Renze
Elite Member
I need an unbiased opinion on brakes:
They told me that disk brakes, though having the weight advantage (lower weight, more payload) have little mass to dissipate the heat into.
This may result in exploding tires, especially on smaller sized brakes and 13" light duty axles.
At the company i work, we use 9 ton BPW axles for the heavy trailers. BPW is Europe's leading axle manufacturer, and they told me that disk brakes dont work under low deck trailers that get off the road from time to time to load or unload equipment on a construction site, because a disk brakes open construction makes it prone to dirt contamination. And that sand is very abrasive if it grinds between the pad and the disk.
Then i asked an independent brake manufacturer when i had them on the phone: Knorr sells brakes to various axle manufacturers. The Knorr guy told me that BPW is biased in their advice, because they produce their own drum brake, and buy a disk brake from a subcontractor, which means that they can earn more by selling their own drum brakes, and also because drum brakes have more wear parts to be replaced every few year....
Hmm... who should i believe ? Can anyone draw a clear line between the application areas of disk or drum brakes, or is it just not that easy ?
They told me that disk brakes, though having the weight advantage (lower weight, more payload) have little mass to dissipate the heat into.
This may result in exploding tires, especially on smaller sized brakes and 13" light duty axles.
At the company i work, we use 9 ton BPW axles for the heavy trailers. BPW is Europe's leading axle manufacturer, and they told me that disk brakes dont work under low deck trailers that get off the road from time to time to load or unload equipment on a construction site, because a disk brakes open construction makes it prone to dirt contamination. And that sand is very abrasive if it grinds between the pad and the disk.
Then i asked an independent brake manufacturer when i had them on the phone: Knorr sells brakes to various axle manufacturers. The Knorr guy told me that BPW is biased in their advice, because they produce their own drum brake, and buy a disk brake from a subcontractor, which means that they can earn more by selling their own drum brakes, and also because drum brakes have more wear parts to be replaced every few year....
Hmm... who should i believe ? Can anyone draw a clear line between the application areas of disk or drum brakes, or is it just not that easy ?