Brake mods.

I have found from the start that my Freelander (mark 1) brakes have never inspired much confidence. I started by bleeding, changing the pads & shoes and then replacing the worn discs with some drilled and grooved items which do make a good difference to the overall "bite". Although the brakes are now much improved I have noticed that if I pump them, the second press of the brake is always a lot more firm than the 1st (although there is NO air in the system). I have been toying with the idea of fitting some residual pressure valves and was wondering if anyone else had used them or could advise? Also - can anyone reccomend some nice soft pads? I do not mind the faster wear as long as they bite better.

The only time I've noticed I need better braking performance is when I'm driving the Hippo like a race car. She still stops ok though. Not sure if the V6 has uprated brakes?

Probably has vented disks. Tiny has ickle solid disks and what looks like Rover Maestro calipers...Oh how leyland lurve to re-use parts... Don't get me wrong - she stops ok but in my eternal quest for perfection there is always room for improvement, especially when she is fully loaded, roof box, 4 passengers, boot full, bikes on the back...going down a hill....Your hippo will also have some proper vacum assisting the servo, wheras mine has a little piddly vacum pump on the alternator...Ideally i would like to beef up the vacum assistance but wouldn't know where to start!!!

What you need is a V6 Hippo. I know some one that's selling one Looks like my avatar picture.

tinytdi said:

[...]what looks like Rover Maestro calipers...

Click to expand...

Think they are the same parts as the Honda Civic as well - brake pads definately are the same.

Cheers

Blippie

The brakes on mine have never inspired much confidence - I even got LR Assist to come out and have a look - the guy drove it round the block with me and basically said , 'thats what they are all like mate'. Dont get me wrong, it stops OK, there is just very little feedback through the pedal - also when manouvering - i.e backwards and forwards with the trailer on the back, the vacumn seems to run out of steam quite quickly and the pedal goes very hard - again, Mr Land Rover said this is normal

Hum The brakes on mine are perfection, but did have a problem a bout two years ago so might be worth a check, it was on one rear drum the self adjuster thingy had never worked so after taking off the drum[iwas checking the brake shoes at the time] noticed that the adjuster was all seized so cleaned it and spayed it wiv wd40 [don't get any on yer shoes] em brake shoes that is, and put it back then checked other side that twas fine, however i noticed the brakes were 10x better, but i never realized before that they were not so good as they should have been and it took away wot i can only describe as a spongy feel, so worth a check, , ,

Hmmm...Checked the ajusters and all fine and ajusted up. I contacted a performance brake company at the weekend and aparently residual vales work a treat on Freelanders. Something to do with the characteristics of the master cylinder apparently. They hold a few PSI of pressure in the lines so when you hit the brakes they are already "pumped up"...£45 a pair...on my Birthday list....

On another (mainly US and Australian members) forum they are very enthousiastic about the braking power of the Freelander, they even consider it as one of it's best points, together with the comfortable ride it gives.

The valves work a treat and fitted in 1 hour.