KMM wheel cylinders are CRAP

[cru62]

Just came in from the man-cave so as not to break anything on purpose!

I just bought a '67 bug with a soft brake peddle. The PO said it went down over time and seemed to be loosing fluid but she couldn't tell where. She replaced the MC with a Varga but it still did it. As long as she kept the fluid topped up it was OK but soft.

Fast forward to my test drive before I bought it. The pedal is scary soft. It has to almost hit the floor before stopping. I'm not liking that so I order a new kit from Kustom1. I've dealt with them before and had good luck. I replaced the entire brake system except for the drums and hard lines which were cleaned and reusable. It all went together just great.

So, tonight I start to bleed the brakes. The rears took a while to come up but did eventually. I moved to the PS front which also seemed to come up fine. Moved to the DS front which also seemed to come up OK. Checked the pedal and it was good.

I decided to recheck starting with DS front. I'm using a MityVac with a guage. Even with the bleeder tight it won't hold vacuum. After checking all the connections it becomes clear that the bleeder isn't sealing. No problem. I cinch it down a bit more and m......r it strips out! Now, this isn't my first rodeo. I have overtightened bleeders before. But they always broke off. Copious amounts of swearing ensued. I swapped out the NEW KMM cylinders for the no-name old ones. This one wouldn't hold a vacuum either. The bleeder is so loose that air is bypassing the threads even tightened down. I use some thread sealant which works but is not a good idea on brakes.

I move to the PS front and the same thing. The bleeder leaks even when it is cinched down. Copious additional swearing ensues. I replace the NEW KMM cylinder with the old one. Same problem. Now I know why the PO had such a problem.

The moral of this story is DO NOT BUY OR USE KMM BRAKE PARTS. Anyone who sells this crap should be boycotted. They clearly do not have your best interest in mind. Spread the word and be sure to ask what you are buying. There, I feel better.
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"My biggest worry is that when I die, my wife will sell all my parts for what I told her I paid for them"-Jon

Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Max Welton]

One of the local aircooled mechanics just told me the same thing recently when I needed to buy rear brake cylinders for my type-3. He said that TRW is fine. In fact almost anything except KMM should be fine.

All you guys shopping by price take note.

Max
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1967 Type-3 Fastback
Under the Knife https://shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=151582
Home Stretch https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=767836

[Earlybugs]

i had some kmm wheel cylinders for my bus and put them on not really paying to much attention, went to bleed them and brake fluid started pissing out of them. What it ended up to be was that they drilled the hole for the brake line to deep so even thow the nut was tight the line would move in and out. The hole for the brake adjuster wasnt drilled deep enough so they must have got the tooling mixed up.

I have been in a crunch a few times after that and used them and i had no problems with the bug ones but i probley got lucky

[cru62]

Another thing I should make clearer is that I would not have known about this problem if I had just purged the system instead of using a vacuum on the bleeder. If I had this problem on FOUR wheel cylinders how many other people are out there slowly losing fluid every time they push down on the brake? And it wasn't just me. The PO had the same problem. This is just a recipe for disaster.

I just don't get it. Why make parts that are ALMOST OK. Think of all the stuff that comes from China that is ALMOST OK. The junk engine tin is the thing I most recently experienced. Sure, tool and die making is a pain in the ass. But really, how hard is it to make a part that fits, especially when the engineering has already been done! A friend asked me to help him dress his engine. He bought all new Chinese junk. Absolutely NOTHING fit. It wasn't even close. Much bending, filing and welding was necessary before it would even go together. And even then it looked like hell! What a waste of money, time and effort.

Did anyone EVER think they would utter the phrase "Oh, good, it's Brazilian!"
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"My biggest worry is that when I die, my wife will sell all my parts for what I told her I paid for them"-Jon

Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[microbus]

[zeroclearance]

i had the same problem as well on my 65, i shopped by price and got what i paid for i guess. Needless to say, the breaks are one thing to splurge on when it comes to buying replacements.
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Zero Clearance Auto Werks..
drop it here..drag it home.

[John_In_NC]

I wonder if this is the problem I am having. I recently replaced a locked wheel cylinder with a KMM. Endless air when bleeding, with a little bit of fluid spitting out the bleeders from time to time.