Brake upgrade needed for 1997 Discovery

Where I live ( outside the UK ) the yearly road-worthiness test of vehicles includes a high-tech machine which rotates the wheels in order to test the effectiveness of the ( foot )brake. It seems the settings on this testing machine have been changed so that older vehicles ( whose brakes were never as good as modern cars ) are now routinely failing - even though they have been well-maintained, and the brakes work as well as they were designed to. Is there any way I can upgrade the rear brakes on a 1997 diesel Discovery so that I can get it through the test?

Asked on 5 February 2015 by Adrian

Answered by Honest John

Brakes are tested on a similar machine in the UK. Rear brakes only ever do about 5% of the work of the fronts, serving more to balance the car during braking than anything else, so the reason for rear brake failure is more likely to be corroded brake discs than anything else. Being bare metal, brake discs corrode all the time and the first braking of the day usually cleans it off the front discs, but not the rears unless the car is braked very hard. Replace the corroded rear discs and the car should pass.

Tags: technical issues

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