[jav]

Have you upsized or put wider tyres? because i had the same problem in my indica when i upsized to 185 from 165, after unsuccessfully trying various methods to increase the brake bite finally i went back to stock size tyres and the braking is back to normal

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by Hashim

Reviving this old thread as what I noticed this monsoon is pretty amazing. Since last update of this thread I had not got anything done to the brake and they were pretty bad. No bite at all. But here is what I noticed a week back and confirmed it almost everyday as its raining almost daily here these days.

Since I park the car outside and it rains at night when I start driving the brakes work so good that even a slight touch on the brake pedal and car comes to halt. After a km or two this super braking power goes and brake becomes bad as they were before.

I notice this super good braking when I pass from water logged road, initially when wheels are very much wet, braking is poor but a stage comes when they start working great and when the wheels are completely dry, its bad again.

What I am making out from this is that brake pads when they are moist are working good and after drying they are not working good. So should I get the disc brake pads changed? I got them checked and they are not worn out but pretty old maybe 3+ years

Edit: I remember few months back once a mechanic offered a second hand brake booster and I got it swapped in condition that brakes should work. But there was no difference in braking so I got mine fixed back. Since then I was thinking something else to be wrong with the braking system

That means that your hydraulic circuit is fine and only the "friction" part not working.

The brakes are not "biting". With water the surfaces are wiped clean, friction increases, and the brakes become effective. Here is what I would do

1. Clean the disks and the drums with kerosene or diesel to get rid of all the oil/dirt. Use a fine sandpaper (preferably the wet&dry) to polish the surfaces.
2. Clean the brake pads and sandpaper them as in point 1.
3. Now check if the brakes are working, in dry mode. If not wet then thoroughly and check again.

If the brakes are only biting when wet, then there is excessive travel required. Get the mechanic to adjust the travel.

By the way, have you ever changed
- brake oil
- rubber seals all round including in Master Cylinder (I think there is a brake kit, available with all the relevant rubber parts)

If not, do that before any thing else. For all my Marutis - 800, Esteem and AltoK10, these are supposed to be carried out at 40K-60K interval.

[Hashim]

Originally Posted by jav

Have you upsized or put wider tyres? because i had the same problem in my indica when i upsized to 185 from 165, after unsuccessfully trying various methods to increase the brake bite finally i went back to stock size tyres and the braking is back to normal

No the car is running on stock size of 155/80 R13

Originally Posted by Aroy

That means that your hydraulic circuit is fine and only the "friction" part not working.

The brakes are not "biting". With water the surfaces are wiped clean, friction increases, and the brakes become effective. Here is what I would do

1. Clean the disks and the drums with kerosene or diesel to get rid of all the oil/dirt. Use a fine sandpaper (preferably the wet&dry) to polish the surfaces.
2. Clean the brake pads and sandpaper them as in point 1.
3. Now check if the brakes are working, in dry mode. If not wet then thoroughly and check again.

If the brakes are only biting when wet, then there is excessive travel required. Get the mechanic to adjust the travel.

By the way, have you ever changed
- brake oil
- rubber seals all round including in Master Cylinder (I think there is a brake kit, available with all the relevant rubber parts)

If not, do that before any thing else. For all my Marutis - 800, Esteem and AltoK10, these are supposed to be carried out at 40K-60K interval.

All these have been carried out, not with kerosene or diesel but the disc was faced (a fresh layer of metal comes which is clear of oil/dirt) since it had lots of scratches and pad was cleaned with sandpaper.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by Hashim

All these have been carried out, not with kerosene or diesel but the disc was faced (a fresh layer of metal comes which is clear of oil/dirt) since it had lots of scratches and pad was cleaned with sandpaper.

Actually after facing, the gap between the disk/drum and the pads increases, so the piston extrusion has to be adjusted for greater travel, otherwise the brakes are less effective.

If the brakes feel spongy
- then
the brake oil has become compressible and needs bleeding/changing
- else
the brakes need more force, hence booster has to be "boosted". The
vacuum circuits needs checking (leaks, corrosion etc)

Another cause can be old tyres. Once I had tyres on my Esteem for six plus years. The tread was perfect, but the grip gone. New tyres restored braking power. To test apply brakes on a loose surface and see if you skid. If it brakes perfectly on concrete road and not on dirty road your tyres have lost grip.

[Hashim]

Thanks Aroy you have got a point, I will get the travel adjustment done. Tyres are fine, they are still almost new.

[black12rr]

How much was surfacing for each disk ? .
Isn't it better to replace both the disk with new ones instead . It should not cost much .Peace of mind and safety .Also replace pads at the same time . That's what I did on my zen ,replaced both the dics and pads at the same time . First few days it will less , after few days of usage, teh pads bed in ,it will be ok .Zen does not have powerful braking :( .

[Hashim]

I remember I think they charged Rs.250 per disc for surfacing. Reason given to me for high price was that they had to surface 2 sides. Rear drums were surfaced for half of this price.