From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Resolving Bentley brake squeaks by fitting new types of Ferodo linings.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 141\1\ scan0232 | |
| Date | 8th January 1937 | |
| 1186 Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} from Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/AFM.{Anthony F. Martindale} Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/AFM{Anthony F. Martindale}7/R.8.1.37. BENTLEY BRAKE SQUEAKS. We want to fit a dozen sets of new types of Ferodo to customers' Bentleys, whose owners are complaining about brake squeaks. By doing this we shall be of service to them, and we will gain valuable experience for ourselves. We are quite certain that MR, the standard Bentley brake lining, is about the worst possible material for squeaks and judders. Its life is greater than F.B.A., but not so long as some more modern linings, and in any case customers never complain about excessive brake wear. It is much worse for scoring drums than the modern zinc bonded linings. We think that as compared with the latest linings it has very little to commend it. We want to fit to customers' cars six sets of S.5805 and S.6611. We have tested these on our rig under the same conditions as MR, and they are both much more consistent than it in their performance. We attach a graph which shows this. They are both better than MR for squeaks. We have run S.5805 on two 10,000 miles tests on Bentley, and it is standard on P.III, but Hancock has turned it down for Bentley as he says it is inefficient. We do not quite agree with this statement, and, therefore, want to test it further. We are running S.6611 on both 6.B.IV and 3.B.IV. In order to be doubly certain that we do not get into any troubles, we will fit anti-judder parts to any cars to which we fit these non-standard linings, and this will also enable us to increase the servo output should need arise. We consider that it is rather incongruous continuing to fit tipping shoes to all Bentleys at some expense when we fit linings that we know are bad for squeaks, and we would like your approval of the fitment of these 12 sets of new linings. Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/AFM.{Anthony F. Martindale} | ||