[T2] Brakes

[Chris Dreike]

 Hey Volks,
I've gone through several sets of brake shoes in an attempt to make the
braking system on my 64 bus work somewhat close to what it was when it came
from the factory. I was tired of the feeling that my bus might not stop. I
was completely unable to lock up the wheels no matter how hard I pushed on
the brake pedal.

Last week Alex at ISP West in Carson, CA told me about CH Toppings in Long
Beach, CA. They have brake shoes that "bite" properly. I took my drums to
them and purchased a set of brakes which they arced to the drums. I can now
brake nicely and even lock up the wheels. What an improvement.

I will soon be purchasing a new set of front drums to replace my old
original VW drums and will have Toppings drill them them for better wet and
hot braking.

Here is a link to their web site.
http://www.chtopping.com/Home/index.html

I also found a listing of DOT brake Pad Codes. Toppings sold me EE rated
brakes. I took a look at all my other shoes and found that all but one set
had no codes printed on the edges of the linings. The one set was coded FF
and did provide the best braking of the bunch, but oddly not as good as the
EE units.
Here is a link to some pad code information:
http://faculty.ccbcmd.edu/~smacadof/DOTPadCodes.htm
http://www.federatedautoparts.com/Docs/TTBulletins/S001E005.pdf

Cheers,
Chris
64DD Kamper Kit
71 Sunroof