Lol just how rubbish ARE k10 brakes!

Ceirwan

Ceirwan

Ex. Club Member
I know its been said before, but i went for a bit of a drive today, and i was driving a short downhill road near where i live rather fast, and after three corners of hard (as in tires squealing but not quite locking up) braking, the brakes where feeling decidedly not so good.

I pulled over to let them cool down, as i got out the car i was astonished to see smoke coming out from both front wheels! Stank! And the alloy wheels themselves where extremely hot!

I think an upgrade is maybe in order!
Anyone else get this?
 
If your wheels are hot that is usually due to the master cylinders in the callipers seizing.
 
Not quite smoke because i very rarely have to slam on my brakes, but i do get constant brake squeal from the standard k11 setup i have up front, they last alot longer but just not good enough for the track.
 
Yeah they are bad, my front brakes are new and my braking system is not in bad nik, but with me and my 4 mates in the car breaking was poor and from past 50 mph it was really bad. I weigh 14 stone and my mates aint small lads, so maybe that was part of it.
 
They're pretty bad standard, but then so is most of the car (suspension etc). There are upgrade options though, and like Kev said, maybe you just need to replace a few bits.
 
personally i believe the K10 standard brakes are perfect for a standard k10, the problem is that people dont give them regular maintaince which causes problems. if your wheels are getting hot your calipers are siezeing, get them replaced or rebuilt, at the very least bleed the system and check the caliper pistons for damage.

New pads standard discs and a full bleed of the system will get the brakes 100% and new brakes on a k10 even standard ones are very good. people that say otherwise cleary havnt had thir brakes serviced in a while....
 
I used to find they'd fade pretty quickly if used hard but for day to day driving they do the job well. Much more and you'd find it too easy to lock the wheels up on a greasy surface if you weren't paying attention.

Try my vectra's brakes, they're awful but if you brake hard the electronic brake assist kicks in and you stop in no time at all.
 
Well the pads and discs were apparently new not that long ago according to Fordy, and i see no reason not to believe him as he seemed a straight enough guy.

How hard is it to strip down the brakes (with the help of a haynes manual) and give them a service?
Wouldn't the master cylinder seizing stop the brakes from working, or are you saying that if its seized the brakes are always applied slightly building up heat?
 
Pete said:
I used to find they'd fade pretty quickly if used hard but for day to day driving they do the job well. Much more and you'd find it too easy to lock the wheels up on a greasy surface if you weren't paying attention.

Try my vectra's brakes, they're awful but if you brake hard the electronic brake assist kicks in and you stop in no time at all.
Click to expand...

i agree on the fade issue Pete, although lets face it these cars never have been designed for high speed braking, vented disc however almost completely eliminate the fade and is the only upgrade really worth doing IMO. if its good enough for a k10 turbo its good enough for a k10 1.0 slowback ;)

Ceirwan said:
Well the pads and discs were apparently new not that long ago according to Fordy, and i see no reason not to believe him as he seemed a straight enough guy.

How hard is it to strip down the brakes (with the help of a haynes manual) and give them a service?
Wouldn't the master cylinder seizing stop the brakes from working, or are you saying that if its seized the brakes are always applied slightly building up heat?
Click to expand...

the calipers are probabaly sticking on, striping brakes isnt hard if your good with mechanical stuff not something a begineer should try without help though.

i doubt the master cylinder is the problem if that was failing the brakes would be performing very poorly and the car would be in a tree by now, however replacing the MBC is very easy 4 bolts and its off.

Ceirwan said:
Well the pads and discs were apparently new not that long ago according to Fordy,
Click to expand...

if thats what fordy says then its 110% definalty the case the man spent lots of time and money on that car im suprised your having problems tbh
 
I found the standard k10 brakes fine for comute style driving. If I do a run through the countryside, after 5mins the brakes will fade so badly they almost dont work. Basically, if you want to drive fast, standard k10 brakes are useless and most likely dangerous.
 
Ceirwan said:
after three corners of hard (as in tires squealing but not quite locking up) braking,
Click to expand...

...EEEEK!

I'm guessing that you could see that the road around the corner was completely clear etc etc
 

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There are nothing wrong with the standard brakes.
If you can drive properly they are perfectly adequate. You are speaking to someone who has a mini without a Servo and Drums all round!!
You shouldnt b driving at those speeds or that dangerously people like you cause accidents and increase my Insurance premium. RANT OVER!!!
 
Because of course knowing me so well you can comment on whether i drive dangerously or not.
For a start i wasn't exceeding the speed limit, in fact i wasn't AT the speed limit, i was simply braking hard and late for the corners.

It depends on the road and conditions, e.g. i can leave braking longer on right hand bends because if i misjudge it, i leave the road rather than crossing the centre line and posing a risk to other people, on left hand bends then i have to leave a greater margin of error!
Plus i NEVER do kamikaze style driving, if i can see through the corner and its clear i may cross the centre line, but i will never be exceeding a speed at which i couldn't make the corner staying within my own side of the road.
I tend to adopt a wide in tight out policy.

Even if i am not braking late for a corner i like to threshold brake (obviously with no cars behind me) simply to practice the skill, could be useful in an emergency stop!
(lol at the sign sammo!)
Anyway lets leave driving technique and get back to the brakes issue, i'm reasonably competent with mechanics, as i work in engineering, but i have never worked with hydraulics and brake systems. I've heard that copper grease on the callipers can help clear them up?

Edit: incidentally the wheels only get hot when i go mad with the brakes like that.
 
Ceirwan said:
Even if i am not braking late for a corner i like to threshold brake (obviously with no cars behind me) simply to practice the skill, could be useful in an emergency stop!
Edit: incidentally the wheels only get hot when i go mad with the brakes like that.
Click to expand...

Hmm, thats going to be good for your car and Brakes! NOT
 
Relax the pair of you. Ceirwan, who you kidding 'ull doesn't have any roads to properly test any car :p and Liirge, Humberside have one of the top traffic squads so if Ceirwan is a nutter he's going to get tugged sometime soon.

Everybody chill out.
 
Since your not paying for my brakes, or my car, or my fuel then i don't think you can make any comment.

Pete don't be silly, everywhere has roads to test a car! :) Just around here they are usually quite short! Plus it doesn't matter how much of a test the road is, you can't go round a corner faster than a particular speed, hence the brakes!

Plus i can't be that much of a nutter, in two years of driving i have never been pulled, i know people who get pulled all the time who have been driving a lot longer. Its common sense, you don't drive like an idiot round town, or on busy roads (well i like to think that i never drive like and idiot but...) and providing you are staying on your side of the road and not braking the traffic laws i don't see the issue.
 
I think the K10 standard brakes are great! I find them more than good enough for normal driving and they have enough bite when really needed.

I'm comparing to a much heavier car though, bloody toyota tank- which does have crap brakes.
 
The K10 brakes are fine for this Car.

Washing the Brake dust off the Pads and Discs helps a little too.

It is possible to strip and rebuild a Caliper without disconnecting the Brake pipe by Clamping the Pipe with a special Tool.

400022.jpg


Also, try and lift your foot off the brake before you come to a fullstop (ie less than 5mph and use your Handbrake. If you leave your foot on the Brake it will cause build up on the Discs and make them less effective.

2p.gif
 
I agree with Speedle, get a set of vented disks and the problem will pretty much go away. I used to get really bad brake fade when I went to Wales. I've had the vented discs for quite a few years now and they have been fine. I'm sure I got mine for about £40 from a local car shop.

RECOMMENDED!
 
Ceirwan said:
I know its been said before, but i went for a bit of a drive today, and i was driving a short downhill road near where i live rather fast, and after three corners of hard (as in tires squealing but not quite locking up) braking, the brakes where feeling decidedly not so good.

I pulled over to let them cool down, as i got out the car i was astonished to see smoke coming out from both front wheels! Stank! And the alloy wheels themselves where extremely hot!

I think an upgrade is maybe in order!
Anyone else get this?
Click to expand...

yer i had that a few months ago but changed the pads and i found they where metal to metal with the disc lol
all is still in good order now though touch wood
 

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