Hi All,

Currently, I have a set of Brembo vented rotors. I am not happy with it. I want something better. What other rotor brands should I look into? R1 Concept or Stoptech? I had a set of ATE rotors and I loved it. Unfortunately, ATE no longer don't make front rotors for a 240 Volvo.

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving holidays. Thank you as always.

Hi All,

The other day, I was trying to remove the rotors so that I can repack the front wheel bearings. The Brembo rotors were heavily rusted, I had to bang it with a rubber mallet for 10 minutes per side. BTW, I put a generous amount of anti-seize cream when I installed it. Last night, I found these attached photos in my photo collection, of course, this would have made it easier. I totally forgot about it.



I miss the ATE rotors.

Hopefully, I don't forget to do this.

There shouldn't really be any problems with the Brembo's but you don't mention why you don't like them. Having good quality pads of a type that suits your driving/braking style is usually the governing factor.

I had a pair of Brembo front rotors and they warped quickly. Disappointing, as I thought Brembo was a good brand.

SB - Too bad about ATE. Think their quality is good. If you can find them for a 240, consider trying Zimmerman.

J

Hi Derek and Jim,

My Brembo rotor doesn't stop well in a low speed stop & go traffic. Not all the time but sometimes, it feels like the rotor is wet and there is no friction between the pads & rotors. It's scary when it does. I am using Volvo brand pads.

The brake fluid is flushed at every 30,000 miles. The Brake booster valve is working. Over the weekend, I just replaced the bad booster hose, the first 180 degree bend, coming out from the intake manifold was collapsing due to old age. I am not sure if this was the cause.

Thank you as always.

Volvo pads are good but they veer towards the hard and durable types. New discs and pads have to be run in and need to be worked quite hard regularly for about 100 miles to get them bedded in. If this 100 miles is all town work or you are always very easy on the brakes, the pads and discs can get a shiny glaze to them which makes for very poor braking. I would be tempted to remove the pads and give them a good rub down on a sheet of, say, 240 paper. Then give the discs a good going over with the same until you get a good matt finish. Hopefully that may cure the problem. If that is the reason, give the brakes a good work out now and then to stop the problem coming back.

Hi Guys,

I will report back soon. Thank you.

Hi All,

As some of you already expected, it wasn't the rotor. The brake is working well so far. It must be the collapsing hose that caused it. I will report back if necessary.

Thank you as always.

You say "old age" and yes this is true, but not so much the old age of the hose as old age of the motor. Oil vapor blown past the rings accumulates in the first inch or two of that hose making it soft, and yes, when it collapses, you think your rotors got oiled as the power assist fails.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.

Could be the brake hose. If that is bad, more pedal effort is definitely required. My 850 has the same problem. These days I really need to stomp on the brakes to get it to stop quickly. When the car was younger, the brakes would stop a freight train...:)

I have a set of IPD stainless steel brake lines in the front. They look good.

In the back, I am not even going to near there but the old lines looks really good and I hope they stay that way.

I can't find a Zimmerman rotor set for a 240. I tried...

These brake lines only had 28k on them. Yes the car sat for 8 years. On the outside they looked fine.

Here is only a further thought on what Jim Walker said about hoses.

You should not not always judge the outside of your brake lines as being good.

He was thinking this but failed to highlight his thought that ....
It's the insides of them, that you cannot see, that goes bad. The hole inside gets smaller and the flexible length of it compounds the problem!

What happen is the lines inner diameter swells closed as they are made in plies and the inner one get the fluid that swells against the outer one.

It comes with that old aging problem that we all have to some varying degrees!
Some call can call it body shrinkage but on men its hose .... ED.
In both cases it's about flow when pumped! (:-)

As far as those Brembo rotors I think they have little to do with the performance you describe.

When it comes to caliper Pistons they will squeeze anything put between them.
The Brembo claim to fame is a redirected thought or a "play on the thinking" with dealing with heat "generation and pad cleaning." This is including the boiling of bonding gases. It's a big deal repetitive racing applications.

My point is you still don't see the car manufactures jumping on the band wagon for their droves of customers.
The average Joe driver never pushes into those boundaries unless they are into a mind set of racing very frequently!
I personally try to by smokeless tires though! (:-) I think they must be smokeless or at least squeal resistant ? (:-)


I have not quite understood the idea of the stainless braiding on brake lines. I mean, unless you are expecting large amount of debris to hit them or they can rub something, they just look "snazzy."

The work of holding the fluid in the hose is already done! Nylon, fiberglass, Kevlar or other filaments leave the stainless steel material in the dust for many other applications. Tires only use steel in the rim bead anymore.
In fact, I imagine more dirt or crud is held against the outer ply, of which may not be a good thing?

Anyway the rear brakes are not as noticeable as the fronts but they might help out when backing up!
Do I have that backwards then? (-:)

Phil

Hi Phil,

A broken bleeder valve made me to replace the brake line all the way to the octopus junction box. I had to replace them all and I know the front lines are clean.

The IPD brake lines were on sale at that time and I couldn't resist for extra $10.

Thank you as always.

I meant the brake booster hose you just replaced not the lines.

My bad. Art's posting is very convincing. One thing, why does it happen only once in a while?

it's not the rotors.
one of the few complaints about a brand of rotors would be that they warp "too soon" and have to be replaced too often.
Unless you're racing, cross drilled or channeled rotors.

That you are having your problem during slow speed and stop and go traffic takes it ever farther from blaming the brand of rotors.

Vaccum Booster. as has been pointed out.

a B20 Volvo that I had was equip'd with a vaccum pump, it got harder and harder to stop, the diaphram had a tear and wasn't suppling full vacuum boost. But this came over time and once it happened it didn't sometimes NOT happen.

That yours dosen't do it consistantly...have you checked the return valve on the Vacuum hoses to the booster, could be sticking.

Don't know. Maybe it is because of the kink. Have you test driven it since you replaced the brake booster hose? On my car, it happens all the time. A mechanic verified I need a new brake booster hose.