What the hell is going on with my brakes????

[mrbeige 0]

Recently fitted VR6 calipers MK4 rear calipers. New discs up front and part worn pagid fast road pads (curtosy of kev(supplied with VR6 calipers))

I also had the brakes bled at Stealth last week.

 

Pedal is firm, but the car just doesn't stop very well. In fact it is considerably worse than when I had the standard 256 discs with Ferodo DS2500 pads!

 

Also, soon after fitting the pads and discs, I drove from Cambridge to Shrewsbury, and one of the front discs was blue on the outer edge (about 1cm). I don't have any juddering when I brake though, so I don't think discs are warped.

 

Have I cooked/glazed my pads? If so are they bin fodder or can I take them off, and use some very course sandpaper to remove the glazing?

[dinkus 10]

If you have new pads, then they need to bed in for a hundred miles or so before they work properly.

 

If you've put part-used pads on new disks then the pads will have worn to the shape of the old disks and will need a while to wear down to the flat shape of the new disk.

[mrbeige 0]

I've done about 1000 miles since fitting them, but mostly motorway driving :?

[dinkus 10]

Hmm, I would have thought they'd have sorted themselves out by now then :?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The discs and pads were bedded together when I gave them to him....very strange!

 

Mind you, if the pads didn't go back exactly the same way they came off, they will need to re-bed in and the bluing on the outer edge is prolly a highspot as a result? Just a guess....

[dinkus 10]

They'd only be ok if the pads went back on exactly the same sides of the same disks that they came off...

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Erm yeah, that's what I said above, LOL!

[dinkus 10]

Yeah, that too :oops:

[corradophil 3]

Interesting, I've had a similar experience going from 256mm to 280mm with Pagid fast road pads, it has a good firm pedal but there really is no improvement in braking performance. A friend has a completely standard 8v Mk2 Golf GTI running 239 discs and it has much better bite than mine.

 

I am suspisious of the pads personally.

 

On my Mk1 Golf I used to get through pads very quickly and was able to try several different makes, my favourite by far were standard Ferrodo ones off the shelf from Halfords, they had the best bite and fade resistance of all that I tried.

[Chris VR6nos 0]

I had the same situation.

I bought the S3 288mm discs with calipers and the discs had wear on them in the form of ripples(high and low bands) from the insie to the outside of the disc.

What i did was purposely swap the pads around so they didn't match up and the high area on the pad was on the high area on the disc so they would attempt to flatten/smooth the disc out but all this did to start with was give less than half the contact area it should have and less than the std setup gave!

It took over a month, nearly two! to bed in properly but i know what was going on.

The pedal was firm after lots of bleeding but the breaking was very poor.

 

They are impressive now though and would not like to revert back to the std setup.

 

I'd suggest you go buy some new pads if concerned but will still need some time to bed in, though may be a better profile for breaking on than the supplied pads especially if not replaced in the same order as the wear dictates.

 

 

Chris

[Kevin Bacon 5]

my favourite by far were standard Ferrodo ones off the shelf from Halfords, they had the best bite and fade resistance of all that I tried.

 

LOL, can't help think of Baggins when you say Ferodo :lol:

 

I thought DS2000 Ferodos were superb when I used them, but I tend to agree with the Pagids actually....initial bite isn't spectacular but it's the mid to high speed modulation and feel I like about them.

 

What compound were these Halfords Ferodo Baggins' do you know?

[mrbeige 0]

Kev, It was just the calipers and pads you sold me! Mind you it was back in January/February to be fair!

 

I fitted brand new Brembo discs from ECP. I had Ferodo DS2500 on the Corrado before the caliper change

[corradophil 3]

What compound were these Halfords Ferodo Baggins' do you know?

 

I'm not sure, it was about 9 years ago, all I know is they were just bog standard ones - not fast road or anything flash.

 

The worst by far were kevlar fast road things - absolutely frightening, I had a few times where I was forced to change down through the gears to stop the thing.

 

I've never been caught out like that with the pagid FRs, unfortunately I have another set on the shelf too, so I have a lot miles to do before I need to buy any, but if I do it'll be no frills ferodo baggins for me :lol:

[mrbeige 0]

Well, Ive just checked my brakes, and it's all my fault!!!

 

The two bolts that hold the caliper onto the carrier had worked themselves loose, and as the caliper worked it was tilting and only half the disc was in contact with the pad (outer edge on the outer pad and inner edge on the inner pad!)

 

What a plonker!

 

I stupidly hadn't used thread lock on the bolts!!

 

That's what happens when you get a muppet to do a mechanics job!

 

Kinda makes you think what could have happened! :(

[Dr Forinor 0]

It's good that people make mistakes though, other people (and you) learn from them. No matter how stupid they are, we all do it.

[dinkus 10]

Eep! Glad you got it sorted tho :)

[Supercharged 2]

Shouldn't need threadlock, just do up to the correct torque setting

 

(the blue stuff you see on brake bolts is an anti-seize compound - NOT threadlock)

[mrbeige 0]

Shouldn't need threadlock, just do up to the correct torque setting

 

(the blue stuff you see on brake bolts is an anti-seize compound - NOT threadlock)

 

Oh right! I haven't got a torque wrench, but I just did them up bloody tight!

 

Any idea on the torque setting for these bolts? I'll get a torque wrench this weekend.....more bloody money! :(