T5 Brakes

Is it just me or the brakes on a T5 just not up to it.

I have two T5's, one C70 T5 GT with all volvo brake parts.
and one S70 T5 with discs and pads from eurocarparts. N

Neither are great and comparing them with say a 5 series or even and Granada, the pedal feel and bite is not great.

I cannot afford these big brake conversions

Also please does anyone know the best way to sort squeeky brake my S70 with news pas etc is driving me up the wall. I have fitted
anti-squeel shims to the rears but I think they have worn out already.

Thanks

[Simon J]

This is obviously the day for brake queries as a related query just appeared on the 850/70 board. Do a search for "big brakes" and you'll find just about all that has ever been said on the subject, but the general consensus seems to be that yes, the standard Volvo brakes are lousy!

[Dan F]

I still don't under stand this as the brakes on all the 7 Volvos I have had, big and small, are excellent.

Admittedly they do seem to have less initial bite than say my Dads Passat, but they are very strong and don't give you neck ache everytime you merely touch the pedal.
My Dads Passat, has good brakes but just a tiny dab of the pedal has you headbutting the dash. Way too violent that. :)
My Volvo brakes on the other hand seem to brake in direct proportion to how much pressure you use, which is safer and makes for a smoother more relaxing ride, and the more relaxed you are (within reason), the quicker your reactions.

How fast do you guys drive, by the way, that makes your brakes feel inadequate? I drive in a spirited fashion (sometimes too spirited) as much as the next guy, but at silly speeds the brakes aren't going to slow you as fast as you may think... and that needs taking into account.

Later dudes,
Dan. :)

Would disagree that the perfomance of the standard brakes is inadequate as they seem fine on my 850 T5-R, but have to say the SQUEEK x( is driving me mad too. Glad I'm not the only Volvo Bus around...

[Simon J]

Dan,

I actually don't drive all that fast and rarely stretch my T5, but the brakes have never inspired confidence and have always had a very soft pedal. They've never let me down, mind you, but I certainly never had the sort of pregressive braking you describe with braking response in direct proprotion to pedal pressure, (at least not until I got the big brakes :D ) and in truth I always felt that it got to the point where it didn't seem to matter how hard I pushed the pedal the braking effort remained constant (and lousy!). But perhaps it's the auto bopx and the extra vacuum connections that are the problem. I'd sure welcome a technical view on that theory.

Id quite agree also!
it seems to me that if you dont have MASSIVE rotors and 10pot calipers these days you are a nobody!!!
My standard (incredibly worn) brakes on my T5-R put in an impressive performance today when I rounded a bend in a 60mph zone to find a broken down lorry in the road!!!!
I thought id be in casualty this afternoon as I STOOD on the brakes but the brakes dug in and the ABS did a sterling job of bringing the T5-R to a safe halt with no tyre smoke at all!!!
I am actually booked in next week for a set of discs and pads but I think im gonna go with the standards replacements (should save me a few quid too!!!)

[sholtby]

I have only had my T5 for a few weeks and I was surprised how good they are. Better than any other car I have had. The previous owner a friend of mine said they weren't too good but he changed the pads and brake fluid and they were fine. It just depends what you are used to I suppose. I certainly wont be spending a fortune to change mine plus the high cost of pads/disks every time they wear out.

Simon

[NugentS]

I always haven't understood the complaints either. As long as when you press hard the ABS kicks in then that is as good as you are going to get.

I suppose that with the larger discs then there is more "force" turning the discs against the pads so you would get a slightly improved braking distance but I would have thought the major advantage of these big brake kits is the track response over time.

Sean

[Simon J]

There is a number of advantages to the bigger discs and calipers in the AP and Volvo performance brakes. The larger discs give a simple mechanical advantage as you suggest, but the greatest impact of these set ups is the significantly larger piston area of the calipers which gives an almost three fold increase in the force applied to the pads for any given pedal pressure. The effect of this greater braking torque in ordinary day to day driving is stunning - the merest increase in pressure on the pedal produces a consequent increase in braking effort and there is never any need to press particularly hard to get maximum attack! And of course in repeated use, the larger discs and pads will be more resistant to fade although I personally don't find this an issue on ordinary road use.

But it's interesting to see that there are some owners who find the brakes perfectly satisfactory. Can I ask if those who do are driving cars with manual rather than auto gearboxes? In fact I think I'll start a separate thread on this subject as I'd like to get to the bottom of it

[IC]

Interesting point - I drive a manual V70 T5 and have never had a concern about my brakes (302 standard front discs).There seems to be number of people on this thread who feel there are no problems with their cars' brakes. Could it indeed be people with automatics that seem to have the problems? As mentioned before in a previous thread I have experienced the stopping power of the AP big brake kit and the discs are indeed something else.

Iain C