S type Brakes

[oldtimer]

Hi Mike and All,
A couple of days before the Weston 'do' I thought I had better check the tyres and twang the wires. One back tyre half deflated, could'nt find anything, wheel off, there it is, one shiny nail head. Wheel into Harry the tyre in the village, can't repair that cos it is right on the shoulder.
Oh goodness me I says, or words to that effect. Tyre only half worn, don't like one new one old, so two new Perrelli's, arm and a leg job.and no comment from you I've had all that.
The above has absolutley nothing to do with the subject in question. Whilst the wheel was off I had a bit of a spring clean and looked at a problem of some years ago. Now pay attention this is the interesting bit. Look for the top end of the anti roll bar link rod and the rod protrudes through the anti roll bar with a nut securing it in place. Passing over the top of the threaded end of the link rod, yes you've guessed it , the hand brake cable. With the passing of time the threaded end grindes through the hand brake cable outer casing. End of part one seeif I can continue on another page Oldtimer

[oldtimer]

Part Two. This problem first came to light wnen I was fitting the tow bar. A steel guide plate was located above the anti roll bar and secured in place by the nut which also secured the the link rod. Without going into to much detail I could'nt work out which way around the guide plate was supposed to fit , cos either way round was not satisfactory. Bear in mind this is a brand new car.
A visit to Guy Salmon and told the fitting was superceded by a rubber dounut. This in my view was a sort of fix. I used the new dounut (spelling getting tired)but also introduced a large diameter washer dropped on top of the link rod nut and secured it in place with a chromed dome nut of the appropriate size ( Dome nut like a xk cylinder head nut). This has worked but the rubber is beginning to sag. I did this job 04 shortly after purchase. There is a short plastic protection sleeve over the hand brake cable at the point in question which I managed to rotate.The domed nut has prevented the rod end from chewing through the cable
I would suggest this is examined to aviod perhaps another job.
Good night one and all ,Oldtimer

[J44EAG]

Is the routing of the cable correct, Phil.

Perhaps compare with the other side?

I would be tempted to sheath the cable to help avoid chafing if no other method, mechanical or otherwise can be found to eradicate the problem.

Mike

[oldtimer]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for your reply. I repeated the process on the other side at the time. The point of my note was to draw the problem to the attention of other S owners and save them the inevitable cost of replacements. It is interesting you should mention the cable route,as you will be aware it is not like your push bike cable that can be easily moved around,particularly with the hand brake applied, it's almost solid. Next time the car is on the lift I'll have another look. ( Ya OK so I've got a lift) I suppose the fact that a steel guide plate was diplaced in favour of a rubber stop recognised that a problem existed
Whilst on the subject of brakes and cables do we still hear complaints of premature rear disc and pad wear? Interestingly, I had a few issues with the car when new, one of which was premature rear disc wear. I was given a feeble excuse for this to which I retorted, '' what a load of old , you know the rest. After some pen pushing they agreed to address all the issues. Mine is an early electric hand brake model (03) and was told that the cables were too short, so that when the suspension flexed up and down the rear brakes were applied. Have you heard that one before!
At least that sounded plausable. The upshot is that now. at just 40K the discs and pads are in excellant condition, so it worked.
TTFN Oldtimer

[J44EAG]

I`ve noticed many electronic hand braked cars have worn discs caused by pad drag. Not good. Premature disc and pad wear together with risk of overheated rear bearings can be caused.

I`ve not heard of the short cable issue but will investigate.

When pads on the rear are changed, the interior handbrake switch must be pressed down with the ignition on. Then switch off the ignition with the switch still held down. I wonder on occasions that people do not do that when relining and cannot then rewind the pistons fully back into the callipers. Tight pad clearance could result. Hence the exacerbated wear down of pads and discs.

I always lubricate the pistons with brake fluid before winding them back into the calliper. I had one very sticky piston at one point. Now I wind the pistons in and out a couple of times to make sure everything runs easily. The other thing to check is that the "ramp and ball" fulcrum lever arrangement on each calliper is operating correctly. Again jams are not unknown due to dirt and corrosion. Lubricate as required to obtain full and free operation.

Once new pads and or discs have been installed, refit the wheels with the back end of the car free of the ground. Check that bind free operation occurs when the hand brake switch has been depressed and also that the hand brake switch also enables the park brake function when the switch is lifted. Similarly check that when again set to off, the switch releases the hand brake fully and that the brakes do not drag.

Mike