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MG MGF Technical - Poor Brakes

I appear to have poor brakes on my 2001 MGF. I have replaced the pads all round but you seem to need a lot of pedal pressure for the brakes to stop you.
Could it be a servo problem? If so how do you test for this.
The brakes aren't spongy so do not appear to need bleeding.

Thanks

Paul
P J Cusworth

I fitted a Servo Mounting Support Bracket along with Stainless Steel Flexi Brake Pipes these helped but I still have a longish pedal. I also use slotted and grooved rotors plus race spec pads and have full confidence that the car will stop but I have driven a car with 305mm rotors and four pot calipers,WOW, if I can get a set off 16" alloys cheap enough I will swap!!
Andrew W Regens

Paul, is the MGF your only car? If your comparing it with a newer car, you will probably find they don't feel too sharp. Other thing to consider is quality of pads you have fitted and what the condition of your disc is, quite often corrosion on the rear severly effects surface area of pad contact. Andrew's suggestion of a Servo Mounting Bracket ( a Brown and Gammons part ) is a good one, but this reduces feedback in the pedal when you hit a bump while bracking, it will not improve the bracking performance. IMO. I do though have one on my car and would recommend
Andrew I have braided hoses and a servo bracket and my pedal is pretty solid. It did though take a lot of bleeding though, following the sequence in the workshop manual to get rid of all the air.
My car is now fitted with Trophy front brakes and I can't fault these.
If your in the MG Car Club your would have seen our car on the cover of the Octobre mag.
Dave

Brakes in the F are a lot less "active" than the ones in my focus (the family car), mind you, five minutes in the F and I'm used to them again.
Leigh

Leigh, I agree with you I have a Focus and until I fitted the Trophy brakes the F brakes seemed poor after the Ford.
Dave

Today I drove in an Autokhana and the brakes took a hammering, the pedel still feels long but it pulled the speed down without fade and with confidence. Oneday I must aquire tropy brakes.
Andrew W Regens

PJ, Remember the standard MGF front brakes were the same as on the Metro, so don't expect too much. Big brakes such as on the Trophy/TF are the best answer. AB
A Bennett

Since fitting Mike Satur's big brake conversion (280 fronts) grooved and dimpled discs with Mintex 1144 pads, I have fantastic braking, totally transformed from standard. The only problem was a tendency for one brake to squeal rather loudly with average braking. However, since clocking up 130 miles round Silverstone GP circuit where they were even more impressive, I think I may have completed the bedding in process, and the squeal has gone away. They were so much sharper at first I thought I might have difficulty getting the best out of them on the track without locking up, but I found I could just tromp on the pedal at the last minute, braking later and later into the corners. I did lock up once when I was a bit too enthusiastic at Vale!
Not cheap, but if you must be able to really stop....
Mike Cunningham

Paul,

Have you had the car a while and noticed a gradual, or sudden, deterioration in braking performance or is it new to you and you are comparing it to other (inferior) vehicles that you have driven?

If it is new to you it might be a psychological thing in as much as you don't get as much nose dive under heavy braking in an F as you would in the family box, this gives an impression of bad braking. Early Austin 1100s in the early were, if I remember correctly, recalled because the hydrolastic was set up to give virtually no nose dive under braking and many owners thought the brakes were cr4p. Nothing wrong with the brakes, just that the owners were expexting nose diving.

New pads can be frighteningly inneficient for the first few or few hundred miles if your discs are 'rippled' until the pad wears to the same profile because of the surface area of contact.

Adam
A. H. Price

Thanks to everybody for the advice.
I bought the car on E Bay as a non runner as the usual head gasket had gone and blown the engine. I bought a second hand engine and replaced it besides firring a new head gasket, water pump, cam belt and tensioner and clutch I thought I might as well do the lot whilst the engine was out.I have also replaced the radiator and underfloor pipes with stainless steel.

What a nightmare of a job - NEVER AGAIN.

I have also set the suspension height myself as I acquired a liquid levers pump cheap! This is set to 367mm approx 400psi. I have also replaced the brake pads, which I thought prudent. Now that I have driven the car the brakes just don't seem right and face under heavy braking.

Regards

Paul
P J Cusworth

As an ongoing improvement, there was a running change to the servo/master cylinder assembly on mgtf, roughly at 2005 model year introduction. This reduced the pedal travel and gave a bit more servo boost at low pedal efforts. I believed it to be a worthwhile change as the brakes felt brighter and more responsive. Has anyone noticed this on the last few TF's built? I don't see why this couldn't be retro fitted to earlier cars.
Cheers,
Andy
A Kitson

Ive noticed a big difference, if you have large discs at the front, but soft pads at the front and hard and the back

e.g. greenstuff up front with redstuff at the back.

Ive found that it helps balance the breaking out....
Chris Glen

Well I have aquired two sets of Trophy 16" wheels ( one for road tyres the other for track day's ) and aset of 4 pot calipers. Just need to save up for the tyres, rotors and pads so I can join the late brakers club
Andrew W Regens

To test for servo function - switch the engine off and repeatedly press the brake pedal until it feels really hard. Press and hold the pedal down and start the engine, the pedal should move towards the floor a bit.

Ta daa!
Tony

This thread was discussed between 25/04/2008 and 19/05/2008

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