[help][brakes]urgent

[JGies@skandia.com]

I have a problem with my '88 16v Scirocco brakes that's stumping me.  At
around 100,000 miles, i had a small local shop replace the following due
to wear:  Front Rotors, Front Pads, Rear Pads.  My brake performance
before and after the brake work was marginal at best.  brakes only
grabbed after pedal was 1/3 to 1/2 of the way down, and even then, it
took a bit of effort to get the car to stop as it should.  This was
weird, because the braking performance of this car was always
exceptional-I remember the car for the first 70-80,000 miles was
incredible when it came to stopping.  those germans knew what they were
doing when they built the 16v brake system.  so the difference when the
system deteriorated was quite noticible.  i should point out that my
rear caliper ebrake mechanism had frozen on both sides (common for these
cars as i understand), so the ebrake on the car had been inoperable
since about 50-60,000 miles.

anyways, after the brake fix at 100,000 i drove the car for another
13,000, until an accident in October 1996 (minor frontal damage, now
fixed), with mediocre brake performance.  Now that the car is repaired
post-accident, i need to get it through inspection to get plates on it
again.  To get through inspection, the ebrake must hold the car.  So, I
call Mark at Adirondack and order two rebuilt rear calipers, install
them, bled the system (dot4 fluid) and...ebrake doesn't work and brake
performance is still mediocre (brakes only grabbed after pedal was 1/3
to 1/2 of the way down, slightly stronger grab now).

So, off to the bentley i go for troubleshooting.  Figure i need to
replace master cylinder.  Did it this weekend.  Virtually no improvement
in brake performance.  Ebrake still doesn't operate, although i can hear
the pads making a slight scraping noise indicating that they are in
contact with the rotor, however slightly.

Ouch, that hurt, even though Mark got me the part at a MAJOR discount
from the dealer (something like 1/3 the price!)  Go Mark!  And Thanks.
Got the opportunity to do some road testing on some snow/slippery
surfaces, and found that while the front brakes performed well (locked
up on snow rather easily), the rears were not locking under full pedal
on snow.

CONCLUSION: i believe that my problems can be traced to the rear brakes
and the lack of stopping power being applied to the rear wheels.  I
believe this due to a)no ebrake performance (even with new pads and new
calipers); b)generally weak brake performance all around; c)no rear
lockup on snow under full pedal.

The problems could be:
1. bad pressure regulators
2. contaminated rear pads and/or rotors
3. old rotors

I am overwhelmingly leaning towards the pressure regulators as the cause
of the problem.  Any thoughts/comments/suggestions/similar experiences
would be very helpful.  I'm running out of options and money!

thanks

john
jgies@skandia.com
'88 16v Alpine White
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