410 Brake Upgrade

[AndrewA]

Well...for a variety of reasons (impatience mostly) I decided to press ahead. The coopercraft kit was a bit more expensive than sending the calipers off for a refurb but not in the price range of some other options - also it was marketed as a straightforward bolt on arrangement - which it was - ish.
The only challenge I had was the wheels wouldn't fit! Turns out I'm running 411 Series 2 wheels but on 410 hubs. The spare, which is the original 410 wheel fitted perfectly. So SLJ kindly supplied 4 410 wheels which are now freshly powder coated, and on the car.
First impressions....brakes very good, excellent feel and bite - have yet to try repeated hard braking from silly speeds to see if I can fade them but I'll let them bed in first. I also prefer the look of the car on the original rims and it has lightened up the steering and increased the steering feel noticeably.

[dwomby]

Originally Posted by AndrewA

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the car on the original rims and it has lightened up the steering and increased the steering feel noticeably.

Interesting. What tyres, Andrew?

David

[AndrewA]

I was on Dunlop SP Sport Aquajet 185/80R15 91V all round but discovered one of the rears had developed an interesting bulge so needed to replace. These particular tyres are difficult to come by at the moment - apparently - so am now on Dunlop Sport Classic 185/80VR15 93W at the rear and Aquajets at the front.

[Roger Morrall]

Tyre contact area can make a surprising difference to steering weight.

I run an eclectic Morris Minor van that came, 30 years ago, with saloon rims and Jaguar Mk 2 seats. The latter had necessitated a sporty 13 inch steering wheel and skinny thighs. I relatively recently ditched the rusting saloon wheels in favour of the slightly wider van/pickup rims, retaining the same tyres. The very slight increase in contact area made a massive difference to slow speed manoeuvrability, basically there now isn’t any. At higher speeds, and it’s capable of a surprising turn of speed, it’s still just like riding a bike and it will out corner many modern cars

By the way 411 wheels (if you can fit them) do permit the use of modern asymmetric tyres designed for the SUV market. Tyre design has come a very long way in terms of reduction in tyre noise and tracking.