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MG MG Y Type - Hot wheels

After completing a fairly vigourous rally on Saturday I felt each of my YBs wheels. The front right wheel was cold, the front left warm, the rear right hot and the rear left scorching. Is the cause of this likely to be brake imbalance or sticking? I suspect they should all be warm so the cold is as worrying as the scorching. Will the rear wheels get hotter anyway as they are the driven wheels? After the rally I drove for an hour or so on the motorway with little use of the brakes and the wheels were still nearly as hot. So might it be something else ie hubs?
Marc Hanson

And I thought that Matchbox was issueing an Y. ;-)

Hot wheels could be caused by:
- faulty adjustment of the brakes
- unround drums (which can foul you into thinking that you adjust the brakes properly, until you turn the wheel 360 degrees)
- collapsed brake hoses

My rear brakes were binding because of an internally collapsed (rubber) brakehose. The brakepressure is able to push the fluid through but it can't flow back! This can also be the case with your left wheel. If you don't have fresh brakehoses, now is the time to invest in some new ones, especially because of your vigourous use.

On a long motorwayrun the oil in the rearaxle gets quite hot. Some of this warmth COULD warm the rear wheels but not excessively so.

A trick to adjust balance between the cable operated brakes on pre-war MG's is to feel the brakeDRUMS directly after heavy braking. If they are the same temperature the balance is good.
So the drums will get warm after braking, and hot after prolonged heavy braking, so your cold brake should be investigated, too. But first feel the drum, not the wheel for warmth?
Willem vd Veer

and don't forget the adjustment and free movement of the handbrake cable
Willem vd Veer

A Matchbox scale Y - now that IS a thought!! I like it!!!

Marc, just to qualify - you ARE talking about the STEEL wheel RIMS not the tyre treads arent you? In which case I concur totally with Willem.

Paul
Paul Barrow

This thread was discussed between 11/08/2010 and 12/08/2010

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