Front brake locking.

[avendlerdp]

Hello there-

I have been bugged by a minor imbalance in the front brakes for several years now. I have had the front calipers rebuilt by a great shop and replaced the pads as well all the way around. THe front right wheel always locks up first. Only under very hard braking. It's more pronounced in the wet. Could it be a corner weight thing? I have never had the car scaled but it does have a fresh alignment and new bushings. I would think on a stack suspended street car the corner weights could not get that whacked out. Ideas?

THanks

Alex

[LakeCleElum]

Alex - You don't say what year of car, but it's it old, replace the rubber (flexible) brake lines. They plug up from the inside, not releasing pressure. When you brake, there is in imbalance of pressure. I fought this for a while on my '73.5 until someone this board told me. It now stops like new......Bob S.

[Slant930]

There was a thread a few weeks ago I recall that discussed this very thing. From a safety standpoint its better to have the fronts lock first rather than the rears, although if they lock under steering, it can get get interesting. I think the prevailing consesus from the post I mention is that most peoples brake do lock the front first.

[avendlerdp]

Sorry, forget to mention, new stainless lines all the way around!!

Alex

[echrisconnor]

I had the same problem for a while. I rebuilt my calipers, changed brake lines, swapped pads, etc. Turned out it was the front right shock (the tire that was locking). The shock was dead and leading to the inbalance under hard breaking.

Testing the shocks in the car by bouncing them is not accurate on a 911. If you don't have Bilstein struts, you can pull both the shock inserts out, test them and re-install them in less than an hour. I'd recommend checking this before going any further.

[Slider79SC]

The fornt right used to lock on our car all the time under heavy braking, took it in and had it corner balanced and the problem went away......

[IROC]

Slider is right. I would check the corner balance. This is very likely the culprit.

Mike

[echrisconnor]

Agreed, the corner balance could be the culprit, but I'd at least check the shocks before having it balanced.