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		Right, last couple of MOTs my service brake has been flagged up as only about 50% efficient. Now, I didn't even know my car was equipped with a service brake, I was only aware of two types of brakes, the foot brake and the handbrake...   
But all joking aside, I had assumed the brake efficiency was one of those things where you can never achieve 100% or even 90%, but from some intensive googling I have found that some makes of car are getting scores in the 90s.
 
My brake setup is Mintex discs, cheap pads (long story), braided hoses, new brake shoes and regular oil changes.
 
Anyone able to dig out the brake test from their MOTs for comparison?
	
		
	 
	
	
	
		
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		Disc or drum?
	 
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		Drums on the rear, discs on the front   
		
	 
	
	
	
		
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		you should be able to set up your drums to be a little more efficient than that.but 50% aint bad. I think the fail mark for the service/handbrake is 13/14%
 
		
	 
	
	
	
		
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		Handbrake pass mark is 16% efficient.  
Most 306s only just scrape that, with discs or drums lol.   
		
	 
	
	
	
		
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		Guys I think you have muddled the service brake with the parking brake. The service brake is the overall brakes all round, which I only scored 53% on with new brake shoes. 50% is the pass mark IIRC. I believe I scored 23% on the handbrake.
	 
		
	 
	
	
	
		
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		 (09-08-2013, 07:22 PM)306Puggy Wrote:  Guys I think you have muddled the service brake with the parking brake. The service brake is the overall brakes all round, which I only scored 53% on with new brake shoes. 50% is the pass mark IIRC. I believe I scored 23% on the handbrake. 
Man, I think you're trolling.. Jus' saying.
	 
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		 (09-08-2013, 07:22 PM)306Puggy Wrote:  Guys I think you have muddled the service brake with the parking brake. The service brake is the overall brakes all round, which I only scored 53% on with new brake shoes. 50% is the pass mark IIRC. I believe I scored 23% on the handbrake. 
...so whats the problem?
	 
		
	 
	
	
	
		
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		Tiny 247mm discs with cheap pads and shitty drums aren't gonna get you a high overall efficiency lol....   
		
	 
	
	
	
		
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		 (09-08-2013, 07:26 PM)ginge191 Wrote:   (09-08-2013, 07:22 PM)306Puggy Wrote:  Guys I think you have muddled the service brake with the parking brake. The service brake is the overall brakes all round, which I only scored 53% on with new brake shoes. 50% is the pass mark IIRC. I believe I scored 23% on the handbrake. ...so whats the problem?
 
Well, if you read the post correctly, you will see that from research I have reached the conclusion that 50% is quite a low efficiency. You really need things sounding out for you bit by bit don't you? Just like when a teacher teaches a child a long word.
  (09-08-2013, 07:25 PM)Jonny81191 Wrote:   (09-08-2013, 07:22 PM)306Puggy Wrote:  Guys I think you have muddled the service brake with the parking brake. The service brake is the overall brakes all round, which I only scored 53% on with new brake shoes. 50% is the pass mark IIRC. I believe I scored 23% on the handbrake. Man, I think you're trolling.. Jus' saying.
 
Right. And you are not trolling by posting stupid ambiguous comments in threads that have people confused enough already? Nice hypocrisy.
	 
		
	 
	
	
	
		
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		 (09-08-2013, 07:41 PM)306Puggy Wrote:  Right. And you are not trolling by posting stupid ambiguous comments in threads that have people confused enough already? Nice hypocrisy. 
I never said I wasn't trolling.
	 
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		 (09-08-2013, 07:59 PM)Jonny81191 Wrote:   (09-08-2013, 07:41 PM)306Puggy Wrote:  Right. And you are not trolling by posting stupid ambiguous comments in threads that have people confused enough already? Nice hypocrisy. I never said I wasn't trolling.
   
here we go again....
	 
		
	 
	
	
	
		
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		10-08-2013, 04:16 PM 
(This post was last modified: 10-08-2013, 04:18 PM by Poodle.)
	
	 
		A pass is fine, it means your car is capable of stopping within the distances the government wants it to, and with a close-to-equal force on each side of the car, ie safely! 
 Sorting out your brake fluid problem and bleeding the system properly should improve that by a good 10%. Decent pads will add anything up to another 10%, depending on your budget.
 
		
	 
	
	
	
		
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		Hmm...okay. Gonna get a couple of litres of brake fluid next week and a turkey baster and allocate a day to get it done properly. Wonder if I could have passed the MOT without renewing shoes/springs/cylinders though. After a cleanup the old setup got 49% so just failed the retest by 1%. But that was with fully air free brakes though, albeit with fluid that was getting on for 2 years old. But the pedal was solid.
	 
		
	 
	
	
	
		
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		brake efficiency;    total road weight of the car(kg) divided by the total brake effort on the brake tester (kg)  x 100 gives a percentage. footbrake was 50% handbrake was 16%-------sure the footbrake minimum is about to be raised a bit by vosa though ???
	 
		
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