My brakes are worryingly rubbish... Any ideas?

[Justin182]

Recently noticed that my brakes are really very poor when you ask more then the normal from them.

Driving along the bypass tonight approaching a roundabout when the lights changed. So i needed to brake from about 50mph to 0mph in an resonable distance. Harder then normal braking was required but nothing special.

Anyway... as i pushed to pedal, the car didnt really react so i pushed it harder and harder until i coulndnt push much more. I lifted off and then reapplied and the car just trickled to a holt (just!!!) I went over the line a bit and luckly there were no cars infront.

Then the brake and service lights came on once i was waiting at the lights.

It was def not fade as i had been doing motorway driving and were not using the brakes much and the car has only done 20,000 miles. ( no track stuff etc...)

I can seriously say that, currently the brakes on my old 1989 1.3 ford escort were miles better then my 182 and they were standard and at the end of their life.

Do i need brakes replacing this early on or is there a problem?

Thanks guys....

Jus

 

[rmccardal]

low fluid ? buggered servo ?

 

[edde]

I've got the same sort of problem but I think mine are down to the bleed nipples being broken.
I'd try bleeding the sytem of air with some new fluid.

 

[Justin182]

Checked the fluid the other day and its fine.... Not sure about the servo though. The pedel feels fine so didnt thing its pads worn. All my fog lights have gone out so i'm off to renault anyway to get them fixed ( not the fuse) so will get them to have a look... and my horn sounds like its squashed between 2 pillows.

But as most people on here know more the renault themselves do about fixing our cars i thought i would go there with some suggestions...lol

 

[rmccardal]

I always found my standard brakes fine (apart from wet motorways)

I would change fluid and maybe get some DS2500 pads which bite harder.

 

[Justin182]

I always found my standard brakes fine (apart from wet motorways)

I would change fluid and maybe get some DS2500 pads which bite harder.

Do you think they would need replacing after 20,000 miles of normal/fast driving?

And are there any negitives of those pads like increased brake dust etc...?

I'm quite tempted to go for better pads but not sure if needed for just normal conditions...

 

[rmccardal]

Better pads will generally produce more dust and maybe make some more noise. Performance is worth it though.

As for the fluid, mine has been changed 4 times and its done 16k.

 

[Justin182]

Did a bit of a search on here and the DS2500 pads seem to be a good choice. So am very tempted, even if it is just my brake fluid needing done.

Is there any type of brake fluid that you would recommend for just fast road use?

Thinking back.... almost all the times i have needed to brake hard at high speeds, my standard brakes/fluid have almost let me down. Almost killed a whole flock of sheep once and thought it might have been brake fade.

 

[White16valver]

Go to DOT 4 for road use, Dot 5 is only really for track use as it is silicon based and absorbs too much moisture. (I think... LoL)

 

[miketheman2k]

As for the fluid, mine has been changed 4 times and its done 16k.

That's not exactly due to crap braking though is it!

Justin, I had exactly the same problem as you - with people saying that 182 brakes are awesome, etc - mine couldn't get abs to kick-in unless the road was wet and I literally jumped on the brakes.

I tried changing the brake fluid - that didn't help.

I had the servo changed - that didn't help either.

I then bought a full set of DS2500's and the brakes magically sprung into life! They now bite much harder, ABS kicks in much more frequently.

Having said that, it still has good days and bad days, sometimes they'll bite really hard and other times less so (but still good).

So its pads for you my friend!

 

[Ben j]

pads are prob glazed over. i had this before. pads looked fine. i changed the fluid. bled it thro twice. just didnt make any difference. changed the pads and almost put myself thro the window it stopped so hard.

 

[Justin182]

Right.... know what i'm doing now. New pads and possibly fluid. Thanks for all your help guys. I knew my brakes where never that special when i drove my mums golf gtdti and almost ended up outside the car when braking, and they were just standard.

I never really thought about it, but as Mike says, it is impossible for me to get the ABS to kick in unless its really wet or a bumpy roads (potholes etc..), which with good brakes i should.

Anyone know where i could get a set from? I think i heard some people on here sell them..

Thanks again guys

Jus

 

[White16valver]

Right.... know what i'm doing now. New pads and possibly fluid. Thanks for all your help guys. I knew my brakes where never that special when i drove my mums golf gtdti and almost ended up outside the car when braking, and they were just standard.

Don't mistake snatchy brakes for good brakes - good brakes will be strong and progressive and not fade, not propel you through the windscreen the first time and then fade to blancmange the 2nd time lol

Anyone know where i could get a set from? I think i heard some people on here sell them..

Thanks again guys

Jus

y0z2a or Fred2001dynamic trading as www.Yozzasport.com are one place you can get brakes, or John2modified trading as www.2modified.com does them as well.
You also have BB Performance Tuning www.bbperformancetuning.co.uk , KTec http://www.k-tecracing.com/ and other places you can find on the internet

 

[Justin182]

Don't mistake snatchy brakes for good brakes - good brakes will be strong and progressive and not fade, not propel you through the windscreen the first time and then fade to blancmange the 2nd time lol


y0z2a or Fred2001dynamic trading as www.Yozzasport.com are one place you can get brakes, or John2modified trading as www.2modified.com does them as well.
You also have BB Performance Tuning www.bbperformancetuning.co.uk , KTec http://www.k-tecracing.com/ and other places you can find on the internet

Thanks for that mate, will give those sites a visit.

On the braking issue, i know what you mean with pogressive and strong but had just driven my clio and didnt consider the change lol. The golf brakes are very good.

Thanks again

Jus

 

[White16valver]

Best to give Yoz a ring as the site's still under construction! Think the rest should all be fine though

 

[Justin182]

Yeah.. just noticed that. Think i will PM or e-mail him soon. I am guessing he does sell the DS2500's as the other sites dont seem to selll them.

Cheers

 

[White16valver]

Yeah, pretty sure he does - I'm sure Fred posted up in another thread today about them

edit: Yep, he did! http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?t=111557

 

[Fred@BTM]

yeah we've got them in stock, Fred@yozzasport.co.uk

20,000mies is about the normal life span of stock pads

 

[Justin182]

Thanks fred.

Just e-mailed you...

Jus

 

[YoShImUrA]

Justin, about the first post... did you happen to be driving for a while without using the brakes? I ask that because maybe some water or humidity got in between the pads and the discs, and this REALLY reduces friction between them, so unless you brake twice they won't "dry" or clean themselves or watever they have to do to brake properly...
In most of Mercedes Benz there's an electronic device designed just to watch for this phenomena by blipping the brakes very smoothly so that you don't notice...its clever though
(mind my english if it's a bit funny, I'm a spanish lad...)
Cheers!

P.S. I ask you this because when its raining, and since I do a lot of motorway myself, this happens to me a lot... and maybe there's the answer to your problem

 

[White16valver]

To be honest, they sound completely fucked in his first post! lol

I've found that grooved discs have helped a lot on wet motorways as the water has the grooves to escape into so you get good contact with the pad. (I guess?) I had no issues with an inch of standing water and braking!

And yes, I know what you mean about the Mercedes. They are slightly more expensive than Clio's though... LoL :rasp:

 

[miketheman2k]

Try Demon Tweeks for the pads - if you speak to John Harris you'll get 10% discount and they'll arrive nice and fast

 

[Guy]

mine were poor, got soem ds2500's, little bit better, got silkolene pro race 2000 brake fluid, havent had it put in yet though. hoping its just the fluid.

 

[Justin182]

yeah.. dont think it was water or humidity etc... as i had braked twice to try and get better stopping power and it also happens in town. Was out testing them earlier and they really are shi*e. If i brake as hard as i can, you dont even learch forward. I showed a mate and he couldnt believe it was my best effort.

Am driving gingerly until i get some new pads and fluid.

E-mailed Fred (yozzasports) for some info.....