Older Brakes a serious Health Hazard

Asbestos in Brakes

Up until a few years ago asbestos was the material of choice for brake and clutch linings.

However, asbestos is being phased out because of the health risks caused by the dust and a complete ban on asbestos based products was put in place at the end of 2003. This ban applies to OEM and aftermarket replacement parts.

Most vehicle manufacturers replaced asbestos in brakes and clutches with other compounds a number of years ago and you will probably recall the problems they had in striking the balance between brake performance and component life.

An early implementation by one major manufacturer required new rotors each time the pads were replaced while another major manufacturer had to replace rotors under warranty because of glazing that caused brake shuddering within 10,000 km.

The lack of asbestos in brakes and clutches doesn’t mean that you can get complacent though. All friction materials still contain fibres and all fibres are potentially hazardous. These fibres are present in the dust produced by brakes and clutches [asbestos or otherwise] and you will be exposed to this dust when doing any work on or inspecting brake or clutch assemblies.

So for us with older bikes may want to take extra care when working on brakes especially drum bakes…………..Wish i had known this a few months back when I cleaned the rear drum on the XS and took at it with a wire brush and a rag………Guess if I get lung cancer in a few years i will know why!!

Changing Wheel diameter…..

Why can't I have bigger wheels? 

Well you can sir, but they must meet the modification guidelines (VSI No 8). 

But it will handle better with big wheels!! 

Well it might, but it might be worse. 

Rubbish, with all that extra rubber it must stop and steer better! 

Actually if the wheels are taller than standard, the brakes will have to work harder to stop the vehicle. 

Why is that? 

Its all about leverage. The brakes are trying to stop the wheel from turning. The amount of energy they can dissipate is related to how big the brakes are, how hard they are applied and how well they get rid of the heat. How hard they have to work depends on the how much force in the form of the road pushing the wheel around they have to resist. 

What difference does a taller wheel make? 

A taller wheel gives the road more leverage to fight against the brakes. 

So all I have to do is press harder on the brakes? 

That's OK for normal driving if the change is very small. However, in some cases you might not be able press the brake pedal hard enough to stop the vehicle fast enough in an emergency. 

What about my 4WD, I need big wheels to get through the ruts? 

If you put the taller wheels on then you have effectively done a brake modification. In that case you will need an engineer's report. The engineer will tell you what other changes need to be made so the brakes will work properly again. 

At least the big wheels will make it handle better!! 

Perhaps! But only if you consider.......and the story goes on and on.