Thema 16v Turbo brakes

[Leon]

Hi all,

Just a quickie.
Anyone else out there think the brakes on the 16v Turbo Thema aren't as good as they should be? I know they're fine at town speeds, but if you're overtaking on twisty roads, I've had mine comletely faded out (to almost nothing - _SCARY_!).

Where do I get drilled/grooved discs, pads, steel hoses, calipers from?

Any neat tricks? I was wondering about taking off the backplates and running some aluminium ducting from behind the front scoop to blow on the discs. Has anyone tried this? Or should I just drive slower?!

Cheers,

Leon

[Matt Ludwig]

I imagine that there isn't really anything wrong with the design of your brakes. You might just have air in the lines, bleeding them out might help. If not, I would bet that putting in new brake pads, turning down the rotors (or getting new ones if they aren't in spec), and flushing out all the old brake fluid and replacing it with new (and bleeding them thoroughly) would take care of your problems. If that doesn't work I'd check out the master cylinder (I doubt it's this because they work in town).

If that doesn't do it, I would do some cool air ducting to the rotors and possibly go with slotted rotors (cross drilled aren't good for street cars and eat up pads). Good luck getting them to work right.

Ciao,
Matt Ludwig
1981 Beta Zagato/Spider

[Lindsay Rouse]

Leon, you must ve driving it hard allright. Friend of mine had this problem when he took his Thema turbo round Knockhill - and he has Tarox drilled discs. If it'd any consolation, the 8.32 cooked it's brakes as badly as the turbo......

[Andy Brice]

I have the same problem with my 16V Turbo.

I have bled the brakes thoroughly and fitted Tarox discs.

The only way I found to improve this was to use the Lancia OEM brake pads.

I have used Mintex, Ferodo and others all with bad brake fade after heavy use. The OEM Lancia pads were twice the price of any others at £102 but were the only ones not to fade. Expensive but definitely worth it!