Technical UPDATE - Pulling to the right when braking

We drove the '50 coupe to breakfast this morning and when returning home I had a near miss when a distracted driver ignored a stop sign, I stabbed the brake pedal and the car pulled to the right, fortunately I wasn't involved in a accident but was dumbfounded when the brakes reacted in such a manor.

I drove the car last week and didn't notice any problems but when I got closer to home on a straight stretch of road I told Brenda to hang on and I stabbed the brake pedal again, and again it pulled hard to the rght.

I'm puzzled, the brakes haven't been a problem in the past and I haven't started trouble shooting the problem but the car has disc brakes on the front and drum on the rear, no booster.

Any thoughts? HRP

 

Can you tell if it's the front or back brake that contacting the braking surface

 

Do you have self adjusters on the rear? I ask because I have them all the way around. Every time I drive the car or the truck, I back up, and come to a complete stop using the brakes, just to set them and keep them happy and adjusted. That would be the first thing I would look at, the adustment on the rear shoes.

 

Thoughts...pads or linings wet with brake fluid can cause pulling to one side also.

 

Could be a stuck caliper.

 

Generally, if a car pulls one way the front brake on the other side isn't working right. But a low right side tire could cause this too.

And you didn't mention if it was wet out; water on the rotor can cause this. That's why the OEMs fit splash shields.

 

Dry as a bone. HRP

 

To add upon. Look into slides. Inner pad may be the only one making contact with rotor.

 

Cars that aren't driven a lot can have issues with the Caliper floating properly. Ford products due to style of bracket seem to be worse at it. Caliper needs to float for pads to apply evenly. I've found on the GM style there through bolt can take a curve to them and not float properly. I think that's more common than we know and why every new caliper comes with new bolts in the box.

 

You could also have 2 primary shoes on the same side on the rear. Two long shoes on one side and two short shoes on the other side will cause a pull on hard braking. I have seen this many times back in the day with drum brakes.

 

^^^^^
Slides more often than not. Doesn't matter how new, foreign or domestic. I wire brush the heck out of brake components and carefully apply brake grease each time I do a brake job on our OT cars, and eventually all still seem to find a way to bind up on the slide surfaces or alignment bolts. It never seems to happen to brake shoes, at least not with me.

 

Close inspection of all the brake hoses

 

Incorrect brake adjustment or a seal leak will cause the pulling.

 

Inspecting the brake hoses will not detect a collapsed inner liner. Bleed the brakes and check for even flow. This will also show you that the sliders and caliper pistons are working..or not. 2X suspect sticking sliders on the left side.

 

I'll throw one more possibility out there... defective proportioning valve if one is fitted. I ran into one on a friends car, drove me crazy until I found it. You can also have issues if one is plumbed wrong.

 

If grease from a leaking seal gets on the brake lining material, that brake will want to lock up.

Phil

 

Jack up the left front and remove the tire.... Have the better half jump in and pump the brakes while you try to slide in a????... .003" feeler gauge in between the rotor and pads... If it don't grab, you might have a frozen caliper....

 

Bad wheel bearing can also cause this condition.
Jim

 

Close inspection of the moving parts is the p,ace to start . It’s really hard to inspect a hose . If youbfind nothing mechanical ,then replace the hose on opposite side it’s pulling

 

So, what's the good word HRP?????....

 

I had a problem with my brakes when I was a kid . The answer was the Combat Boot I laced on to a hunk of angle iron that I jerked back on to stop had worn the sole out !

 

I haven't done anything on the coupe today, hope to work on the car tomorrow afternoon. HRP

 

Back brakes have a small effect on direction stability something happened to the friction coefficient on one of the fronts usally water, brake fluid, or grease. Hydraulic brakes equalize the apply pressure so adjustment can be ruled out unless adjusted to tight causing the brake to get hot reducing friction or a stuck component. I have never had self adjusters over adjust. There must be shoe movement for them to adjust. Bad front end parts can cause a caster change during braking causing a pull.

 

I didn't get a chance to work on the coupe yesterday but worked on it this afternoon.

I checked out all the suggestions you guys offered and couldn't find anything that stood out or looked worn.

I believe it's front.

I checked the rear brakes and they checked out OK.

No leaks.

No sir.

I check the tires, about two pounds difference, both fronts pads are working fine.

Had the boss lady pump the brakes and both pads are making contact.

They are GM and appear to have newer bolts.

No sir,the rear shoes are set up correctly.

While I had everything apart I did a good cleaning and reassembled and made sure they was no contaminates.

I haven't done this yet, I have had hoses in the past that collapsed with age, I intend to check the hoses.

I'm sure the front pads are OK and I don't see any leaks.

This is something I will try.

Car doesn't have a proportioning valve, this is a new problem.

Yes sir, no visible leaks.

Both calipers are working likse they should.

The wheel bearings have less than a thousand miles, but I pulled the hubsand checked them, everything there is OK.

Go thought but the front suspension has been totally rebuilt.

I have address 95% of what you guys have suggested, I drove the car to town and back and the brakes are working fine with normal stop & go, a panic stop still pulls to the right.

When the front suspension was rebuilt I replaced everything but the front brake hoses and I;m thinking that just might be where my problem is.

I'll let you guys know what I find. HRP

 

It's almost always the one thing that you didn't replace!

 

That is the thing about a collapsed brake hose. You cannot tell from the outside if it is bad.

 

On hard braking with the stock suspension you can get caster change. A weak coil spring on one side and you'll get uneven caster and cause brake steer. Easy test is swap front coils from side to side see if the pull follows the springs. I'm****uming you have had the front alignment checked.

 

I'm sure you would have found the issue if it was visually evident. That has me throwing in with the collapsed brake hose diagnosis. This is all interesting and instructive. We're rooting for you to catch this culprit.

 

Are the brake pads new? Or unknown / came with the car?


Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Here's something new to me.
"Tire conicity refers to a problem in a tire when it’s made. Sometimes during manufacturing, one of the components becomes misaligned and causes the tire tread rubber to harden in a slight cone shape, rather than the proper cylinder shape. That causes your car to pull to whatever side the defective tire is on."
Try switching tires side to side?