MGB MGB Brakes!

[Bret]

Well, I actually learned something new today about MGBs brakes.

As some of you know I am in the middle of upgrading my brakes & suspension. Well today I snuck in a couple of hours under the car inspecting & adjusted the brakes after replacing the old (brittle & cracked) brake hoses, with new braided stainless steel hose line and purging the old mystery brake fluid. FYI the brake fluid had a dark caramel or golden brown hue to it. But after emptying & refilling reservoir I flushed the lines of the old fluid. After all of that it looks almost completely clear now. But I might re-flush the lines next week just to be safe.

Anyway that wasn’t the real surprise. That came when I was inspecting & adjusting the rear drum brakes. The shoes looked great, showing hardly any wear at all. The reason as it turns out, was because the rear brakes were not making contact with the drum at all unless the emergency brake lever was engaged and even then still not all that positive. Heck you could almost push the car with the hand brake fully engaged. So it appears that I’ve been driving around with nothing but front brakes for who knows how long. While this might attest to the braking ability of the front rotors & disks I never would have guessed that there was a problem.

When I was done with the bleeding adjustments of the brake system I took the old gal out for a short test drive. Just so you know its been raining a lot here in San Diego over the past 24 hours. So I started out drivinig up & down the street and around the block a few times. Then once I was satisfied I took it out for a shot road test. That was the real shocker – careful not to lock’em up she consistently came to a smooth stop without any drifting or fading under heavy braking.

While I still plan on upgrading to cross-drilled rotors & upgraded pads in the coming weeks I can honestly say I am impressed with the stock brakes.

 

[Baxter]

Sad to say, but I've done that too. Actually, given the size and weight and power of a B, the stock system IN GOOD SHAPE is quite good. More than adequate. MG rotors, in particular, have MORE than enough surface area. It would be nice to have multi-piston calipers, but there's plenty of much newer, much heavier and more powerful cars running around on less brakes than what the B had back in '62.

Of course, all of that's moot if the brake system isn't up to snuff.

 

[Guest]

Actually the rear brakes get worn rather quickly on mine so that the rear isn't doing as much of the brakeing as they should. (and it doesn't take much)
Where I notice mine mostly when the get that way is when I brake hard and turn into my drive way. The front locks up and the rear doesn't and the car goes straight until I release the brakes a little. I live on a rural road where the average speed is 65 or better.
It IS amazing how much difference adjusting them right makes.

 

[Bret]

Another positive thing is that the pedal feel is much more positive too. Now it seems that not all that much pressure or pedal travel is required before they start taking care of business.

I am wondering however how much of a “measurable” improvement the new braided stainless steel brake lines made over stock rubber hoses with a properly setup stock MGB brake system. Obviously I needed to replace them anyway because of their degraded condition, so I upgraded. But I’m still curious.

 

[Guest]

My lines are the original and it makes a BIG difference so I'm not sure either what the measurable difference the new braided lines make.

One way I tell when the brakes are wearing in the back is to put the hand brake up a notch and see what the improvement is when I put on brakes. A couple of notches to make an improvement mean it has worn enough to adjust.
Bob