They'd be even better with a servo! I drove a mates non-servo bus and thought the brakes were terrible!
To be honest I have no comparison and have hardly driven the van! Will review when I eventually get her on the road!
I picked my mates bus up from its MOT and thought the brakes had failed! Going down a long hill to traffic lights I felt like I had to stand on the brake pedal to feel any effect!
you wouldn't have that problem with mine - i nearly sent the mot tester through the window on thursday
Mine doesn't have a servo, it did have new callipers, pads and disks - got no issue with stopping, it does require a bit more effort than a modern vehicle, but I find it easier to modulate the braking.
Once I adjusted the rear brakes to the correct 7 notches on the handbrake, and managed to remove all the bleed nipples and replace them, then bleed through all new brake fluid, an amazing difference.. I tried hitting the brakes hard at 40 mph and noticed that the back end with drums actually felt like it was locking up as the bus stopped hard - no servo on my bus, just enthusiasm. Coming up to Volksworld a year ago, meeting the end of the queue in lane 1 on the A3 for Sandown we were following two proper Beetles and a Splitty all in the same lane at about 50mph. One Beetle noticed the queue, swerved left onto the hard shoulder in a cloud of smoke, the other went right (lucky nobody in lane 2) and the splitty came to a halt where the front Beetle would have been. I was left looking at a gap of at least 4 cars in front of us when we actually stopped. So while being careful with leaving bigger gaps, I think the brakes on my bus are good enough without needing discs at the back at sensible speeds.
The only thing discs do on the back is save you adjusting them all the time!! Well they look cool too
And a servo doesn’t make the brakes any better – all it does is reduce the pressure required on the pedal, the stopping distance is exactly the same servo or non-servo.
I tried the slamming on the brakes trick once, it did stop very well but everything in the back ended up in the floor. Won't be doing that test again.
