DISCO SERIES 1 GOES GREAT- CANT STOP IT

**Casper** · 6th November 2011, 12:08 AM

Brakes are normally quite good on Disco 1s regardless of what some people say.

Firstly I would be checking your vacuum servo (big round black thing behind the brake master cylinder.

If you get a leak from your master cylinder it can corrode the valve inside and create an air leak.

I've had this twice, once on my original 300,000 + one and then on a secondhand replacement.

Pedal feels rock hard but very little happening as far as braking goes.

Next I would look at a pad change and full flush of the system as a minimum.

The flush should be done every couple of years anyway so if you can't remember when it was last done, do it, doesn't cost much but best be done with 2 people, one to pump and one to bleed.

I wouldn't bother with ventilated discs as it's not a racing car and the silid discs do fine.

The ventilated discs do nothing for braking quality unless you are using them a lot at speed as they just cool down faster to give you more consistant brake force under multiple or heavy and frequent applications.

Hope I explained that right, sounds like a mouth full.

If your discs are worn, have hot spots or are warped then you can normally get them ground on the car for about $20 per disc from an onsite disc grinder or replace them relatively cheaply from a reputable auto store (not Ebay) and you want PBR discs or OEM land rover discs as the cheapies can wear quicker, not like heat and tend to squeal.

Also be aware that to change the discs you are probably best to do your wheel bearings at the same time as you have to pull them all apart anyway and you will want a rattle gun handy to undo the bolts on the back of the spindle as they are as tight as a you know what.

I also recommend PBR pads but there are some other good brands out there but I find the PBR's give me good feel, last a long time and are reasonably priced.

The last time I touched the brakes on Casper (300Tdi) was August 09 yet I check them regularly thanks to having to nip up wheel bearings, change axle seals or do other maintenance jobs being it's a Disco.

Basically, if everything is working properly the brakes will be great.

If they are still not great after doing these basics, I would take it to a brake specialist as it may end up being safer, quicker and cheaper to get them to fix what ever is wrong with it.

Good luck,

Cheers Casper.

**dullbird** · 10th November 2011, 07:12 PM

Agree with above, I would also take it down a quite road get it up to 60 and jump on the breaks and see if you can get the ABS to activate..if you can probably not much wrong with yeah brakes (other than quality of pads etc) only thing I would recommend perhaps is getting some braided brake lines...braking potential is actually reduced with the bulging of the factory lines...

I hate my brakes on my disco, especially when I have been driving the hilux around..the only thing I have considered doing is upgrading to defender brakes as the calipers are bigger.

**mandala1111** · 12th November 2011, 07:36 PM

Some great advice there from Casper.I agree with the brake servo assist possibly being faulty.Had this problem with my old Rangie,the brakes would feel very hard and hardly work at times.First check the vacuum valve that goes into the servo as this can be a problem also.As far as the discs squealing you could try some fine sand paper on them to reduce the glazing,this worked on my wifes volvo recently that was squealing really badly.
Cheers
Shane

**justinc** · 12th November 2011, 07:48 PM

What tyre diameter are you running???? Bigger (anything 33" and over )tyres cause severe brake inefficencies in Discos.

JC

**mandala1111** · 14th November 2011, 04:00 PM

Had 33's on an old Rangie Classic years ago and I would never go that big again,they made the car quite dangerous to drive due to the lack of brakes.My update Disco's brakes fell only a little better so I am keeping the tyre size to 31's and it pulls up pretty well.

**nicho** · 14th November 2011, 10:27 PM

Originally Posted by justinc

What tyre diameter are you running???? Bigger (anything 33" and over )tyres cause severe brake inefficencies in Discos.

JC

True that but if you go bigger you have to change your driving style to suit also. An upgrade to defender calipers apparently helps, I'll find out after Christmas

Rover2000 · 9th January 2012, 11:58 AM

Hi Shepard, I also have recently purchased a Discovery series 2 TDI and am not use to the soft feel of the brakes. Was wondering if you have found a solution yet?...Rover2000

**blitz** · 9th January 2012, 06:21 PM

as I am running larger tyres on my beasty I am going to defender calipers as soon as I get a reply from one of the places I have asked about it.

When I finally do I will pass on the info.from memory the defenders calipers are about 5 - 7mm larger in dia as they come out standard with larger tyres.

Having said that my tyres are 275/70/16 as opposed to the original 205/70/16's so they are a bucket larger and she still has pretty good brakes but I want better control over them and I can only get that with larger calipers, when I do that I will also be fitting longer braided brake lines as well.

**Young Angus** · 9th January 2012, 08:57 PM

When I got my first Disco a non-abs V8 I was really concerned about the brakes because it took a lot longer to stop than I was used to and I couldn't actually lock the wheels up even if I tried going around 50km/h...kind of a concern! I had it checked by my local mechanic who did a RWC brake type check because I thought they might have sold it to me with a dodgy RWC but it passed and they just said that's the way some cars are. So I got used to it and now I drive an ABS fitted 300 Tdi and it might even stop a little bit better but still feels much the same and like others have said they are just heavy I think and they take a while to pull up compared to lots of other vehicles I've driven.

It's not that bad, but it did take some getting used to. What I really miss when braking in my Disco is that real brake "bite" you can get from most car's brakes.

**haydent** · 5th February 2012, 07:56 PM

i feel my d1 91 v8 non abs is pretty hard to brake and i would like to look into the vacuum assist as it doesnt seem to feel much better with the engine running or not...

i cant find anything in the rave discs about how to diagnose it so im looking for some pointers on what to test and look for

thanks.

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