Re: brakes and lonnnng downhills

[pjrose@servtech.com (Phil & Judy Rose)]

>> Anyway, my question concerns braking during the return trip, which as some
>> of you know, is a 7-mile long drop from 6000 feet--all done at about 20-25
>> mph with brakes working nearly full time.
>
>That's a good way to get killed.  You're supposed to descend the
>mountain in low gear, touching the brakes when needed...

_What's_ a "good way to get killed", Dan? Of course I was in low gear and
using the brakes just when needed. That turns out to be most (>>50%) of the
time when you're in a fully loaded car, behind a shuttle bus doing 20 mph.
Maybe you've not descended Mt. Washington in 2+ tons of Audi. And I stated
that the brakes never heated enough to cause significant fade. In fact the
front wheels were "cool" enough to touch them without scorching my hand.
The rears, however, were at that "very uncomfortable" level of temp.

>
>At the bottom, Kirby Smith
>> noted--to our surprise--that both _rear_ wheels were noticeably hotter than
>> the fronts.

>Could be your brake bias settings.  Also, the front rotors are
>vented while the rears are not, and you also have ducting
>(or should) going right to the front brakes on that
>car.

At 20 mph I'd have thought it's not likely that ducting can be doing very
much, could it? I suspect the proportioning (biasing) valve as the problem,
if it's really a problem. Is there any adjustment available in the
proportioning valve for this car? I've often wondered if the proprtioning
valve gets changed when the UFO conversion is done. Anyone know?

>
>| Dan |

Phil R.

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