Hi all,
Having just cheated the grim reaper of a victim, I thought I would share a quick post to describe the issue which brought me a little too close to being sent home in a jiffy bag.
Today I had a front brake hose fail in quite a big way, and the nett result was a lot of buttock clenching, dropping through the box fighting for engine braking, and feathering the handbrake... There really wasn't a lot of distance between me and the back of a very solid looking lorry when I eventually stopped.... Probably 8" or so.
Like many of us, I have swapped out the original rubber brake hoses for nice stainless braided ones. And to be fair, the improvement in braking in the past may well have been a factor in my still being here today..... but are also the reason for todays incident.
As several people have commented previously, when you replace the front brake hoses on an MGF, for stainless braided ones, therevis the issue of how to route them as they don't have exactly the same shape profile as the original hoses, and the p-clip fitting kit that many come with put part of the hose in between the suspension arm and the rubber bump stop.
And yes, that's what caught me out today. The hose has obviously taken several pinches between the arm and the stop over time, and let go today big style under hard braking.
Now admittedly my stainless hoses have been on for a decade, and I do have things like lowering knuckles, sports shocks and poly bushes which make for a massively firm and low ride. But I think that many of us can think of a time when the clunk of the suspension arm hitting the bump stop tells you that the speed hump was bigger than you expected.
I had the wheels off just 10 days back and didn't spot a problem.
The chances are that most people are not driving much right now, so while the weather is nice and we are at home, pop the wheels off and have a really really good look at your stainless hoses!
Ttfn