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>From: <JonesVWs@aol.com>
>1. According to the Haynes manual, it is a compensator to spring load the
>pistons during "lateral movement" of the front rotors. It states this lateral
>movement is due to the suspension geometry. Having rebuilt my '67 calipers, I
>can say it is really a PITA!
>
>2. The rotors on these cars are large diameter (because the VW's had room
>with 15" rims). My guess is that while maintaining recommended wheel bearing
>pre-load, VW discovered that the large rotors would sometimes momentarily
>contact the brake pads under hard cornering, etc. This contact would push the
>piston back further and when the brakes where applied again, it would create
>more pedal travel. Rather than confuse the driver, they installed the
>compensators.
>
>3. Wild Theory - Conspiracy by ATE to raise part prices to VW. Compensators
>didn't really work, but all the small intricate parts really drove up the
>labor costs.
Thanks, I'll check out my Haynes manual. This is the same as what I had
come up with, but I'm still puzzled since Volvo and Saab didn't use these
compensators (I don't think???) and they have 15" wheels, too. Plus
Mercedes doesn't use them and if they were marginally better you'd think MB
would use them if anybody did.
One of my theories was that the VW spindles are flimsier than anyone else's,
but our inner spindle got 2mm larger in mid '68 and they still kept up the
compensators.
All disk brake type IIIs were delivered with these, but the part in the
piston was held in place with a snap ring 66-67. I removed a pair of these
once and drove them for a couple of years to see if I could tell any
difference: nada. So I just put them back for the sake of OEM-ness.
BTW, Keith mentions that his calipers don't have the pins. I know MOFOCO
breaks the pins out of the ones they rebuild; others may do the same. I
always leave them in.
Jim
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Melissa Kepner Jim Adney
jadney@vwtype3.org jadney@vwtype3.org
Laura Kepner-Adney
Madison, Wisconsin
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