the most comprehensive fail safe system is the old volvos. they had it divided so that the front calipers had two pistons i believe, and one piston was on a three way system that included one of each of the front brakes and one rear brake. the other system was the other two pucks on each front wheel and one rear. great in theory but a real pain to bleed!

the fuss is over whether the poster had a problem that was a dire risk and needed immediate attention or not.

i am firmly in the camp of not dire but needing attention sometime in the next few months or so. and not a risk of catastrophic failure from the problem in question.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

The shop that replaced the brake pads on my 450SL ignored the stiff caliper pistons. Less than a week later, the car lost it's brakes when the fluid boiled after being on the interstate for a couple of hours.

didnt you ever smell burning brake material?

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Nope. What happened was that the unmentionable MB indy, that had known the car since new, never bothered to bleed the ancient and nasty brake fluid out of the system when doing any kind of brake work on the car in the past. It boiled at a very low temp. Shame on me for not being aware. Shame on them for doing shoddy work.

I now flush the brake fluid every two years. I just put a set of Goodyear Assurance Triple Tread tires on the Eldorado(awesome tires btw.), and I had the shop flush the brake fluid. Even my wife noticed the firmer brake pedal.