brake pad reccommendations.

  • Thread starter Austin Shackles
  • Start date
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A

Austin Shackles

Guest

not impressed with brake pads recently. The disco has the later type pads,
and the minibus has the same pads as the earlier discos. Neither of them
brake as well as I'd like. The other day I pulled the pads on the minibus
and cleaned the calipers and greased the pad edges with a smear of copper
grease, so they're not sticking in the calipers.

So... are such as EBC's special pads worth it?

Both of 'em are solid discs, BTW.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"My centre is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent.
I shall attack. - Marshal Foch (1851 - 1929)
 
On Sun, 04 Dec 2005 13:04:38 +0000, Austin Shackles
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>not impressed with brake pads recently. The disco has the later type pads,
>and the minibus has the same pads as the earlier discos. Neither of them
>brake as well as I'd like. The other day I pulled the pads on the minibus
>and cleaned the calipers and greased the pad edges with a smear of copper
>grease, so they're not sticking in the calipers.
>
>So... are such as EBC's special pads worth it?

Yes, but only tried them in combination with a fluid change, vented
cross-drilled disk conversion and stainless hoses.

The stainless hoses are allegedly the biggest gain in the whole
equation, and one of the cheapest bits.

--
Tim Hobbs
 
>
> The stainless hoses are allegedly the biggest gain in the whole
> equation, and one of the cheapest bits.

I fitted amoured brake hoses to a motorbike once with a significant
improvement in firmness in the system.
Would it have been Goodridge hoses?

TonyB


 
On Sun, 4 Dec 2005 17:33:11 +0000 (UTC), "TonyB"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>>
>> The stainless hoses are allegedly the biggest gain in the whole
>> equation, and one of the cheapest bits.
>
>I fitted amoured brake hoses to a motorbike once with a significant
>improvement in firmness in the system.
>Would it have been Goodridge hoses?
>
>TonyB
>

Custom made by David Round (llama 4x4) of this parish.
--
Tim Hobbs
 

"TonyB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> >
>> The stainless hoses are allegedly the biggest gain in the whole
>> equation, and one of the cheapest bits.
>
> I fitted amoured brake hoses to a motorbike once with a significant
> improvement in firmness in the system.
> Would it have been Goodridge hoses?
>
> TonyB
>
>

LOL, you fancied them?


 
Austin Shackles wrote:
> not impressed with brake pads recently. The disco has the later type pads,
> and the minibus has the same pads as the earlier discos. Neither of them
> brake as well as I'd like. The other day I pulled the pads on the minibus
> and cleaned the calipers and greased the pad edges with a smear of copper
> grease, so they're not sticking in the calipers.
>
> So... are such as EBC's special pads worth it?
>
> Both of 'em are solid discs, BTW.

IME you'll get a noticeable improvement in pedal feel, and a massive
reduction in brake fade with the EBC Green Stuff pads. rpetty much
whatever vehicle you fit them to.

--
EMB
 
On or around Sun, 04 Dec 2005 17:49:37 +0000, Tim Hobbs <[email protected]>
enlightened us thusly:

>On Sun, 4 Dec 2005 17:33:11 +0000 (UTC), "TonyB"
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>>
>>> The stainless hoses are allegedly the biggest gain in the whole
>>> equation, and one of the cheapest bits.
>>
>>I fitted amoured brake hoses to a motorbike once with a significant
>>improvement in firmness in the system.
>>Would it have been Goodridge hoses?
>>
>>TonyB
>>
>
>Custom made by David Round (llama 4x4) of this parish.

it's not so much firmness in the system, but actual friction that seems to
be lacking. The pads seem to "go off" after a bit of use. Initially, they
take a few miles to bed in as you'd expect, then for a while they're OK, and
then the performance seems to degrade - most likely thing is probably heat
in the pads affecting the friction material, I imagine - I do quite a lot of
low speed and steep hills, so the brakes are more likely to get hot.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"
Alphonse Karr (1808 - 1890) Les Guêpes, Jan 1849
 
Austin Shackles <[email protected]> uttered summat worrerz
funny about:
> it's not so much firmness in the system, but actual friction that
> seems to be lacking. The pads seem to "go off" after a bit of use.
> Initially, they take a few miles to bed in as you'd expect, then for
> a while they're OK, and then the performance seems to degrade - most
> likely thing is probably heat in the pads affecting the friction
> material, I imagine - I do quite a lot of low speed and steep hills,
> so the brakes are more likely to get hot.

I came past your "hood" with the Disco and Caravan..... never again till
I've changed the discs!

Definately a Welsh thing ;-)

Lee D


 
>
> it's not so much firmness in the system, but actual friction that seems to
> be lacking. The pads seem to "go off" after a bit of use. Initially,
they
> take a few miles to bed in as you'd expect, then for a while they're OK,
and
> then the performance seems to degrade - most likely thing is probably heat
> in the pads affecting the friction material, I imagine - I do quite a lot
of
> low speed and steep hills, so the brakes are more likely to get hot.

Might be a build up of gunge, oil etc on the pads. Pads are a bit like spark
plugs, they need an Italian service every so often.
70mph with a foot on the brake and throttle at the same time ( be careful
though, left foot is used to a heavy clutch ), until fade or a burning smell
occurs. Max a quarter of a mile under any circumstance though, don't want to
warp the discs!

Be aware the brakes will take a considerable time to cool and grip again.
And that your brake lights will be on, so best to pick a nice deserted bit
of road for this.

Hope it helps
TonyB


 
On or around Sun, 4 Dec 2005 20:31:36 +0000 (UTC), "TonyB"
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>
>Might be a build up of gunge, oil etc on the pads. Pads are a bit like spark
>plugs, they need an Italian service every so often.
>70mph with a foot on the brake and throttle at the same time ( be careful
>though, left foot is used to a heavy clutch ), until fade or a burning smell
>occurs. Max a quarter of a mile under any circumstance though, don't want to
>warp the discs!

sounds a bit brutal to me... The pads didn't look contaminated, on the bus,
when I had them out the other day.

I think I'll look into better pads, first. The disco, for certain, doesn't
stop as well as it used to when we first had it. Mind, the back pads need
doing on that, almost out.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"Chuck didn't reply, so George swung round in his saddle. He could just
see Chuck's face, a white oval turned toward the sky.
'Look,' whispered Chuck, and George lifted his eyes to heaven.
(There is always a last time for everything.)
Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out"
Arthur C. Clarke, "The 9 billion names of God"
 
On Sun, 04 Dec 2005 18:54:10 +0000, Austin Shackles wrote:

> I do quite a lot of low speed and steep hills, so the brakes are
> more likely to get hot.

Isn't that waggly thing between the front seats supposed to be the
main brake, the centre peddle for when you don't anticipate correctly.
B-)

I came down Hartside (A686), lovely driving road, several bits where
you can see well ahead around a number of sweeping bends, nice
straight bits, the odd hair pin. All down hill, around 1300' in 5
miles or so. Used the peddle rather more than one should and had
virually no foot brake by the time I got to the last series of bends.
Used more of the waggly thing after that...

--
Cheers [email protected]
Dave. pam is missing e-mail



 
On or around Sun, 04 Dec 2005 21:13:33 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice"
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>On Sun, 04 Dec 2005 18:54:10 +0000, Austin Shackles wrote:
>
>> I do quite a lot of low speed and steep hills, so the brakes are
>> more likely to get hot.
>
>Isn't that waggly thing between the front seats supposed to be the
>main brake, the centre peddle for when you don't anticipate correctly.
>B-)
>
>I came down Hartside (A686), lovely driving road, several bits where
>you can see well ahead around a number of sweeping bends, nice
>straight bits, the odd hair pin. All down hill, around 1300' in 5
>miles or so. Used the peddle rather more than one should and had
>virually no foot brake by the time I got to the last series of bends.
>Used more of the waggly thing after that...

BTDT. but in general... some hills don't suit engine braking - too slow in
a lower gear and too fast (and need brake in addition) in a higher one. I
don't in fact use that much on the brakes, certainly never actually get fade
or anything, but it's all low-speed and thus less cooling.

interestingly, the rear drum brakes on the minibus snatch like a bastard
initially when cold or damp, but having been used a bit, they behave more
normally. Mebbe they need new linings as well...
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"There is plenty of time to win this game, and to thrash the Spaniards
too" Sir Francis Drake (1540? - 1596) Attr. saying when the Armarda was
sighted, 20th July 1588
 
Austin Shackles wrote:
>
> interestingly, the rear drum brakes on the minibus snatch like a bastard
> initially when cold or damp, but having been used a bit, they behave more
> normally. Mebbe they need new linings as well...

Whip the drums off and chamfer the leading edge of the linings - like we
was all taught to at mechanics school in the old days, and like they
don't teach no more.

--
EMB
 
On or around Mon, 05 Dec 2005 21:19:28 +1300, EMB <[email protected]>
enlightened us thusly:

>Austin Shackles wrote:
>>
>> interestingly, the rear drum brakes on the minibus snatch like a bastard
>> initially when cold or damp, but having been used a bit, they behave more
>> normally. Mebbe they need new linings as well...
>
>Whip the drums off and chamfer the leading edge of the linings - like we
>was all taught to at mechanics school in the old days, and like they
>don't teach no more.

hmmm. that's a point - cycle drum brakes we sell have chamfered leading
edges... dunno if they are on the bus, probably not. any particular angle?
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"Nessun maggior dolore che ricordarsi del tempo felice nella miseria"
- Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321) from Divina Commedia 'Inferno'
 
In message <[email protected]>, Austin Shackles
<[email protected]> writes
>On or around Mon, 05 Dec 2005 21:19:28 +1300, EMB <[email protected]>
>enlightened us thusly:
>
>>Austin Shackles wrote:
>>>
>>> interestingly, the rear drum brakes on the minibus snatch like a bastard
>>> initially when cold or damp, but having been used a bit, they behave more
>>> normally. Mebbe they need new linings as well...
>>
>>Whip the drums off and chamfer the leading edge of the linings - like we
>>was all taught to at mechanics school in the old days, and like they
>>don't teach no more.
>
>hmmm. that's a point - cycle drum brakes we sell have chamfered leading
>edges... dunno if they are on the bus, probably not. any particular angle?

I never did anything even remotely mechanical at school or during my
working life but I picked up the habit of chamfering leading edges over
50 years ago, when I used to struggle to keep my ancient motorbike
working. At that time you bought un-drilled linings and had to drill and
countersink the rivet holes yourself but, over the years, pre-drilled
linings became available, followed by pre-lined, exchange shoes, the
first of which were riveted and then bonded ones came along.

I continued chamfering with all the motorbikes, cars and Series Land
Rovers I owned over subsequent years, and must have breathed in a quite
a bit of asbestos dust along the way. However, I didn't do it on LR
hand-brakes, where I thought a bit of extra bite would be a bonus.

I don't know what the angle should be, I just filed away until it looked
right and didn't remove too much of the contact area.

Was it all necessary? I don't know, but maybe an expert on here will
tell us. Possibly it dates from the time when linings were sometimes
rather badly and insecurely riveted to the shoes, and chamfering reduced
the chance of them becoming detached. I remember wondering when I first
bought pre-lined shoes why they were not pre-chamfered. Maybe the
linings had been attached so well that there was thought to be no need..
--
Peter

 
Austin Shackles wrote:

> hmmm. that's a point - cycle drum brakes we sell have chamfered leading
> edges... dunno if they are on the bus, probably not. any particular angle?

I normally do them at about 45 degrees which seems to work well enough
(and is what the odd pre-chamfered set that are supplied seem to be).


--
EMB
 
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