In all my years as the "boy" in my dad's garage we did
a lot of brakes front, rear and before discs and ABS.
I have never seen wheel cylinders "fail" because of
the travel length.  The pistons in the wheel cylinders
are designed to push out further than metal on metal.

These pupies fail because of the deterioration of the
rubber that makes up the seals.  Could be due to poor
batch of rubber compound and crap in the brake fluid
or simply old age.
It is rubber and it moves in oil. The oil is pretty
corrosive to most of everything it drips on. It wears
out.

I would say that Brents problem was due to off-brand
remanufactured/or even new parts that were not up to
VW specs.  Look for known labels such as Girling, ATE
or Bendix.  Don't accept "pepboys" or "NAPA" brands or
worse no-brand.

Always save the old leaky ones and in your spare time
get a rebuild kit.  It is real easy to clean it up and
hone out the cylinders with the little drill
attachment.  At that point all you have left is to
replace the rubber seals with new ones. A little
silicone and they slip right on the pistons.  Same
goes for the Master Cylinder, although the rebuild kit
is pretty pricy for our vans.

Just my 2cents.

Joel - with a new master cylinder

--- Jeffrey R <Oxroad@AOL.COM> wrote:
> In a message dated 00-03-19 01:23:23 EST, you write:
>
> > I also found that the wheel cylinders that I had
> replaced to the tune
> >  of about $300 back in June of last year were
> leaking.
>
> Is it possible the extra travel of the wheel
> cylinder pistons as a result of
> the excessive wear to the drums caused the wheel
> cylinders to fail in June
> and then again prematurely fail?
>
> Also I apprecaite this discussion because my brakes
> are acting a bit odd in
> the same way--even after bleeding and all. The front
> rotors are new(ish) from
> the DPO. But I'll check the drums. So thanks. The
> list works. Pass it on.
>
> Jeff
> 83.5 Westy
> NYC
>

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