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immortality wrote:

I'm starting to think these are just standard VS rear brakes with a upgraded/slotted rotor. I seem to remember the HSV upgrade having finned calipers and vented rotors.

Send me a message, I'll send photos of stock VR IRS rear brake stuff in the cupboard and you can compare to your VS senator. If you haven't worked it all out yet.

Does anyone know of a good brand of handbrake shoe that works well and has low wear on the shoe and rotor?

I had Bendix ones installed by my mechanic and of course, they are f**ked after a several months and constantly need adjusting every few weeks. I found that have worn the inside of the rotor really bad, like 1.5mm deep

Never had such issues before as I have often still have the genuine from factory or some other non Bendix brand (Bosch in one of my other cars).

But when I search the net, only Bendix and a few RDA ones come up and I know a lot of the protex and other re-boxed brands are Bendix (mine were prob protex as Bendix re-boxed)

Not sure on the RDA stuff

Ended up ordering 2 sets of CBA ones, made by Brake Bonders in WA. Shoes is all that division does it seems, so hopefully not completely useless as Bendix.

Your park brake shoes shouldn't wear unless your using it when moving or the cables are sticking.

I'm constantly using them during work. I'm probably on and off the handbrake 100+ times a day. Yeah the car does move a bit every time I catch it before it rolls back in bumper to bumper traffic.

Eventually all that use add to the wear. Normally I readjust them twice a year. I've already checked, nothing is sticking and they are very loose when I go to do the next adjustment.

I did notice that the ends of the Bendix shoes are very rough and have a lot of gouges and large chunks of metal embedded in them even though they aren't actually contacting the hat yet.

So I think the compound of them could be crumbling and getting wedged at the ends of the shoes that haven't contacted the hat yet and wearing at the metal. This confirms the compound is shite, there is a few places where fiberglass is sticking out, and yes I confirmed it's fiberglass and not the usual aramid fiber. The fact the hats are badly worn and the shoes show minimal wear (excepts for mentioned chunks, fiberglass, metal etc...) isn't right, no park shoes should ever wear metal over the compound which is another thing against the inappropriate compound being used.

The original shoes lasted 31 years with the same amount of heavy use in the last 8 years.

The used genuine shoes and rotors I chucked on were very loose. I think their previous life they were only adjusted by the cable and not the shoe adjusted, so out of shape. I noticed the car rolled super easy compared to what I already thought was easy. My fuel usage went down a fair amount. So the Bendix ones were just clogging and dragging themselves up all the time, eating at the metal instead of the friction compound.


The brake bonders brand shoes arrived the other day and they fit great! better than any brand I've used before. Only 2-3 click and a firm lever. Other brands I've had a spongy lever even though they are touching the hat.

So I'll let them wear in and see how they go long term and report back.

You'd be surprised just how many dick heads (mechanics included) don't know about the internal adjustment. Reminds me of the old FJ so called shit hand brake mentality.

Well, I've been driving around all day in Melbourne and the handbrake level has barely changed, still very nice 2-3 click. I can't see or feel any drag when the car is at the lights with no handbrake (very slow roll on seemingly flat road).

Just got back to the office and the hats were barely luke warm (less than body temp)

I noticed the Bendix ones, often were hot to touch but never knew if that was heat from the main brakes or not, so that confirms they were dragging even though they always wore loose very quick.

So far looking good.

Update. Did the first brake shoe adjustment which was only a few clicks on the wheel. So from new to fully bed in and readjusted, it took 7 weeks of heavy use. That's pretty good

I would have re-adjusted the Bendix ones at least 3 times by this stage and also keep in mind that these are new and the bed in period needs a readjustment a lot sooner than thereafter.