Hello, car is in excellent condition at 16500miles but after recent replacement shoes for MoT the brakes are so, so poor - they weren't that great to begin with tbh.

 

Can anyone advise if there is a brake upgrade/improvements to be had? Its see's little use, a few shows a year and little running in between. Thanks.

 

 

The rear brakes don't do much of the work so I would look at the front. A fully working set of standard brakes are more than adequate even for a bit of fast driving. What actually appears to be the issue?

If the pedal travel is excessive but less excessive with the handbrake applied your fault is with the adjustment of the rear shoes.

 

If the pedal travel is excessive due to air in the hydraulic system clamp all six hoses. If it's still excessive your fault is within the master cylinder. If clamping the hoses makes the pedal travel good release each clamp one at a time and see which clamp removal makes the pedal travel bad again to eliminate which brake has the trapped air.

 

If the pedal feels hard and the brakes are poor your servo isn't working properly which is more than likely a fault with the long rubber hose from the engine to the servo. The original hose often leaks and/or collapses.

Cheers for getting back lads, hard pedal little brakes, sounds like servo hoses or servo itself Dave. Much appreciated.

If the hose is leaking it may also affect the way your engine runs as it will introduce an air leak to the inlet manifold. You can tell if the servo is working by putting your foot on the brake pedal when you start the engine.....as the servo gets vacuum the pedal should soften a little.....it's easy to feel. If the pedal says the same then it's definitely a servo issue of some description

If you end up replacing the servo hose replace it with 10mm internal diameter copper pipe and attach at either end with good bits of the original hose. [or new if there aren't any good bits!].

Another thing to consider is to make sure that if the brakes have been bled, that they've all been bled - on a 130 (Saloon and Rapid) the rear drums and one half of the front 4 pot calipers are on the same circuit - not simply split front and back.

 

I had 6 months of rubbish brakes on Ermintrude until I realised this simple fact......

If the pedal travel is excessive due to air in the hydraulic system clamp all six hoses. If it's still excessive your fault is within the master cylinder. If clamping the hoses makes the pedal travel good release each clamp one at a time and see which clamp removal makes the pedal travel bad again to eliminate which brake has the trapped air.

 

 

 

4 hoses going to the wheels

what are the other 2 hoses to clamp ? 

Your Estelle only has four hoses, the Rapid has two hoses going to each front caliper.

This thread is 13 months old...I suspect the original poster has probably found the answer by now.....or sold the car....or set fire to it and pushed it into the sea   

Probably, but it's still worth knowing that the Estelle/Rapid 130 4-pot calipers have 2 pots on each circuit giving L-split brakes.

I already do.......found out just over 13 months ago :p