I previously wrote about a possible danger of removing the front brake
shields. Well, I pulled my "The Classic Sunbeam" book and found the part I
referenced. It's actually quite an interesting story. As I said before,
Rootes found that the pre-production Alpines were braking poorly and
wearing down brake pads in less than 10,000 miles. Healey was using discs
at that time. They contacted Healey to find that they were having the same
problems. So, Rootes set up a meeting with Healey, Lockheed, Dunlop and
Girling and all revealed that they were all having the same problem but no
one, until then, had let the other know about it. They shared their
attempts to date. But, the joint information still did not solve the
problem. Rootes took it upon itself and for 18 months drove Alpines and
other Rootes cars around the clock at an air field, constantly watering
down the road, to find a cure.
Ultimately, they found a cure. It was not the lack of a backing plate, but
a bad one. Apparently there was a hole in the center which allowed water
and dirt and grime to get in, but not out. It built up, causing the
problems. There is no mention in the book about Rootes getting a patent or
other chance of financial reward for all this work. But, it sounds like
every car on the road today with disc brakes owes their stopping ability to
our little Sunbeams.
Girling got the contract to supply the Rootes brakes. Lockheed felt they
could still improve on the results. They continued on the testing for the
next 3 years - continuing to use one of the pre-production Alpines as their
test vehicle.
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