supercharger

Can't understand this bad brakes thing , seem totally adequate for its power , I had to bang on last week as lights changed quick and was going pretty fast at the time , not only did it stop quickly , it made no squeak or slide whilst doing so , bare in mind though I have new discs all round and pads and have named tyres round car , maybe that's why?

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Mind you ,if you upped the power I suppose they would no longer be adequate!
 
cougarfanboy said:
Can't understand this bad brakes thing , seem totally adequate for its power , I had to bang on last week as lights changed quick and was going pretty fast at the time , not only did it stop quickly , it made no squeak or slide whilst doing so , bare in mind though I have new discs all round and pads and have named tyres round car , maybe that's why?

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Mind you ,if you upped the power I suppose they would no longer be adequate!
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I guess in a way it depends what you're used to driving, but compared to my Cougar my work van (VW Transporter) which is normally just about loaded to its limit has razor sharp brakes, got a lot more chance of stopping than the Cougar. My Astra-H and even my ancient MX5 with 'bottle-cap' brakes all seem more keen to stop than my Cougar did. Caught me out a few times.

Could have just been my car, but the brakes on the V6 seemed to be the very definition of 'adequate', but that could have been me expecting too much from them. I guess cars made in the last few years just have sharper brakes rather than a fault with the Cougar per-se.
 
I agree they are not sharp , but when pressed hard , they work... Is that what you mean by sharp? Spongy feel when applying?
I get what you are saying if that is what you are getting at , but they do work when applied and work well , but like I said mine are all brand spanking so maybe that is why.
 
The only time I've ever felt 'happy' with Cougar brakes was on the old Zetec 4x4 which has the Cossie 4-Pot calipers. I had full confidence that when needed they'd stop me very quickly indeed. Standard Cougar and the Mk3 Mongy upgrades don't instill the same confidence for me.
 
They are weird cougar brakes , as they feel like you are using old style drums with a dodgy cylinder lol, but when I banged on mine I knew they was disc brakes stopped me in a flash , no crap.
 
cougarfanboy said:
I agree they are not sharp , but when pressed hard , they work... Is that what you mean by sharp? Spongy feel when applying?
I get what you are saying if that is what you are getting at , but they do work when applied and work well , but like I said mine are all brand spanking so maybe that is why.
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If anything, 'new' brakes are less effective than nicely worn brakes, so it sounds like you've got a good system.

Like Everton has said, they never inspired great confidence for me, always felt like they'd been grabbed out the parts-bin and just bolted on, I think they let the rest of the car down a bit. But are they any better or worse compared to their contemporaries?
 
benham said:
If anything, 'new' brakes are less effective than nicely worn brakes, so it sounds like you've got a good system.

Like Everton has said, they never inspired great confidence for me, always felt like they'd be grabbed out the parts-bin and just bolted on, I think they let the rest of the car down a bit.
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Don't get me wrong I didn't have them put on this morning ,they have had a few weeks bedding in , but I still class them as brand spanking pretty much.
When I got my car all the disc was pitted and the pads were down to the last millimetre and one of the callipers was siezed , although it cost me a arm and a leg to get them all replaced , I'm already thankful for having new ones on, as mentioned above , I've already had to bang on and worked without a sweat, so it was a good thing I suppose.
 
My opinion of the Cougar's brakes - Zetec or V6 - is that they're perfectly adequate for a normal road car. Nothing wrong with them at all. They're not as sharp as some cars I've driven, but they're progressive, solid, and have never worried me.

Where they fall down is that they're too small to cope with repeated braking from speed, like you'd do on a track. They're way too easy to overheat.

And that's why I say that if you want to go faster, you need an upgrade. The faster you can slow down - repeatedly - the longer you can stay on the power before you have to slow down.
 
Mako said:
My opinion of the Cougar's brakes - Zetec or V6 - is that they're perfectly adequate for a normal road car. Nothing wrong with them at all. They're not as sharp as some cars I've driven, but they're progressive, solid, and have never worried me.

Where they fall down is that they're too small to cope with repeated braking from speed, like you'd do on a track. They're way too easy to overheat.

And that's why I say that if you want to go faster, you need an upgrade. The faster you can slow down - repeatedly - the longer you can stay on the power before you have to slow down.
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Wouldn't green stuff pads or red stuff pads(are they like the new green? Lol) help in that matter? They perform better when they get hotter? Correct? Mind you I see what you mean about the actual disc getting hot with repeated braking from high speeds ,they are pretty tidgy :-(
 
Drilled and grooved discs are better for dissipating heat, but they're not the best solution to increasing brake effort.

Much as our American cousins say "There's no replacement for displacement", I think "There's no replacement for leverage" when it comes to service braking!
 
surely dissipating heat is the goal to reduce brake fade from over heating and glazing to which drilled and grooved to both jobs reduce heat and reduce glazing unless you up the power output of the engine there isn't really any need to upgrade to larger discs imho
 
What Benam is getting at, is the fact that out and out ,( not under constant repeated braking conditions)a flat disc brake is better than grooved and drilled for actual full on braking , but obviously with constant repeated braking, the grooved and drilled would come into the fore as they wouldnt start suffering from fade due to dissipating the heat better.
 
yeah I understand that but unless you do a lot of braking or do trackdays then isn't upgrading to the 300mm discs a waste with the adaptation you have to make them fit maybe I am wrong but in everyday driving I certainly don't get upto high speeds and have to repeatedly brake to warrant 300mm discs and the outlay and fettling that come with it
may dad used to b a firm believer of make do with how something was made why try fix something that isnt broke
and changing to bigger is trying to fix something that isn't broke in the first place
how many of us actually regularly do trackdays
anyhow were all different in driving skills and styles some brake light and some brake heavy I guess
 
scoobas said:
yeah I understand that but unless you do a lot of braking or do trackdays then isn't upgrading to the 300mm discs a waste with the adaptation you have to make them fit maybe I am wrong but in everyday driving I certainly don't get upto high speeds and have to repeatedly brake to warrant 300mm discs and the outlay and fettling that come with it
may dad used to b a firm believer of make do with how something was made why try fix something that isnt broke
and changing to bigger is trying to fix something that isn't broke in the first place
how many of us actually regularly do trackdays
anyhow were all different in driving skills and styles some brake light and some brake heavy I guess
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Spot on with your assumption mate , unless you are doing track days or drive like a lunatic on the road... Standards are totally fine , but going bigger(With discs) will obviously increase braking capacity further, but like I said on previous page , i find(new) standard cougar brakes just fine.
Totally adequate for normal driving and using in (non repeated constantly)emergency stops and heavy braking.
 
I've known people who have their left foot riding their brake they claim they have better response time and as much control as their right foot ??? The mind boggles lol that would heat up the brakes

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Also I have noticed with all warped discs the gap between the discs are caked up with rust and brake dust I haven't met one person yet who cleans them out that in itself leads to premature brake failure

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You can play around with this and that in terms of type and brands (I am NOT getting on with Greenstuff on my V6 even though they were perfect on my 200. It's probably because of the disks) but ultimately you need to find what works for you and your situation.

cougarfanboy said:
unless you [...] drive like a lunatic on the road... Standards are totally fine
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That's not 100% true though. Imagine a town that was built for cars. Where the speed limit on the main roads is 70MPH, but every mile or so there's a roundabout to allow cross traffic to flow freely.

In this mythical wonderland, it's possible that to make good progress during busier times, you're going to be going throttle to brake quite frequently, even if you're not going 0-70-0-70-0...etc.

And in that case, you really don't want your brakes to let you down.
 
Not sure about that as they are not actually used for the braking mechanism , though I imagine the loose sh£t will eventually lead to pitting of the discs? (If I'm getting what you mean)
As for riding your foot on the brake, unless you are literally air footed, I can't imagine it being healthy for the pads, the response time will be lowered physically as your foot is actually closer to the pedal , but response time(from the mind to your foot can never be lowered) everyone is the same , including a f1 drivers...
 
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