>useful tools, and as a further note - there ARE ADVANTAGES TO DRUM BRAKES on
>small sports cars,
> especially in the rain.
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Disk brakes are inherently self cleaning. By the action of the calipers,
squeezing against the disk, they in effect squeegee the surface of dirt,
grime, and. . .water. If the brake pads were made of some material that
absorbed a lot of water, it may take a few rotations to build up enough
heat/pressure to rid the surface of any moisture but this should be in a
relatively short period, typically after a few seconds. If your disk's
don't then something else is wrong. Drum brakes on the other hand, WILL
NOT squeegee the water away and if they get water soaked will take
CONSIDERABLY longer to start braking effectively. One of the main
advantages and a big reason fro the switch to disk was this ability to work
in these averse conditions. The main draw back to their use is the higher
pressure required to achieve the same braking force, and to a lesser extent
the lack of a cheap effective parking brake. The latter is, until recently
the reason most older cars have a disk/drum setup. It was the cheapest and
best at the time. Again, if your disk brakes aren't stopping after a good
soaking, SOMETHING ELSE is out of spec. not the fault of the disk brake or
it's design. As anyone who had driven a completely drum brake equipped car
through deep enough water to soak the brakes, and then tried to stop will
tell you, GIVE ME DISK'S!!!
BTDT :-)
Barry Schwartz (San Diego) bschwart@pacbell.net
72 PI, V6 Spitfire (daily driver)
70 GT6+ (when I don't drive the Spit)
70 Spitfire (long term project)
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