Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

[b_caswell]

Re: Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

The amount of time you spend fettling, Im surprised you have a domestic life.She must be an angel from heaven.

[gouldsborough7]

Re: Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

Oh she is, but in reality I don't spend that much time on my car. Usually good politics to do the jobs when she is out, or doing her hobby stuff!

Did the glaze-busting, cleaned up everything, made sure the guide-pins slid well with graphite grease - big disappointment as it made no real difference.

So I've reached several conclusions:-
1) Will live with the problem, as pulling slightly to the left when braking in my county lane routes is better than to the right,
2)The fault is possibly a function of the new nearside lower wishbone, which a kit-car mate suggested didn't look identical to the original one on the offside,
3) I've replaced all of the important brake components, and don't want to spend any more money!

Thanks guys for all of your suggestions
Cheers
Mike

[greyV8pete]

Re: Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

Hi Mike. Just had another thought. In an earlier post you said the garage corrected your tracking which had too much toe out. Have you checked the tyres for uneven wear across the tread? Running too long with too much toe out will scrub the inside of the tread more than the outside, usually the O/S tyre. Then if that wheel / tyre has been changed to the near side, even after the toe in is corrected, the outside of the tyre will be more in contact with the road than the inside. This will definitely cause a pull to one side when braking. Provided your tyres have a symmmetrical tread pattern you could fix this by having the tyre "turned around" on the rim. An even quicker test would be to swap the front tyres to the rear. Peter.

[chris_cussen]

Re: Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

Hi Mike,
I'm really puzzled now. I thought all Hunters were Sierra based, in which case the lower wishbone is the standard Sierra component, and they should be similar!
Chris

[gouldsborough7]

Re: Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

Peter
At an early stage of my 'heavy steering' problem, I swapped over front/back wheels, and ended up with the best treads on the front. However, the original front tyres were fairly evenly worn, and not wedge-shaped as might be expected with bad toe-out settings. I've got a DIY tracking kit, which comprises a series of telescopic bars and built-in gauge. It might be of interest to check what toe-out settings the car is on at present.

Chris
I agree with your comments. Not sure what the guy at the Baldock meeting could see different. Without any form of measurement, he declared that there was a difference. All looked the same to me!

Just re-read some of my earlier comments, where I said that my local garage did a rolling-road check on the front whhels, and declared that there was a difference in the efficiency of the 2 front callipers. I might take the car back and ask them to check again. If the same problem still exists, despite all of the new parts, this might suggest the one calliper is getting a stronger squirt of brake fluid than the other. All of the flexible pipes are braided, so one could think that this should cancel out any ideas of a weak pipe bulging under stress. Don't imagine that there is a partial blockage anywhere, as I thoroughly flushed a lot of brake fluid through the system at all 4 wheels, when I replaced the callipers & slave cylinders.

Cheers
Mike

[greyV8pete]

Re: Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

Mike. Did you follow up on Chris's comment in an earlier post about checking suspension bushes ? The worst offenders are the compliance bushes at the front of the anti roll bar where it joins the track control arms. The O/E Ford parts which are in two halves are full of "fresh air" and are so flexible, even when new, that they will allow a lot of deflection during cornering, when steering and also under braking. If worn they are completely useless. The so called "heavy duty" type sold by after market suppliers are so solid that they very quickly end up destroying themselves against the ARB. I have fitted Supaflex to replace these two bushes and to replace the inner bushes of both the track control arms as these are the ones that have the most effect on the steering. It now steers like a go-kart! I think it was Derek Jones that advised using Supaflex for the chassis D-mount rubbers and also to avoid using them for the upper wishbone bushes to avoid excessive road noise pick up, so on mine these are retained as O/E rubber type. The Supaflex items aren't very expensive when you consider how they transform the steering. They may also solve your braking problem too! :-) Peter.

[greyV8pete]

Re: Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

Oops! Just checking through the above I should have said that Derek advised AGAINST using Supaflex for the chassis D-rubbers. So use Supaflex for the front ARB bushes and inner track control arm bushes only. Sorry for any confusion. Peter.

[csjcarolyn]

Re: Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

Mike,
You seem to be having too much fun with your car.

Just a couple of points, the best tyres should go on the back as a rear lock up is almost uncontrollable [I understand you put the more tapered tyres on the rear for this exercise] and when bleeding brakes the bleed nipples should always be locked off when the pedal is released. Or as I do when on my own is fill the master cylinder up, open a nipple and do another small job and it bleeds itself. OK you use more brake fluid but the job is done.

Roger

[gouldsborough7]

Re: Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

Thanks guys for your various comments. I am confident that I have got all of the air out of the hydraulic system. The combination of an automatic valve in my plasic bleed-pipe, and keeping the jam-jar higher than the bleed-nipple during the process, it all works OK.

Peter - I would love my Hunter to steer like a go-kart, as at present it steers like an elephant! I would admit doing nothing on suspension bushes, so can you tell me who supplies the Superflex bushes?

As my suspension know-how is a bit limited, can you advise me about which bushes you are referring:-
1) The ARB (Anti-roll-bar bushes)are the large ones which connect the end of each arm of the ARB to the lower suspension arms - OK?
2) I am not 100% sure what is meant by the inner track control arm bushes - can you clarify, please?

Cheers
Mike

[greyV8pete]

Re: Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

Mike. The ARB D-rubbers are the ones that attach the rear of the ARB to the chassis - leave these as rubber!
The Compliance bushes (2x half bushes and one stainless spacer sleeve per side) are shown ringed on the attached photo. Make sure that you use the O/E Ford washers as these are a larger O/Dia than the aftermarket things. Fit the flat washer at the rear and the dished washer at the front. These bushes fit on the end of the ARB and are secured by a large nyloc nut. They fit through a hole in the track control arm (TCA) near its outer end. The very outer end of the TCA carries the lower ball joint. The inner end of this TCA where it meets the chassis is where you need the other Supaflex bushes. These are also a split pair plus stainless spacer tube.
The part nos for my Hunter are:
Front Compliance Bush SPF0672 (2 per axle)
TCA Inner Bush (for 10mm bolt) SPF0770 (2 per axle)
Supplier www.supaflex.co.uk contact Chris Witor.
IMPORTANT! My ARB is the large diameter as fitted to Sierra & Granada Mk3. Check your own ARB and inner TCA bush bolt diameters against the Supaflex website! Peter.

[gouldsborough7]

Re: Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

Hi Peter
That's really great! Thanks for your trouble. Getting one's head around the abbreviations and part-names is my problem. I think it will be worthwhile to change the compliance bushes, as my car is currently running with one old and one new, both of unknown origin. Will let you know how I get on.

I wish I could replace the roll-bar with the adjustable kit, so that I could also experiment with the other geometry settings of the front wheels. However, the cost was an issue, plus this area really needs an expert with setting-up equipment.

Cheers
Mike

[greyV8pete]

Re: Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

Hey Mike that could be the problem with your uneven braking! Fix the bushes before you do anything else! Also recheck the toe in after fitting them as with one worn bush it may well change once the suspension geometry is corrected. Golden rule with replacements to components associated with brakes and suspension bushes - always do them as an axle set, never do just one side! Peter.

[marks]

Re: Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

This is quite a saga. I can heartily reccommend 2 ltre sierra set up with metro(small) servo. IE 260mm front discs to match disc rears. They need to match otherwise you balance is all rear biased and you need a balance valve. I also needed new bushes(after 800miles) at the mot as the rubbers were shot. Fancy yellow ones will last now, the replacement ones were completely naff, and this caused brake pulling too.Current set up really excellent (even compared to my wonderful octavia!). Parts from Quantum sports cars who seem to be collecting Sierra bits. Best of luck

[gouldsborough7]

Re: Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

LESSON TO BE LEARNT HERE.
I bought the Supaflex bushes and was already to do the swap of old/new. However, I accidentally lost the wheel security key (the security gubbins you fit to 1 of 4 wheel-nuts to remove wheels with convential socket spanner)!

After its disappearance, I realised that I had left the gadget on one of the security nuts, and drove around the block to test something - like you do. After the big penny had dropped (should have been on my head!) I walked up & down the road, then recruited my wife as a second pair of eyes, to look for this small but shiny thing. You guessed it - no sign anywhere. It had most likely spun off into the distance or somebody's front garden.

Fortunately, I had carefully stored the security number, and was able to order a replacement from Ford - £35 is the likely cost! I was tempted to get my village garage to drill off the security nuts and fit conventional ones, as theses security fittings are always a pain to use! However, this was likely to cost even more money. I am now waiting on Ford in Germany to send the gadget to my local agent, before I can get on with the job. I could have tried to change over the bushes with wheels in place, but thought that this would just make the job unnecessarily awkward.

A lesson to be learnt here. When it arrives, the gadget will be permanently attached to a big socket with gaffer tape, to make it really obvious. Will provide further feedback once the job is done.

Cheers
Mike

[chris_cussen]

Re: Improving performance of Hunter brakes?

Thie worked for me, wheel nut remover from screwfix
http://www.screwfix.com/search.do;jsessionid=YTFZWJKDGJNFACSTHZOCFFQ?_dync harset=UTF-8&fh_search=wheel+nut+remover&searchbutton .x=10&searchbutton.y=6
£21.99