DIY: Brake Balancer Adjustment

[PDXGTI8V 2.0]

So, after lowering my car, my braking just felt like ccrap...it felt soft and squirly, and then i remembered that I was suppose to adjust the brake balancer (proportioning valve) on the rear beam since i lowered it....well let me tell you, i adjusted it tonight and man, what a difference!!! technically, youre suppose to do this adjustment with the car on its wheels, but i didnt have access to a lift, so i jacked the car up on the rear beam, on each side of the car...i crawled under there, checked the adjustment, and the damn thing was set up all the way to the rear!! Only thing i can think of was that my mechanic set it to full flow to the rear brakes when he was bleeding the system a year or 2 ago, and forgot to adjust it back....soooooo, i made a judgement call and moved it almost all the way up, which is the way to move it after you lower the car...and i'll be damned, the brakes feel firmer, more responsive, and overall wonderful...if you havent done this, i highly recommend it

Adjusting the Brake Balancer

Something the tuners don't always tell you: If you lower your car, you must adjust the brake balancer to compensate for the change in ride height, or you might experience rear wheel lockup and/or your braking performance will not be optimum. Some lowering springs come with a spacer for the brake balancer, so that this does not happen, but most don't.

The brake balancer is located on the (U.S.) driver's side, under the car, just ahead of the rear axle mounting point. There is an arm coming off the front of the axle beam, with a spring attached to it. The other end of the spring goes to the brake balancer.

To adjust the brake balancer, simply park your car on level ground, and loosen the 13mm bolt/nut combo at the end of the spring. Slide the bolt/nut until the spring is just snug between its end points. This is the factory setting. For fine tuning, slide the bolt/nut up to give more braking to the front brakes, and down to give more braking to the rear brakes.

http://members.dslextreme.com/....html

Modified by PDXGTI8V 2.0 at 10:01 PM 2-21-2006

[holistah]

Another one for the DIY

[Jeramiah]

hmm i need to do this, last year I almost came around on myself with rear wheel lock up

[PDXGTI8V 2.0]

Quote, originally posted by Jeramiah »

hmm i need to do this, last year I almost came around on myself with rear wheel lock up

and once you do it, youll feel like you got new brakes, or upgraded to bigger ones it's really that much better, i kid you guys not.....and its so simple, loosen the 13mm bolt, slide it up, tighten it down and your done...then go for a drive and post up if it helped you or not

[85Golf12v]

I don't think my car even has one of those i've never really paid attention though... Guess i'll have to take a peak this weekend.

[The_Hamster]

golfs do not have one, jetta's and gti's do.

just reaming it all the way one direction or the other with a guess is a little risky, with lowered cars i am not sure what your best bet would be, preferably some way to measure the bias, but i couldn't tell you how.

[PDXGTI8V 2.0]

Quote, originally posted by The_Hamster »

golfs do not have one, jetta's and gti's do. just reaming it all the way one direction or the other with a guess is a little risky, with lowered cars i am not sure what your best bet would be, preferably some way to measure the bias, but i couldn't tell you how.

thats why you follow the guys directions up above, fitting it snug, and since ive been driving my car around with it adjusted all the way to the rear for god knows how long and am still here to tell the story, i doubt adjusting it to the extreme limits either way is gonna cause an accident, in this litigious society, I highly doubt VW would build in enough adjustability for it to cause a problem, and all I know is that it worked extremely well for me

[The_Hamster]

Quote, originally posted by PDXGTI8V 2.0 »

thats why you follow the guys directions up above, fitting it snug, and since ive been driving my car around with it adjusted all the way to the rear for god knows how long and am still here to tell the story, i doubt adjusting it to the extreme limits either way is gonna cause an accident, in this litigious society, I highly doubt VW would build in enough adjustability for it to cause a problem, and all I know is that it worked extremely well for me

it can cause an accident, ask broke how he knows.

and yes that sets the factory setting fine, but how you could safely fine tune it better is another question. plus with the lessened suspension travel of a lowered car the balancer can't do it's job like it can with stock suspension travel, some of the sacrifices you make for being cool i guess.

those things like to seize too. golfs have a prop valve that does not adjust or change with the load on the rear attached to the mc, those little cylinders you see between the lines and the MC outlets.



Modified by The_Hamster at 12:04 AM 2-22-2006

[PDXGTI8V 2.0]

Quote, originally posted by The_Hamster »

it can cause an accident, ask broke how he knows. and yes that sets the factory setting fine, but how you could safely fine tune it better is another question. plus with the lessened suspension travel of a lowered car the balancer can't do it's job like it can with stock suspension travel, some of the sacrifices you make for being cool i guess. those things like to seize too. golfs have it a prop valve that does not adjust or change with the load on the rear attached to the mc, those little cylinders you see between the lines and the MC outlets. Modified by The_Hamster at 11:51 PM 2-21-2006

fine, then lets just let everyone leave their brake balancer just the way it is, and have excessive amount of fluid sent to the rear wheels, causing premature rear wheel lock up

oh, and i'd love to see how broke adjusting that little bias valve "caused" his accident...i'm calling BS...more like that was a convenient thing to blame something other than driver error on

anyway, i guess this thread is dead now

[The_Hamster]

i never said let it be, definetely adjust if you lower your car etc, something far too often overlooked.

and yes, if too much is sent to the rear by lowering a car or misadjsuting it, the rears will lock prematurely. this is especially dangerous in the obvious circumstance of a wet or slippery road. say snow etc. hit the brakes, rears lock too early, spinout and slam into say.... a guardrail etc. but you knew that already, you just admitted that in the post before.

unless you mean having too little go to the rear causing an accident, which could be the case too if you have no rear braking at all, your stopping distance increases, problems arise obviously.

[The Infidel]

This has no foreseeable productive future.

[ValveCoverGasket]

Quote, originally posted by PDXGTI8V 2.0 »

and since ive been driving my car around with it adjusted all the way to the rear for god knows how long and am still here to tell the story, i doubt adjusting it to the extreme limits either way is gonna cause an accident

take it out to a track, see how you fare there

[Vdubs]

It's a very necessary adjustment when you lower the car, the best way to set it is by skid testing in the rain, you could use the pressure gauges as intended by VW to set it up but it'll still be wrong under heavy braking.
The stiffer the suspension is, the less the body dips, making the prop valve think the car is still loaded at the back creating instability and lockup, the prop valve lever length should be altered so it reflects the suspension travel, that's not that easy to do, so adjusting it to eliminate the lockup is the safest way.

BTW, Brokes issue was before he got the adjustable set up, and the reason why he got the adjustable setup.

[KaldBlod]

Quote, originally posted by ValveCoverGasket »

take it out to a track, see how you fare there

A friend of mine prefer to completely disable the rear brakes on his rabbit (now mine ) when racing at the track to get better advantages using left foot braking.

[chrislane31]

So do we do the adjustment on the ground or with the rear beam in the air?

You said you jacked the rear beam, but in your DIY description you did not mention the car being in the air.

[KaldBlod]

Jacking up the car using the rear beam will be almost like having the car on the ground, especially if you put something under your front wheels aswell.

edit: Only if you jack it so that the rear wheels keep the same distance from the arches like when it's on the ground.. Of course.


Modified by KaldBlod at 6:12 AM 2-22-2006

[GLI_DRIVER]

Your really supposed to adjust it when the car has its weight on the suspension. I used a scissor lift (alignment rack) to get the right adjustment. Ive found the adjustment to be very sensitive,and like Vdubs said the lever needs to be lengthened to achieve full leverage. The happy spot for both my gli's (both lowered-sensibly) is directly in the middle. If you adjust it all the way front bias the car dives and feels like the rears aren't doing a thing.

[mk2jet]

Is this for Drums, or discs?

[Sparknock]

Quote, originally posted by mk2jet »

Is this for Drums, or discs?

thats for 8v drum brakes iirc

[chrislane31]

Quote, originally posted by mk2jet »

Is this for Drums, or discs?

x2

[mk2jet]

doesnt say tho?

[Vdubs]

Both, if you have a load adjustable prop valve.

[chrislane31]

I have a 92 16v GTI with stock 4wheel discs and I like Grandpa Brad just lowered my car...

Do I need to adjust or play with the Brake Balance Adjuster?

Can it be done on the ground or on a lift or jacked up even in the rear?

[Matt-K]

Chris.... from what ive gathered.. the best way to do it is when the car is on the ground. but if you must jack the car up jack it up so that the suspension stays compressed. therefore it doesnt change the angle of the arm thing. i would say give it a shot..

hey the worst you could do is adjust it wrong and lock up the rears and spin uncontrollably off the road and tumble down a rocky cliff and die in an explosion.

[elementsoffury]

I've always adjusted my balance via the allen bolt & locknut on the biaser. it seems easiest & quickest to adjust while in a testing parking lot while a friend watches your wheels closely as you speed around & lock up the brakes. no jacking required

[ecampo]

Is there anyway to adjust this on a Golf GL? I feel like my rear brakes dont do a thing.

[ValveCoverGasket]

clever signature Matt-K

[no.og.a2]

is this for rear disc only or is it for both drums and discs. do you move it all the way up?

[Vdubs]

Quote, originally posted by mk2jet »

Is this for Drums, or discs?

Quote, originally posted by no.og.a2 »

is this for rear disc only or is it for both drums and discs. do you move it all the way up?

Quote, originally posted by Vdubs »

Both, if you have a load adjustable prop valve.

[debeerd]

It is for disc brakes only.
Had the same problems with rear wheel lockup in rainy weather.

[Vdubs]

Quote, originally posted by debeerd »

It is for disc brakes only. Had the same problems with rear wheel lockup in rainy weather.

No it's not.

[vwtoys]

Quote, originally posted by Vdubs »

No it's not.

I have that prop valve on my drum braked 90 GTI 8v.

[PanzerGTi]

i have a 92 GTI w/ disc conversion, lowered. i will definitely be doing this when i get a lift availbale. when i brake hard, it locks up and i do almost a 180, so yeah NOT adjusting it can be dangerous, but as said before, i'm going to test and re-adjust until i stop straight and fast, and not locking up too early, good write up and good to get it out there that this should be payed attention to

[Jezztor]

Quote, originally posted by The Infidel »

This has no foreseeable productive future.

Great write-up Brad. I need to play with the adjustments after the new brakes are on.

[iGen3]

I put a new one on my '89 GLI rear disc when I did rear calipers 'cause the ancient one was frozen solid. made a big difference, actually engages the rear brakes once in a while. Aside from the locking up factor, it also affects attitude, or "dive" when breaking. (at least on OEM stock susp.--i'm sure lowered you are running much tighter anyway. )

suprisingly, with tons of parstblaster, all the line fittings came off OK and I didn't break anything. ; )