Brake pads.

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Charlescrown
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Re: Brake pads.

Post by Charlescrown »

Yea I looked them up. From my experience as pads move up the ladder they say that their co-efficent of friction is higher but they don't mention at what temp. I run RDA yellow in my EVO and their hopeless till about 3-4 hard brake stops. Anyway lets hope they work.
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vlad01
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Re: Brake pads.

Post by vlad01 »

I have run bendix CT and ultimate and some type of Ferodo pads and they were hopeless in all conditions. They were dangerously inadequate on standard and "VL turbo" sized brakes.

Then one day about 12 years ago I was stripping a VN that had a new set of EBC green stuff pads and they were awesome, great cold bite and even better at medium temps, still bit of fade once pushing hard stops at 160 or above. Then when they wore out I got QFM AI-RM pads and they were maybe slightly better than the EBC but did only last 70,000KM. I think I got 100k out of the EBCs.

Then when I wasn't able to get either I just got cheap 50 buck Maxistop ones from my local mechanic and they were pretty good, not quite as good as the ones before but a hell of a lot better than the Bendix or Ferodo.


Interestingly I bought QFM pads for the red VP just before they went bust and they don't work anywhere near as good as the same pads I got 4-5 years before for the VR despite literally having identical brake setup. The VR is so touchy it's easy to squeal the wheels in traffic if people suddenly stop. Yet the red VP it's impossible to lock the wheels, even with both feet on the pedal and takes high speed stops to work good after getting some heat in them. Seems they must of changed the compound for the A1-RM pads.

From what they say the DBA SP pads should have decent cold bite, but it's not hard to beat Bendix.

Also my brother had to replace his Bendix pads on his BF ute as they lasted about 45-50k where his factory ford pads lasted 280k. So I just machined the disks and installed some cheapo Protex ones.
I'm the director of VSH (Vlad's Spec Holden), because HSV were doing it ass about.
Charlescrown
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Re: Brake pads.

Post by Charlescrown »

Yea I find factory (original new car) pads seem to work great and last. My wife's Hyundai I30 has done 180,000 and still on the original rear pads. Fronts have been changed once and recently. Reminds me I need to have a look. I used QFM pads on many of my customers cars for some time and they were great. I stopped buying them when I changed supplier but the company I was buying them from sold heaps for cabs.
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vlad01
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Re: Brake pads.

Post by vlad01 »

Pads arrived, funny thing is they are the same green like the EBC green stuff pads I used over 10 years back.
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vlad01
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Re: Brake pads.

Post by vlad01 »

Very happy with the pads, they out perform the Maxistop out of the box despite needing another 1000km or so to fully wear to the taper caused by caliper flex, no machining of the disks were done either.

Also they are way more fade resistant too. Would recommend as a drop in upgrade.
I'm the director of VSH (Vlad's Spec Holden), because HSV were doing it ass about.
Charlescrown
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Re: Brake pads.

Post by Charlescrown »

Good to see they are good pads. You didn't machine or replace the rotors! They suffer bad DTV. I remember when I had a HQ I got a set of old ones and left them in the weather for a year then machined them. Lasted for the rest of the time I had the car.
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vlad01
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Re: Brake pads.

Post by vlad01 »

These disks have had at least 3 sets of pads without much issue. The front ones are factory disks I scrounged off another car with unknown history.
I'm the director of VSH (Vlad's Spec Holden), because HSV were doing it ass about.
Charlescrown
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Re: Brake pads.

Post by Charlescrown »

Wear on a disc is not an issue unless it's bad but DTV causes a pulsating pedal if it's more than 0.015mm. Anyway if there is none it's fine to fit new pads on an old disc surface. Many will argue the case.
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vlad01
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Re: Brake pads.

Post by vlad01 »

There is a little bit of a steering shudder when I get the brakes really not while braking hard repeatedly from high speed, but under normal and once/twice off emergency braking there is no issues.

Even when it does shudder there is no issues with the pedal pulsing. I'm not concerned about any of this as the car's days are limited and once everything is done on the new white VP I will give this car to my nephew as it was his first car.

As long as I am able to stop suddenly without crashing in the back of a car while working in Melbourne for the next few months, that's all I care.
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vlad01
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Re: Brake pads.

Post by vlad01 »

So, the brakes were great out of the box but did seem a little spongy but I thought that was becasue the pads weren't worn in yet as they tend to have to wear on a taper due to the caliper flex and then the pedal normally firms up after 1000-2000k.

Well the brakes were getting worse and worse and more spongy and making heaps of creaking sounds when pressing the pedal.

Worked out what the issue was. Turns out all new pads come with a rubbery backing plate. They were forcing themselves out. I removed them all.
IMG_0122.JPG
IMG_0123.JPG

This made a huge difference, stopping good again and the pedal drop is like half of what it was before and feels firm and not spongy.

Then I had a light bulb moment :idea: Maybe this is why the red VP brakes were so spongy and shit compared to the VR with the same setup and pads.

Sure enough. :lol:
IMG_0124.JPG



Plates! and they have worked themselves out just like the shitbox ones. I checked the VR which has the same setup but done 4-5 years prior with exactly the same model of QFM pads, yep! no plates on them.
Now I know why and can fix the lack of brakes on the red VP with ease. :thumbup:


So I highly recommend if you get new pads is to remove the backing plates, they only cause issues. Ironically removing them from the shitbox actually stopped the creaking sounds on pedal depression.
I'm the director of VSH (Vlad's Spec Holden), because HSV were doing it ass about.
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