Bandolero Brake issues

[Tom Cole]

I was watching a friend's daughter race the other night and her brake rotor was glowing.  She said she was not using the brakes.  This was her first race.

My son tested the car out for her prior to her getting in and he said the brakes were very sensative.

I'm wondering if the brakes had a problem, or if she might have just been resting her foot on the pedal too hard.

[justfreaky]

Could be that she was resting her foot on the pedal. Check to make sure the brake pads are not dragging on the rotor.
 Just a thought.
 Steve

[John]

I race street stocks my son races bandolero now . He's had two races. Brake pedal seems to be fine till he goes out and finishs the race . Then pedal goes to the floor no brakes just got some wilwood fluid 570 going to try that.. any ideas thanos

[justfreaky]

Hi John!

A few thoughts:
1) Is he resting his foot on the brake pedal?
2) How do the pads and rotor look? Worn? Glazed?
3) Is the caliper square to the rotor?
4) Fluid leak?
5) Old, or contaminated fluid?
6) Are the brake lines clear and free of any debris?
7) Is the brake line to close to a source of heat?

When does the problem start to occur? How many laps before the brake seems to go away?
After the brakes cool, does the problem go away?

Steve

[TTR]

John,

We just moved from Bandos and had some of the same issues you are having, seems everyone does. Along with the above advise, this is what I did. I would bleed the brakes after every race keeping new fluid in the caliper at all times. It seems even the best fluid breaks down after repeated boiling, which is very easy to do. These brakes are small and in a extremely hot environment. I would run the right side vent to the top of the caliper for cooling. We used Wilwood 600. Also check the reservoir diaphragm. If it is the small one, I've had issues with the diaphragm collapsing due to being low on fluid. I have had to top it off on the grid and reset the diaphragm and would have no issues during the race after that.

But I've been told to always make sure you have clean fluid and bleed frequently. I eliminated all of my problems with this regular maintenance.