Hi Richard,
Many thanks for the reply. I am not sure how the plus4 hand brake system works on our car, but the garage has tried twice to fix the problem with no luck. The second time they told me they had stripped down the rear brakes and rebuilt them, but still doesn’t hold when you really need it. Morgan don’t seem to have any solution other than to check that the connection from the hand brake lever to the brake wires are the same length I.e. one is not longer than the other and therefore not pulling with the same tension. Don’t think anyone thinks this is a solution! Given that the Morgan was twice the price of our Audi and the Audi hand brake is fantastic it is very disappointing especially as the car has been through the recall and had to have a new radiator has has only done about 3000 miles since new.
Cheers
Andrew
So is this a potential MOT failure to soon look forward to for CX owners?
Not neccessarily Doug, the disc handbrake performs in two modes, static i.e. stopping the car from rolling down a hill, and dynamic operating to slow the car down in an emergency. I believe the MOT test for them operates in the latter form where the handbrake alone has to achieve minimum of 16% of the service braking force.
Static efficiency relates in the main to caliper clamping force and less to pad compound. Dynamic would be improved by grippier pads.
As an aside it would be interesting to know type and source of rear calipers on Plus Four.
It appears the ARP4 used Sierra Cosworth rear calipers which like our Mini are floating. This allows for simple linkage from handbrake cable to operate initially on one pad rather than the complexity and mechanical losses of a twin clamping action.
