Hi there guys, I realise this post may be a bit of a long shot but maybe someone will be able to help!
I have owned a citroen zx1.9td aura k reg for 3 months now and i've been having terrible trouble with the brakes-I'm getting very bad pulsing through the brake pedal and a very funny sounding banging/knocking/juddering noise under hard braking. I have fitted new discs, new pads, new cylinders, new shoes, new drums, new rear wheel bearings but to no avail! I took it to a garage to investigate the problem as I began to suspect suspension bushes etc. They agreed there was a problem and put the front then back on the rollers. The fronts showed almost no imbabalance/vibration and all the bushes checked out ok-in fact the front 'p-bushes' (ones at the back of the wishbone) had been recently changed apparently. When the back went on the rollers it was a different story. It was jumping around all over the place it would seem that the offside rear drum has high and low spots obviously causing pulsing through the pedal. Also the nearside shock absorber bush has gone being described by the guy as 'not quite MOT failure bad, but not too far off' so I guess this could cause a banging noise under hard braking? Incidentally the spare wheel cradle has been tightened up and the banging noise is still present even with the spare removed. Also the handbrake is not working on nearside (I knew this already) as the auto adjuster is not working, you adjust the thing up then a couple of hundred miles later the brake pedal travel increases and hand brake stops working on nearside (arrrghhh these brakes are doing my head in!).
My main question is this:
I'm thinking about doing a rear disc conversion, what would I need?
I would get a Volcane (mine is an Aura with rear drums) rear axle complete with discs, calipers and hand brake cables. My question is can I just swap the stub axles, back plates, hubs, hand brake cables etc and connect the calipers up to my existing braking system or will I need a different master cylinder/routing of brake pipes and different pressure compensators etc I know both disc/drum and disc/disc ZX's use a diagonally split braking system, but will I have in correct brake balance if the calipers are hooked up to the existing system? What parts would I need to change apart from affore mentioned?
I appreciate not many people are gonna have a clue but any help appreciated!!
Regards
Guru-Meditation.
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I'm getting very bad pulsing through the brake pedal and a very funny sounding banging/knocking/juddering noise under hard braking.
Has your zx got Anti lock Braking?
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Apologies I left that info out! No it does not have ABS.
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Do you carry alot of weight in the back? If not I doubt if it is worth the hastle, a couple of years ago I know of a MKII golf that had a rear disc conversion done (if memory serves me right using corrado parts) and the only improvement was cosmetic through the alloys. If anything the performance of the handbrake got worse!
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I appreciate where you are coming from and agree-I don't need discs at the back for braking performance and you wouldn't be able to see them anyway because the alloys it has have only small gaps so the brakes can hardly be seen.
My idea of a disc conversion is because I am having loads of problems with vibration that seem to be coming from the drums and thought if I could drop some new stub axles, back plates, hubs, handbrake cables, discs and calipers for £60 on to my original braking system then it would be easier than messing around with drums every other month. If it is more hassle than that ie new master cylinder, new inline compensators and brake pipe plumbing etc then I won't bother-I'm just wondering how viable it is from someone. I hate things that are too easy lol.
Cheers
Guru-meditation.
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GM,
Do I remember you working through this fault on Andyspares?
Anyway you seem so close to the answer with the existing setup I'd be loathe to introduce used parts that may cloud the issues.
Are you still running with that out of round drum and u/s shock mount? They need sorting before you can say where you are with this existing set-up.
If you did the change I suspect the master cylinder might be different, the one for ABS models is and that is usually when a ZX has rear discs. The handbrake cables are different so another little annoyance. Also you will have to fit those brake pressure limiters into the metal pipes above the rear axle.
Even after fitting these discs you may be looking at faults with the used rear calipers which are three times the cost of wheel cylinders if replacement is required. They can be prone to snapped bleed nipples, seizing etc.
MM
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Hi Middleman,
Indeed it is me, Guru-meditation of the ever broken ZX you are right I was thrashing this one out on the A/S forum.
Yes-The shock absorber (well both as you must replace them in pairs) has a worn bush and at least one of my drums is out of round (only purchased the cursed thing from Andyspares in January-I noticed when I put it on that as I rotated it it was binding quite strongly as it was rotated ie it would rotate freely for xdegrees then bind for a bit then rotate freely again). I put this down to normal manufacturing tolerances like maybe a few thou out of round but it now seems that ever since the day I put it on it was more out of round than I suspected-should of got a gauge on it but I didn't have one at the time. I always thought andyspares supplied quality parts so didn't suspect it until this place had the rears on the rollers. FWIW I never dropped it while fitting it etc-maybe it was slung about by the delivery peeps but I'd have thought a solid brake drum would take more than a little tap to make it go out of round. S'pose it's too late to send it back now, I've thrown the box away and everything.
Also my car does not have ABS-feels like ABS through the pedal though it pulses so strongly!
Guru-meditation.
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Hi all,
I have been having severe problems with my brakes on my 93 zx td aura. Ever since I\'ve owned it I\'ve had severe vibration problems from the brakes-sometimes the car would vibrate around really badly under braking with the brake pedal pulsing very strongly, basically making the car a nightmare to drive as it felt so horrible (car doesn\'t have abs). I thought it might be warped discs as the ones on there didn\'t look too clever so I replaced those, same fault (I don\'t have a dial btw so they weren\'t actually tested for run out, although when I fitted them the hubs were scrupulously clean etc). Rear brakes-new cylinders, new shoes and new drums, new bearings. When I fitted the drums the offside one seemed to rotate freely then bind, rotate then bind (not so strongly that it couldn\'t be turned just noticeable strong resistance) etc I thought this was just normal manufacturing tolerances. Same damn problem with the brakes :-( I took the car to a garage where it was put on the rollers. It would seem fronts are fine but rear bad-the car was actually visibly jumping up and down on the rollers on the footbrake. Seems the offside is responsible.
So I\'ve bought two more drums, two more bearings, new shoes and had this garage press the new bearings into the new drums and mark up the drums, both seemed to be as round as possible. I fitted the new shoes and drums and the brakes seem smooth now, maybe a tiny bit of vibration but a BIG improvement.
My burning question is this: I have adjusted the brakes so that the shoes are slightly in contact with the drum (it seemed hard to avoid doing this in truth) ie the drums can both be easily rotated by hand (the resistance does vary slightly through the rotation but not too much) but if you give them a hard spin they would stop within a couple of revolutions due to friction from the shoes-is this good or bad? Should the drums be adjusted so that there is NO contact at all? Obviously I realise that any increase in friction is a slight fuel consumption penalty but what I\'m really worried about is the drums becoming distorted (ie through heat build up), I\'m sooo paranoid now that next time I touch the brake the vibration will return. I\'ve only done about 30mi on them since tuesday so if I am risking my drums then I\'m prepared to readjust the shoes again so that they don\'t touch the inside of the drum at all.
Thanks for the advice.
Gurumeditation.
As this question is on the same theme as your original question, I\'ve joined them together. DD.
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