S1 Brake Upgrade Safety Considerations

[GK]

Hi All,

Had the front left brake hose fail on me a few nights ago. Had the whole family in the car! We were coming to a low-speed stop at a set of lights, when the pedal kept going slowly to the floor! I thank God I realised very early and we were not in an emergency stopping situation. It could have been really horrific.

Turns out when I had the shocks replaced at Pedders last week, they didn't see that the hoses would be too tight if they placed the retaining rubber grommets on the hanging hook.

They of course put S1 shocks on, not noticing that the brakes (and therefore lines) were S2. The previous guy who replaced the shocks (same Pedders) knew of the problem and therefore left the hoses out, to give them plenty of free play. I guess he’d been in the game long enough to have been aware of it!

The second guy (1.6 years later) assumed whoever had installed the shocks in 2008 had left them off by mistake. Thankfully both brakes didn't fail or we could have been in real trouble.

I took the car to Brakes Plus yesterday to have both replaced, as I thought that it was simply a wear and tear issue. They actually damaged one of the replacement hoses themselves in the same manner. That was when I was notified that the failure was due to the hoses being pulled too tight with the steering movement. They ordered some special lines in that allow the hoses to move through the retaining grommets, so I won’t have the issue again. $350 later!

I called Pedders today to let them know of this issue and they’ll already in the process of putting a note in their system warning of the incompatibility of S1 shocks with S2-3 lines. That’s good news indeed for everyone who’s done the conversion. I’m now waiting on their State Manager to call me today to discuss some sort of financial compensation. We’ll see how that goes.

I’ll keep you posted.

GK

P.S If you get any suspension work done on your AU S1 with a S2+ brake conversion, please tell them about it and the potential brake hose problem.

[Dave_Obsession]

Good call GK - hopefully this prevents others from having a similar issue.
Thankfully nothing happened when yours failed on you...

Did you say anything to the Pedders guys when you replaced the shocks? Fair to say the guys in there may not be AU experts, and they probably didn't realise there was a different between brake sizes for S1- S2/3....to them they're just all AU's....

I have a feeling you may be lucky to get anything out of them, they could just claim that you should have made them aware (if you didn't tell them) of the modifications you had made...

EDIT - Thinking about it, why would you say anything, you went in there to have shocks replaced, no work on the brakes....

It will be interesting to see how this turns out.....hopefully they will consider their reputation on these forums as being of greater value than $350....

[GK]

No I don't believe I did Dave. I should have.

I suspect they will come part way to the party though. The fact that they've considered this serious enough to note it in their computer system is enough to tell me they know the potential for disaster in such cases.

If they don't, I'll call Consumer Affairs and see how that goes.

Like I said, I'll keep you all posted on the outcome of any further discussions.

In the final outcome, no one was hurt. That is by far the most important thing, and hopefully they've made sure that it can't happen again.

GK

[blownv8au]

thats good to know, i have just done s1 to s2 upgrade and noticed that the hoses looked like they were being excessively streched now i'll go and take them out of the hooks cheers.

[GK]

Originally Posted by pjm58

thats good to know, i have just done s1 to s2 upgrade and noticed that the hoses looked like they were being excessively streched now i'll go and take them out of the hooks cheers.

No worries. Glad to be of help.

Cheers,

GK

[GK]

Pedders store owner didn't call me back yesterday. I called him at 4:15 and enquired as to why I hadn't yet heard from him. He assured me that he was working on it and was waiting for the State Manager to come in. He said he'd call me later that arvo, but he didn't. Not Happy!

Compared the Pedders shocks on the S1 and S2 this morning. The mounting hooks on the S1 are facing inwards towards the engine, whereas on the S2 they are facing outward towards the wheel. You can see that the S1 hoses have to bend around the shock when each wheel it turned outwards to full lock.

I'm not a suspension specialist, but it appears to me that they've mounted the shocks on the wrong side of the car. That is, left on the right and the right on the left.

The Pedders guy said that the shocks are a universal fitment, which is true I'd say, except with regards to the hook placement.

I'll now not only be expecting Pedders to turn them the right way round, I'll also now be expecting the full $350 brakes bill.

I'll keep you posted.

GK

[GK]

With a busy life, both with myself going back to work this week and the various commitments of the Mrs, it seems that the wagon will have to wait until this Saturday. At least then, I'll be able to talk with the Store Owner face to face and we can look at the car together, rather than have conversations about it over the phone.

Just to be on the safe side, the wagon won't be driven this week unless absolutely neccessary.

I'll keep you posted, but it's clear they were installed incorrectly.

GK

[blueoval]

This is why I love these forums. Where else would you get such advice and help for important things like this?

Great work GK

[Dave_Obsession]

Good luck with it GK mate!

Don't forget to mention you're a very well-known and influential member of the best Ford forum in the country, of which their company is a site sponsor.....and that a LOT of people are awaiting their response with interest!

[GK]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I agree totally that this forum is fantastic. We all learn much from each other.

As for the current situation, I'll be visiting the store at 8am Saturday.

The store owner seems a decent enough bloke. He actually was the one who did the work on my car. I'm sure he'll do the right thing. He just needs to see for himself that the shocks were installed incorrectly. If I was in his shoes, I'd want to see it first hand myself, rather than take some guy's word for it over the phone.

When he sees that they are, I think the situation will resolve itself quickly.

I'll keep you posted.

GK

[blackers10]

are they paying for a new pair of undies GK?

hope you get the bills paid at least mate
good luck

[SSVPom]

Glad you're OK GK, that would have been a heart-in-the-mouth moment ! Did the car pull up in time with one front brake, or did you have to use the hand brake too ?

[GK]

No new undies are needed, and it wasn't really a heart in the mouth moment either.

We were coming to a stop at the lights, only really doing 40 or so. The brake hose must have ruptured on the previous corner or so, as there was still plenty of fluid in the reservoir. There was still enough pedal pressure to slow the car right down, but it certainly kept dropping.

For sure if I was doing 100 or 80 and needed to stop suddenly, I suspect the outcome may well have been quite different.

Someone was looking out for us that day for sure!

GK

[GK]

And here is the conclusion of the matter!

Went into Pedders this morning at 8am. Was met by Lou from Head Office. He is an Area Manager IIRC. He said he'd get started on the car! Yep, a guy from Head Office had come out to do the work on my car. He had also called me the day before to let me know that he would be there to meet me in the morning.

Lou used to own this franchise with Russ, both top blokes. In fact, it was Lou who installed the shocks and springs in 98.

He drove it in, did the work, they also fixed up a squeak in the rear.

After the work was done, the franchisee Greg came in and wrote me out a cheque for the $350 it had cost me for the brake work.

With a handshake from Lou and cheque in hand I left and was home at 9am.

There's still two things I am still unhappy about. In the big scheme of things it's nothing, but I don't think I'm out of place to be unhappy about it.

1. The guy who incorrectly installed the shocks on my car (Greg), which caused a brake failure, didn't even admit (in words at least) that his work was responsible. Clearly it was.

2. He didn't say sorry for my inconvenience or that he was glad nothing horrible happened to my family, myself, others or our car.

Considering what could have happened to us, I would have thought he'd be quick to do those things, or at the very least the second.

In my book, owning up to your mistakes and saying sorry goes a long way in making things right.

In any case, myself and the family are all okay, the car is back to normal and I'm not out of pocket.

A very good conclusion to the matter I think!

I make this plea with you all once more. If you have suspension work done on your AU, make sure the brake hose hooks/hangers are facing outwards towards the wheels. It could save you your life.

GK

[Whoosha]

Great news GK with a good out come, but as far as admitting to any thing these days forget it, between you and me to say sorry is fine but in todays corporate world its a big no no .We have Memos from our place stating never admit to Squat, it just to risky with the 5% of the population ready to sue for anything, not that your situation is nothing but thats just the world we now live in. Hope it all goes well from here on.
Whoosha

[GK]

It's the way of the world I guess, but that doesn't make it right.

Thanks for your well wishes Whoosha, I hope that I get a great run out of both AUs for a long time too! LOL!

Cheers,

GK