Brakes

[Ford guy 2]

Hello, I am going to do a brake repair on the car and have been thinking should I put in woven linings or molded linings, is one better than the other in stopping distance what do you think, Thank you for your help

[Art Bjornestad]

I always try o install woven linings. They stop better for me but also wear out faster. Original equipment were woven linings.

[Purdy Swoft]

I prefer the woven riveted lining. I believe that you get better friction with woven. I always grind a taper at the leading and trailing ends of the lining , almost to the rivet holes. Without this taper it can be difficult or near impossible to get the drums on. Here is a pic .

[Tom Wesenberg]

I do the same as Purdy and also use the woven lining. Some time back a few years I heard there was some incorrect woven lining being sold for Model A brake lining, but I haven't heard anything more on it, so I'd guess it's no longer being sold.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

I REALLY lucked out! Vermin has NO recorded or documented history, but have a lot of old pics. BUT he has beautiful .030" oversize steel drums, with NO rust pitting, & woven linings that are barely shined up on the top of the weave & they have perfect, 100% drum contact! Bill W.

[gilitos]

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My last brake reline was my first with woven linings. They stop great but make a LOT of noise, so much that it's embarassing. I'm thinking about going back to molded linings.

[Forditude]

Many years ago I installed moulded linings on my 30 Tudor. I would not stop. I then talked to a more experienced Model A Guy in our club who told me that moulded linings were for hydraulic applications and that I should use the woven ones made for mechanical brakes. I have done that ever since and have had no problems. I think they make noise when the drums are too thin or not true. Just my input. Jay

[Patrick L.]

I too do what the others do. I no longer have a grinder, so, I just sand the linings to fit the drums [ sandpaper inside the drum]. We used to do a lot of relining [ mostly for air systems] and have found that most noise issues come from improper lining installation.

[jmeckel]

When I got my A I thought the brakes were wore out as they did not work very well no matter how much adjustment. When I pulled the drums to start the replacement I found good molded pads. Put new woven ones on and now it stops just like it should. I did not need to fix anything else. I am not officially saying do not use molded, just here is what I found and did to get the brakes to work.

[Purdy Swoft]

The molded lining that i've seen is hard and doesn't give braking friction when the brakes are applied , like the woven lining. I installed bonded brake shoes on the coupe with castiron drums. and I see no advantage.The main problem with a lot of model A brake jobs is slack in the brake rods. Because of bad information in a popular mechanics hand book, a lot of good people think that the brake rods all must be a specified length. This may apply to the early brakes that didn't have adjustable clevises but not the later model A's. After the parts replacement and adjustment at the adjusting wedges, I adjust the brake rod clevises so that the clevis pins will just enter the clevises with No free play. If the brake rods are not set up correctly with no slack, the brakes will be poor.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Please pay attention to what Purdy says, He's been doing this stuff a LOOOOONG time & has LOTS of knowledge & EXPERIENCE of what works & what doesn't work!! (Asides that, he paid me $2.77 to say that!!)

I've ALWAYS set up my brakes as Purdy describes. After setting up Minerva's brakes & putting on a few miles, to let them "settle " in, she had an ever so slight pull to the left. Backed off the L/F adjuster, just 2 "clicks" & PERFECT.
Main point is to get a uniform "lock up" point when adjusting the wedges! I grip the sides of the tire with 2 fingers & adjust until I just CAN'T turn it, sometimes it's good to rap the backing plate with a rubber hammer, and see if it will tighten more, then back off 3 or 4 notches. DON'T go by "DRAG" feel, it can be mis-leading.
Like Purdy says, NO slack in the rods! I disconnect ALL rods at the wheels, then adjust them ONE at a time.
1- L/F, push the operating lever BACK with your thumb, pull the rod FORWARD & adjust it so the pin "JUST" goes in, BUT, leave it disconnected.
2- R/F the same way & leave it disconnected!
3-L/R, push the operating lever FORWARD with your thumb, pull the rod BACK & adjust until the pin "just" goes in & leave it disconnected.
4-R/R the same.
5-Hook up ALL the rods & DON'T fergit to bend yo' KOTTER PINS, JIST RIGHT.

Now wasn't that easy? AND forget the old "BOARD TRICK" It's just somebodys old MUMBO-JUMBO STUFF! Bill W.

[Patrick L.]

See how these topics take a life of their own. I'm a believer that there are more than one way to milk a cow and that the outcome will be the same.
I adjust the wedges until I'm satisfied. I set the rods to the correct length then adjust as needed to take up any slack. I then use the brake board and readjust the rod length to get the drag I'm satisfied with. This does take a lot longer to do, but, whether right or wrong, its just another way.

[TinCup]

As Purdy says I had the hard pads on my coupe and it never stopped like it should. I replaced all four corners with woven pads and it is a night and day difference. I remember when I had to hard stop because of someone pulling out in front of me and all 4 wheels locked up and squeeled. My grandson said "Wow Pop we have never done that before".

[Allanw]

I've just adjusted everything (adjust, then fit rods), with new moulded fronts, and flat head teds floaters in the front... I can stop in a mighty cloud of tyre smoke now! It seemed to have ABS before!

I still have to do the backs.

[Vic in E-TN]

Molded brake linings come in various grades that have different friction coefficients. They are rated in letter grades. If you want molded & bonded brake linings for cast iron drums be sure to talk with the shop that can reline the shoes. You want the ones with the highest friction coefficient. There are brake shops today for modern cars that offer lifetime pads. They do it by using pads with a lower friction coefficient. This shifts some of the braking load to the rear brakes. With ABS the result is probably equivalent braking.

It has been a while and I do not remember exactly which shop did mine, I think that it was in Minnesota. Please use the search function and see what comes up.

Vic

[ctvpa]

I have to add my thought, while doing all this work, please consider Flathead Teds http://flatheadted.com/. Break floating kit, you can get them direct from ted, or Snyders. There are knock-offs, be sure they have the name brand. I can stop in about have the distance, and can leave 4 skid marks.
I always use woven.