a question of brakes

phraze · Post by **phraze** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 2:03 pm

hello all,

this might be a tough question to answer as without being in my car it's probably impossible to tell...but...I am not convinced that the brakes in our 111r (about 4 months old with 4,000ish miles on the clock) are as good as they should be.

I've noticed that especially from cold they don't bring my to a stop quite as sharply as I'd expect them to, in fact I reckon that the brakes in our Saab 9-3 feel better.

Do the brakes take time to warm up or something? I know that the discs get a bit rusty if it is sitting for a while - is it just a case of cleaning them by using them and just being careful before the rust has worn off?
Are there any known problems with standard 111r MY07 brakes?
Or Am I just not pressing hard enough - ie: these brakes feel different to the ones in a big lump of a car (like a Saab) they're supposed to be like that for better feel...

Cheers. f.

PS. Reading this back I'm not sure anyone is going to be able to help...but I'll post anyway!!!

BiggestNizzy · Post by **BiggestNizzy** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 2:10 pm

Hmm hard to tell without driving it, I will be more than willing to hoon it about a bit "just to see"

meatball · Post by **meatball** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 2:14 pm

111s - no brakes at start until warm....and I mean none!
exige - not good with corroded disks, a lot better when cleaned (ie driven), miles better when actually hot!

I've just put on Pagid RS 4-2's though.....they are in a different league!

When's it due a service?
Ie is the car brand new?

Lazydonkey · Post by **Lazydonkey** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 2:16 pm

I've no idea what pads lotus fit to the new cars, but if they were anything like the brembo fitted to my car when i got them you would notice a big difference by changing them.

If my discs are rusty i favour the "drive it like you stole it" approach - but not sure if this is recommended or not

steve_weegie · Post by **steve_weegie** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 4:50 pm

Hi Phrase,

THe lotus standard pads are designed to work pretty well from cold, but in this weather the pads can get contaminated with salt, rust and other nice stuff quickly.

As lazydonkey says, give it some "rough love" to clean things up. Pagid's reccomended way of doing this is on the link below. When you're doing these tests, its best to try and avoid the ABS system if possible - you're trying to get as much heat in the discs as possible.

http://www.braketechnology.com/brakepadbedding.html

Cheers,

Steve

phraze · Post by **phraze** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:18 pm

Hi Meatball the car is new, well it we got it brand new in September.

Sounds like I just need to give them a bit of stick to get warmed up and cleaned...

Edin430 · Post by **Edin430** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:28 pm

Mine feel gash until I heat them up a bit...

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 6:53 pm

I am right in thinking that elise/exiges don't have servo assisted brakes... gives you much more pedal feel, but you so need to shove the pedal a bit to get full braking. From memory, the brakes in my Liz felt much weaker than the over servo assisted brakes on any 'normal' car. Fact of the matter was the elise brakes were fine, and had some feel!

steve_weegie · Post by **steve_weegie** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 6:57 pm

Dominic wrote:I am right in thinking that elise/exiges don't have servo assisted brakes... gives you much more pedal feel, but you so need to shove the pedal a bit to get full braking. From memory, the brakes in my Liz felt much weaker than the over servo assisted brakes on any 'normal' car. Fact of the matter was the elise brakes were fine, and had some feel!

Only the older non-abs cars... These new fangled yota lumped things have all the heavy mod cons

phraze · Post by **phraze** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 8:06 pm

went out for a quick hoon this afternoon everything seems fine...and the pedal on the right of the brake pedal definitely works as well!

RDH · Post by **RDH** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:33 pm

NOOPS 160 wrote:
phraze wrote:went out for a quick hoon this afternoon everything seems fine...and the pedal on the right of the brake pedal definitely works as well!
Hello Dezzy ,

How are you .. Nice to see your still oohing an arraign can't be arsed commenting on the lump of S2 JUNK you have their ,but each to their own........

It's phraze not Dezzy!

Keep up old yin!