Hi Sandro

Havent spoken in ages hope you are well
anyway last time we spoke you mentioned that you got a set of Champion / Ferodo brakes that turned out to be Brembo. Just wondering how it has affected your braking? My brakes are getting worrying bad. Not sure if its the brake fluid or me setting up the uprated Red Dot brakes incorrectly. I have early bite but bad fade.

Cheers mate
PS - winters setting in, hope those new handbrake cables hold out!

Phil

Handbrake

Your last comment about the handbrake cable has just reminded me of a problem I had last year with the handbrake freezing on - I guess this is what you mean.
Anyone got any thought of how to prevent this?
I know its cause water gets into the cable outer, but any thoughts as to how to fix it?

Re: Handbrake

Phil

Good question. I have cured mine by replacing the handbrake cables. When I did that, you could see that the rubber grommets that seals the inner metal cable inside the rubber tubing had snapped, thus allowing water to trickle down inside. Because the cable hangs low near the rear tyres (you can see this under the car) that is where all the water collects and freezes.
Sandro has suggested that you can drill some tiny holes at this low point, though you make sure that you drill past the outer casing but NOT into the cable otself - you should know when you've made it past the outer shell anyway. Apparently Sandro had no problems since, and this is the tactic I will use next time instead of forking out for new cables....
Sandro - correct me if I'm worng!
This problem has been verified by a Fiat mechanic mate of mine

Re: Re: Handbrake

I had the same problem last year with mine, a local garage just used an air line to blow the water out of the cables, then sprayed WD40 into the cables and blew this through with the air line. I never had any more problems with it after that. Cheaper than new cables from fiat which they wanted to charge £100 including fitting. This year I am going to try to get some universal rubber boots that will fit over the original ends of the cable, as suggested by the garage last year.

Handbrake

I'll give the wd40 a try, got so much to spend on the car at the moment - just done the exhaust, brakes need doing in next few weeks, airbag light is on again and the cambelt will need doing within 6 months!
Might get rid of it before doing the cambelt -I've looked at a coupe turbo, but I quite fancy a Lexus IS300, but I'll have to see how the pennies go over next new months.

Brembo brakes

Hi Phil,

all is ok thanks.

those Brakes discs i put on were very good, i only put std pads but when they are warm they are quite impressive. They are sold as Brembo Max or Ferodo Max and are quite reasonable in terms of price. I am about to change the brake fluid too to DOT 5.1, it may improve things as it has a higher boiling temp. Your brake fluid needs to be changed every 2 years so yours might be due now anyway.

hope the handbrake is not freezing up yet

speak to you soon

sandro