AoD
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 429
- Location
- Hammondsville, Ohio
A lot of the guys in my area simply don't have working brakes on their cars and trucks. So, I figured it'd be a good idea to give a little tip on making those (used to do stoppies) brakes work a little better.
First, the biggest reasons for brakes fading or losing them all together is oil. Oil on a brake disc is going to stop them from working all together. Now, most people understand that brakes work by friction. Two plates squeeze onto a rotor to cause a high amount of friction in the drive train. Well, our RC's do the same thing! On the savage, there's two brake rotors and three pads, as shown in my picture.
Well, as you can see, after a good 10 tanks worth of runtime on my truck, my pads look quite dirty. Most of this is from oils in the exaust, mud, dirt, and other things that are picked up during a nice bashing session.
Now, two things we'll need to fix these brakes, and they are easy to find, is the following.
A piece of medium grit sandpaper, from 360-480 grit rating
BRAKE CLEANER! Such as Orion Nitro RC Cleaner. Or even Autozone brake cleaner will work.
Now, for the first part, always check your servo settings to make sure the brakes are being engaged with the servo. I've seen settings get knocked loose over time, and cause a severe loss in brakes!
As long as the servo is pulling the brakes tight, everything is good! First, take your brake cleaner, and clean the pads and the friction plates off. That's a must do, get as much dirt and grime off of them as possible. I usually do this while holding the truck at a 45 degree angle with the front wheels on the ground, that way it rolls off and doesn't hurt anything. You want to rotate the drive line to get both side of the discs, as the whole discs need cleaned.
Now, for a set of extremely worn, or dirty rotors, you need the sandpaper. A set of brake pads are inexpensive, but who wants to start tearing them apart to replace them when they still have some life left? I sure don't! So, when they quite working well, even after a nice cleaning, use the following tip to spring a little better braking out of your old abused rotors!
Take the sandpaper, and rub it back and forth on the pad, just barely taking the top layer off. 10-15 strokes, side to side, should be plenty. Don't apply too much pressure, and gouge the surface. We're only trying to take the very top layer off. Make sure to get both rotors nice and shaved off a little, all the way around and on both sides. Once this is done, spray the rotors again with the brake cleaner to remove any dust from the sandpaper. Now, you might have to tighten your brakes a little, as the rotors will lose a small amount of thickness.
Now, the reason I say to sandpaper the rotors. Over time, the dirt, grime, and everything else on the rotors will actually burn into the surface. This is called glazing, and it's not always a good thing, only for pastry! Sandpaper will remove this thin layer, and allow the brakes to have more friction surface, therefore giving you better brakes! It's cheap, and effective. It only takes a few minutes! How could you go wrong here!
Now, with this in mind, make sure you look at my brake pads, and know, that is not what you want to see. I made sure I didn't clean them all day so you'd have a good idea of what bad brakes would look like. Those brakes wouldn't stop a fly from moving, as they were in fact, glazed. After 10 tanks, I might as well not have had any breaks. Take the time to clean them after two tanks or so, they remain good, and your brakes will last longer when you want them most!
First, the biggest reasons for brakes fading or losing them all together is oil. Oil on a brake disc is going to stop them from working all together. Now, most people understand that brakes work by friction. Two plates squeeze onto a rotor to cause a high amount of friction in the drive train. Well, our RC's do the same thing! On the savage, there's two brake rotors and three pads, as shown in my picture.
Well, as you can see, after a good 10 tanks worth of runtime on my truck, my pads look quite dirty. Most of this is from oils in the exaust, mud, dirt, and other things that are picked up during a nice bashing session.
Now, two things we'll need to fix these brakes, and they are easy to find, is the following.
A piece of medium grit sandpaper, from 360-480 grit rating
BRAKE CLEANER! Such as Orion Nitro RC Cleaner. Or even Autozone brake cleaner will work.
Now, for the first part, always check your servo settings to make sure the brakes are being engaged with the servo. I've seen settings get knocked loose over time, and cause a severe loss in brakes!
As long as the servo is pulling the brakes tight, everything is good! First, take your brake cleaner, and clean the pads and the friction plates off. That's a must do, get as much dirt and grime off of them as possible. I usually do this while holding the truck at a 45 degree angle with the front wheels on the ground, that way it rolls off and doesn't hurt anything. You want to rotate the drive line to get both side of the discs, as the whole discs need cleaned.
Now, for a set of extremely worn, or dirty rotors, you need the sandpaper. A set of brake pads are inexpensive, but who wants to start tearing them apart to replace them when they still have some life left? I sure don't! So, when they quite working well, even after a nice cleaning, use the following tip to spring a little better braking out of your old abused rotors!
Take the sandpaper, and rub it back and forth on the pad, just barely taking the top layer off. 10-15 strokes, side to side, should be plenty. Don't apply too much pressure, and gouge the surface. We're only trying to take the very top layer off. Make sure to get both rotors nice and shaved off a little, all the way around and on both sides. Once this is done, spray the rotors again with the brake cleaner to remove any dust from the sandpaper. Now, you might have to tighten your brakes a little, as the rotors will lose a small amount of thickness.
Now, the reason I say to sandpaper the rotors. Over time, the dirt, grime, and everything else on the rotors will actually burn into the surface. This is called glazing, and it's not always a good thing, only for pastry! Sandpaper will remove this thin layer, and allow the brakes to have more friction surface, therefore giving you better brakes! It's cheap, and effective. It only takes a few minutes! How could you go wrong here!
Now, with this in mind, make sure you look at my brake pads, and know, that is not what you want to see. I made sure I didn't clean them all day so you'd have a good idea of what bad brakes would look like. Those brakes wouldn't stop a fly from moving, as they were in fact, glazed. After 10 tanks, I might as well not have had any breaks. Take the time to clean them after two tanks or so, they remain good, and your brakes will last longer when you want them most!
