Sincer it is drift month we are going to discuss the hydraulic handbrakes, as there is a lot of confusion about it. How do they work, how to install them, What are the advantages and disadvantages. These things will all be discussed today.
A regular handbrake is not more than a metal wire that locks the rear brakes when you pull the handle. Nice for parking and a possible emergency situation, but not perfect when you want to use your car to the limit. The more you use a regular and brake, the weaker the cable gets and it will snap eventually.
A solution for this is to mount an hydraulic handbrake. By doing this you will make sure that the braking power is constant every time you pull the e-brake without a chance of a snapping cable. Another advantage is that you can dosate the braking power more in comparison to a regular handbrake, which locks right away on most cars. In addition you can mount the handbrake vertically and horizontally depending on your preferance.
However, having a hydraulic handbrake also has its disadvantages. It takes quite a lot of time to adjust it perfectly, like the perfect pivoting point or cylinder size depending on your preferance. Another disadvantage is that in case of an hydraulic leak the handbrake will not function as an emergency brake anymore and you will have a car that is not able to brake anymore. Because of this the hydraulic handbrake systems are not legal and in order to keep your car road legal you need to keep the regular handbrake as well.
It is pretty easy to plumb in a hydraulic handbrake depending on the type of car. As you see here at this sceme of a Mazda FC3S you have to make the brake line to the rear brakes pass through the cylinder of the hydraulic handbrake before going to the rear wheels. If your car has a diagonal split you will need to replumb your system so you can have one brakeline going to both rear wheels.
An hydraulic handbrake makes drifting easier, but if you are a budget drifter it's not worth the trouble and money. In this case you can better spend your money on coilovers, a rollcage, a bucket seat or some fresh tyres.
Klik om bericht in het nederlands te lezen