Yesterday I spent a whopping 2 hrs. on the track in the rex and it was my first day using Panther XPs on fresh rotors (properly broken in and bedded). It's also my first track day after replacing both rear wheel cylinders, hubs, and shoes. I was also using fresh ATE super blue. Everything else has 160K miles on it and has been minimally tested.

I have never had the car pulling in either direction under braking, but I have had fairly poor braking performance up until the rear drum rebuild so it's not like I've really been using these brakes. After the rear drum rebuild, I noticed that the XPs pulled significantly to the right when I was bedding them in. I figured it was just a factor of new pads grabbing funny, but as the following track day continued the pulling didn't go away. It's easy to control when you're expecting it, but obviously it shouldn't be pulling at all. I really only notice it under threshold braking.

The car has never been aligned, it's on used victoracers (my first day on this set), and I haven't corner balanced it. Obviously there are a lot of factors that could be contributing. However, I'm curious to see if it's more likely a problem with the brakes (weak front left, for example) or an alignment/tire issue. I didn't intend to replace the calipers/lines since everything seems to be working properly. On the other hand, the car has NEVER been aligned (could be good or bad) and I haven't had this problem the whole time.

Finally, it's hard to say if it tracks straight without braking since keeping a stiffly sprung, short wheel base, twitchy 88 CRX going straight is always a chore

 

Did you make any alignment changes? Bad caster will cause this. As will busted radius rod bushings. Or busted calipers.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Did you make any alignment changes? Bad caster will cause this. As will busted radius rod bushings. Or busted calipers.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not yet. I haven't done the alignment yet since I have a set of radius rod bushings waiting for install, along with new front hubs/bearings so everything is going to be apart. Corner balancing was waiting for the rest of the cage to be welded, which is finally done.

But the caliper is my concern. Is there any way to test if it's working properly? I mean, if the front right is braking at 97% and the front left is braking at 95%, how could you tell that was the problem vs. alignment?

I've "shotgun" fixed everything else on this car, I don't know why this should be any different

 

Alot of times you may not have a problem on the street but on track when things get to 1000 degrees, you might get a caliper that sticking/binding/dragging/etc... I had a similar problem accopanied with inconsistent pedal feel on my SC2, new calipers were the fix. I'd replace them anyways, since you will be racing. Get some junkyard ones and hand those in as cores.

 

"The car has never been aligned" Bingo.

After you replace those rad rod bushings, get it aligned. If it still pulls, then it is likely a brake caliper or line pressure issue.

 

Well, if the only change was the brakes, my vote is the brake are causing the problem. I had a similar problem with my Caprice - the left front caliper had seized open - causing the car to pull hard right under braking. If one of your rear drums is setup wrong, that could cause something similar. Or one of the fronts is failing. Or you popped a radius rod bushing.

 

I had a slight pulling issue...I bleed the system and the problem was fixed. Bleeding would my first guess, which is also the easiest AND cheapest. Hopefully that is it.

 

I have played this game before - Does it pull the whole time you are on the brakes? Or is it only at the initial application? Also, did you switch to a performance shoe material when you overhauled the rear drums?

 

get an alignment!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Track rat &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">"The car has never been aligned" Bingo.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yea, this would be the obvious answer, but the pulling is something new. Maybe I just never noticed it before since the brakes weren't fully working and now that they're working it's pulling.

Monkey and Backmarker,

How common is it for rear drums to cause the car to pull? I'm using OEM honda pads and all OEM honda parts in the drums (except for new autozone drums). As for pulling the whole time...it's hard to say. I trail brake a lot so I can't tell if the pulling decreases because the problem goes away or if it's because I'm applying less brake pressure. I would guess that it pulls the whole time if I applied steady pressure until I stopped completely (which happened once, but it's hard to evaluate braking performance in the gravel trap ).

siisgood00,

That's a good idea. Bleeding is about the only thing I'm sure was done right since I bleed the hell out of them after the wheel cylinder swap and then again with the new super blue.

Could I have problems like this if one front brake line is a little weak?

 

Drive the car around then see if the right side brake parts are hotter then the left. That would tell you if the right piston was sticking in the caliper.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Buzz Kill &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Drive the car around then see if the right side brake parts are hotter then the left. That would tell you if the right piston was sticking in the caliper.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I can already tell you that the front right side heated up more than the left when I was bedding them.

 

Crossmember secure? I had two cross member bolts missing (how, I'll never know. Probably while installing my APC underbody neon kit) and I had a tug to the left (side missing bolts) under heavy braking. Check there too.