Stephen King didn’t do any better in “Christine.”
So?
There’s no disagreement here. I saw those exposed calipers and wondered if mud, snow, or ice would cause maintenance issues. I’ve never owned a car with open slotted rims like that. I know the older style rims covered and protected the calipers and rotors.
The conclusive answer is no. I asked a question and got an answer. Ignorance fought. Thank you.
That’s a bad idea, you could actually warp the rotors a little (doesn’t take much). Use a large C-clamp to push the caliper piston back in.
Sigh. No, they didn’t. They were always exposed to moisture, rain, snow, salt etc. and were always designed to withstand this. The switch to open-spoked wheels changed nothing.
Trivia question:
What did ALL cars, trucks and vans have in the 1950’s-1960’s than only trucks and vans have now?
A foot-operated parking brake?
Drum brakes?
Metal bumpers.
I love spoked rims and large colored brake calipers! Gotta show that your car is all muscle and speed and therefore needs BIG brake BREMBO calipers to stop the beast.
Other than aesthetics, spoke rims are lighter and provide more ventilation to the brake components for cooling.
I would suggest lots of books.
Well i believe there is an exposer issue for a car parked at the curb and all the slush being splattered on the pads and rotors. Yes they do freeze.
AcePlace57,
Ventilation is also a great reason in favor of a more open wheeled design. Living, as I do, on top of a Southern Californian Promontory, it’s a pretty steep drop to the freeway, and on a warm enough day, it probably wouldn’t take too much of that to start fading your brakes.
I know that setup doesn’t look right to you, but believe me, there are times when you really want to vent as much of that heat overboard as fast as possible, and good airflow helps this a lot. Flooring your brakes and still slowly rolling to a stop is not a great feeling! In any case, I suspect this is the biggest reason that drum brakes are largely out of use on automobile front wheels.
We sure as hell would never use such a design over here in the aviation industry. In fact, most large aircraft use a multidisk pack (which is completely exposed to things like FOD at 200+ mph and does just fine there), that’s a good deal more exposed to elements and suchforth than what you’ve seen by that restaurant…
Hope that helps.
Mercedes and other car manufacturers still use those. I just drove somebody else’s car the other day that had one, but I can’t remember what it was.
With the death of the Ford Crown Vic, I’m guessing it’s a separate chassis, but I think that’s only true for the US market. Some of the small British sports car builders still use steel chassis/fiberglass body arrangements.
Even when there’s a “solid” wheel or hubcap (which I don’t think has been the norm since about 1950, the OP’s memory notwithstanding), the brake assembly was still exposed on the other side of the wheel.
Your belief is wrong. My car has alloy wheels (calipers/rotors plainly visible from outside), and I’ve never had any brake issues attributable to slush freezing on them. The forces involved in wheel motion and brake actuation are large enough that a crust of ice does not impede normal function.
As for weather/vandal related damage, no, nothing there either. Car is fine, and my motorcycles (on which exposed rotors/calipers are industry-standard) have never had any weather-related brake issues.
The only thing solid or “steelie” wheels (with or without hubcaps) protect your brake parts from is being seen by the public.
What makes me giggle is seeing some ratty econobox car where they spray-painted the calipers (with overspray on the bolts and brake line, and the spring) red to mimic Brembo calipers.
Incorrect. The amount of force needed to retract the pistons is trivial relative to the strength of the disk and bearings. The way i mentioned is indeed the recommended service procedure for my car. A c-clamp won’t work anyway due to the fact that my calipers are of the twin, opposing piston design.
Kazo is correct in that this will not warp the rotors, and prying the pistons back in with a lever is the official method specified for some designs. Brake rotors are pretty stout and it would probably take a BIG hammer or a hydraulic press to warp one. I don’t see why a properly shaped C-clamp wouldn’t work with an opposing-piston caliper, but it’s a heck of a lot quicker and easier to pry them. It also usually works better to leave the pads in place, especially with 4-piston calipers, to handily and evenly apply the pressure to the pistons. It might gouge the pad linings, but they’re being replaced anyway.
Do trucks and vans still have foot dimmer switches?
Some might, but the trend over the years has been to multifunction switches on the steering column that include the dimmer function.
Just trying to answer FoieGrasIsEvil’s trivia question.