange when you consider just how good the P6 brakes were.

I think you need to drive a HGV . . .

If I remember physics correctly, reflective silver objects are able to radiate less heat than matt black objects..

Braided hoses are silver, rubber hoses are matt black so rubber hoses will radiate more heat than braided hoses. Does this mean that using braided hoses over rubber will actually reduce your braking performance since the brake fluid is less able to be cooled?

Braided hoses are just rubber hoses with a metal sheath over the top for appearance the sheathes are not tight enough to actually contribute to the hose on the ones I've seen. They just contain a reinforced rubber hose inside just the same as a normal rubber hose, maybe with more reinforcement to improve pedal feel.

-- James

Slowing down throttle closing tends to give smoother gear changes particularly for people who would be less than smooth.

-- James

about them.

equally as good,

Galant.

It's so long ago I can't really remember what my plain 2000, and

2000 TC P6's were like to drive. :-) I recall they had anti-dive front suspension under braking though. I liked that, and I also recall how _interesting_ it was to drive when one link on the rear 'axle' broke. Talk about rear wheel steering. Must have been hilarious to anyone watching. Mike.