Monday, September 28, 2009

Brake Install




Here are some pictures from the new brakes installation. The top picture is comparing the old rotor on the left to the new one on the right. The Second picture is the old rotor and pads, which look awful. And the last picture is the final result with the new rotor installed and new pads. The entire EV got this treament, but the rear had drums so those got replace along with the shoes. It took about 4 hours to do the whole process, including bleeding the brakes, which was not too bad.

7 comments:

Brian said...

You could probably have your rotors machined. It looks like you have plenty of material left on them.

David Harrington said...

One of the rotors had 1/8" shaved off due to a dragging caliper and the other was pretty rusty. New rotors were only $20 a piece, so I decided to do all new parts to make things easier and just to have done them. The car has 244,000 miles on it, so when I have to replace a part I like to go all new just to keep the EV running.

Fredrik said...

Have you thought of cutting away material from the brake rotor, like drilling holes and similar (you know, like they do in motorsports) to reduce unsprung weight?

Brian said...

I would't drill the rotors. The brake rotors function as a giant heat sink. If you start drilling out material, you are going to cause the metal to crack or warp.

David Harrington said...

You need all the stopping power you can get in an EV, so no I have no plans do do any sort of weight savings. I don't even think it's legal in MA to modify the brakes or frames anyways cause they do check every year during inspection.

Fredrik said...

Well, I don't know the English term for it, but i meant making holes and lines like racing brakes have. (Google images: racing brakes) I know we have firms here that do this improve brakes on (mostly) street cars. They know what they do and it does not cause the brakes to get destroyed. Sorry for the bad English.
Like this guy do: http://www.rolleslitz.se/

Brian said...

Fredrik - Take a look at this: http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=1437513

Then start looking into the physics of braking. If anything, on an EV, I'd consider finding a way to get bigger rotors, calipers and pads.