Live Axle cars - How well do they stop? - Urgent

[oldbutnotslow]

Knowing little about Live Axle cars I presume that the rear brakes are drums.

How well will they stop you?

How good are the brakes compared to a car fitted with discs all around?

 

Your comments would be appreciated ASAP as we are set to look at a 1.6 VX engined 99 car which has a live Axle tomorrow

 

Grant Taylor - OBNS Motorsport

😬 1.6K with 183 BHP of Black and 'Stone Chip' excitement. 😬

 

[Big Brother]

Mine is a Ford live axle so the drums are a little larger than the Itals.

 

I've never had a problem with stopping (other than the rears used to lock up before the fronts but new pads sorted this)

 

I know disks are more efficient and I'm guessing they can dissipate heat better, however drums seem to work well on light cars.

I've never felt the need to change to disks.

 

Steve

 

 

SE7EN-UP!

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[Myles]

I wouldn't want to guess what the proportion is - but clearly the fronts do a hell of a lot more work than the rears.

 

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[DSL]

Fireblade with rear drums stops ok, it just needs a much bigger push than the R400, but then that does have Ferodo DS2500's & a race master

[SLR69]

Front brakes apparently do 80% of the braking, so drums as against discs on the rears isn't going to make a huge difference and in a 7 of course there isn't a lot of weight to actually stop.

[j passfield]

I have got a 2002 LA with 125 bhp 1.8 Vx engine, no problems with the brakes at all. I guess a lot will depend on what you do with the car, if you are going onto the track then upgrading of pads and fluid and careful setting of the rear brakes should all improve the performance. On a slightly different thread, I was once told by a Police driving instructor to drive " like you've nicked it and the brakes don't work" its worth a go on a normal journey to start with and build up distance and speed from that, its surprising what good progress can be made, the bonus is a saving on fuel, tyre and brake wear!!

[Pezky]

My Ital axle car stops ok. Should have a nice "solid" feel to brake pedal if too much travel, not setup right.

[tricky dicky]

Grads use drums on the VX and Crossflows, I'd think with uprated pads on front and a decent set of shoes that track use would be fine for this set up.

[Nick Chan]

Grant,

 

I ran an Ital live axle car for 5 years and never had a problem with the braking. As said before most of the braking force is generated by the front discs anyway. Only braking concern I can think about was getting the underdash handbrake to work effectively but I never had a problem.

 

Otherwise the real concerns were how much power could an Ital axle take (max 170 bhp) so the 100 BHP or so from a 1600 VX isn't going to be an issue (or the 135 BHP if its had a Blyderstein conversion) with the biggest concern being the possibility of ruining the diff if used on trackdays. However this would be a combination of sticky tyres on a hot twisty track where oil surge will occur and will be something to be aware of.

 

Cheers

 

Nick

 

The BEC has gone - now onto an R400!!

[bstark]

My Ital axle SS stops very well with Mintex M1144 pads up front and the std drums and shoes at the back. The Rears used to lock before the fronts before I uprated the pads.

 

Bob Stark

Supersprinter

[guilleracing]

Hi,

 

Calculate the surface area of the shoes on a set of drums against the surface area on the pads on a set of discs. Clearly the drums have a greater braking area than the discs. Unless there is actually a mechanical problem with them the drums should be fine. The problem with brake drums is dealing with the heat generated under operation. Discs deal with the heat dissipation better than the drums. I have a 1990 Classic with drums on the rear and I had a similar problem to many owners, namely that the rear locked up long before the front. I have cured this with Mintex pads. Unless you have a problem getting the drums and shoes for your car I wouldn't change for the sake of it.

[Unclefester]

You need the leg muscles of a kangaroo to stop my LA Lotus Twink engined 1981 car....I don't know why its so bad, but it's quite impressively crap. Has drums at back on the RS Ford axle.

 

I assume the front pads are badly glazed or something, it just doesn't stop as it should.

 

 

 

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds..ooooh hooo hooo!!...

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[alextangent]

I can stick mine on its nose with a reasonable shove. Ital drums at the back.

 

Alex McDonald

A loud 1700 SS

[I.Mupferit]

And bear in mind that you can quite easily change to a Ford 'English' axle with discs if the Ital axle decides it doesn't like too many track days. I did this conversion on my old live axle 7 with good results.

 

Brent

(aka Arfur Nayo)

 

2.3 DURATEC SV Reassuringly Expensive

R 417.39 😬

[Irrelevant]

Front brakes apparently do 80% of the braking

Where's you get that from SLR69?

I can't believe it . . .. recently had an issue with mine that reduced braking effort to the rears, not even completely; but the car stopped terribly. Fixed rear brake issue and braking was absolutely transformed. I reckon the rears do a lot more than 20% - they certainly appear to on mine.

[oldbutnotslow]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I have just driven YBNS new car and the brakes work fine so no worries!

 

Grant Taylor - OBNS Motorsport

😬 1.6K with 183 BHP of Black and 'Stone Chip' excitement. 😬