Planning on pulling a trailer with the van so was wondering if anyone has fitted a good brake upgrade?

Stuartl said:

Planning on pulling a trailer with the van so was wondering if anyone has fitted a good brake upgrade?

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I think the Selecta has bigger discs and are a straight swap

I was about to ask the same question!

Didge3 said:

I think the Selecta has bigger discs and are a straight swap

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If true that would be great! but maybe a bit pricey

Excuse my ignorance but my mechanic has just changed the pads (I got him to do this rather than trying myself simply because he wouldn't have charged me any more seeing as he was already replacing the gearbox, clutch, exhaust and a few other things and the pads were almost down to metal) anyway he did replace them but knowing this local mechanic he used very cheap pads. Would there be any braking improvement in upgrading the pads to a more expensive option? if so any suggestions?

The reason I would like to improve the brakes is because I recently took Chappie on a 1500km "run-in" trip around Lake Garda and the surrounding Alps (before road-tripping for months on end around Europe) (I'm starting in October :slayer and I found that after driving for a few hours around the Alps and then descending around 1500 meters down some amazingly twisty roads (as if they were spaghetti dropped onto the side of the mountains) Chappie's brakes were starting to not work as well :chin: seeing as the road was a steady 20-25% incline at a guess and they were overheating. Ok ok I know these are nowhere near usual conditions but it did make me want to investigate possible solutions in improving his brakes.

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In the italian forum we have a little Tutorial for mouting the front brakes of Panda Selecta on 2wd Pandas.

It is a great upgrade, without cutting anything.

You just change the front brake calipers & discs.

In Italy we use to add the 7" brake pump of last Pandas.
The "last" Pandas have been produced between 2001 and 2003, with 1.1 MPI engine (multipoint).

The front upgrade consists in :

Brake calipers - Front disc (240 millimiters instead of 227) - 7" brake pump

I'm not sure of the translation, but I'm referring to the pump that you activate pushing the brake pedal.


This is the link in our forum, in the future I will translate it :
http://www.panda4x4.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=6253

We fitted stilo discs to the rear & a balance valve which works brilliant but how about just braking the trailer ?

kestrel4x4 said:

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In the italian forum we have a little Tutorial for mouting the front brakes of Panda Selecta on 2wd Pandas.

It is a great upgrade, without cutting anything.

You just change the front brake calipers & discs.

In Italy we use to add the 7" brake pump of last Pandas.
The "last" Pandas have been produced between 2001 and 2003, with 1.1 MPI engine (multipoint).

The front upgrade consists in :

Brake calipers - Front disc (240 millimiters instead of 227) - 7" brake pump

I'm not sure of the translation, but I'm referring to the pump that you activate pushing the brake pedal.


This is the link in our forum, in the future I will translate it :
http://www.panda4x4.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=6253

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link, it was an interesting thread to read! I think though that I will stick with the original disks and get good quality pads and then adjust my driving style if necessary when on particularly challenging roads.

kestrel4x4 said:

.
In the italian forum we have a little Tutorial for mouting the front brakes of Panda Selecta on 2wd Pandas.

It is a great upgrade, without cutting anything.

You just change the front brake calipers & discs.

In Italy we use to add the 7" brake pump of last Pandas.
The "last" Pandas have been produced between 2001 and 2003, with 1.1 MPI engine (multipoint).

The front upgrade consists in :

Brake calipers - Front disc (240 millimiters instead of 227) - 7" brake pump

I'm not sure of the translation, but I'm referring to the pump that you activate pushing the brake pedal.


This is the link in our forum, in the future I will translate it :
http://www.panda4x4.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=6253

Click to expand...

Thats actually very interesting and might be a goer if I can come across the bits. Thank you for that.

Sjvarley said:

We fitted stilo discs to the rear & a balance valve which works brilliant but how about just braking the trailer ?

Click to expand...

The trailer is braked but I still would feel that little bit more confident with the vans brakes stronger.

Thanks guys for your replies

Ok you can ad a additional servo from a m g b its stand alone and adds 50% extra pressure to the braking force needs vac and the line connecting through it
Used on years ago on a mg drum to disc conversion but can't remember if it's dual as the front or it may be fitted to the rear circuit

Oh boy! That is an upgrade that's high on my wish list. But do Selecta brakes really make such a great difference? Is there anyone who can tell?

Fading brakes may also be due to old braking fluid (don't know if the mechanic also flushed/changed the fluid when he changed the pads?).
Braking fluid attracts moisture/water over time, resulting in a lower boiling temperature, which leads to fading brakes when applied over a longer time.

Rcl said:

Fading brakes may also be due to old braking fluid (don't know if the mechanic also flushed/changed the fluid when he changed the pads?).
Braking fluid attracts moisture/water over time, resulting in a lower boiling temperature, which leads to fading brakes when applied over a longer time.

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I doubt he did, thanks for the help I will get him to do that as well !

Max Laadvermogen said:

But do Selecta brakes really make such a great difference? Is there anyone who can tell ?

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Yes, they do.

It's hard to find them, especially the brake calipers.

The discs are easier to find, you can buy them new.

The modify is useful if you follow the instructions contained in the italian forum.

You need 3 upgrades to get a good improvement :

Brake calipers - Front disc (240 millimiters instead of 227) - 7" brake pump

I'm not sure of the translation, but I'm referring to the pump that you activate pushing the brake pedal.

kestrel4x4 said:

I'm not sure of the translation, but I'm referring to the pump that you activate pushing the brake pedal.

Click to expand...

Probably what we call a servo

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Exactly !!!!

We have the same word in italian language !!

I thought it would be different in english

Well, you need 7" servo.

In italian : servofreno (servo - brake pump).