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Has the composition of brake pads changed?
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Hi All.
Would be interested in opinions on this. I recently put a set of Bendix General CT disc pads on my HQ.
Gave them time to bed in as usual.
On the weekend took the old girl on a long drive that involved some steep hills.
After a couple of long descents, noticed that the pads began to smell quite hot.
What I find strange is that in the past I have gone down much higher hills/mountains without a problem.
Don't think my driving style has changed, so I was wondering if modern pads are the same composition as what we had back in the 70s-90s.
Everything else ie,fluid,discs are all in good condition.
Any ideas?
Cheers
Rick
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Yes, brake pad material has changed quite a bit since the 70s. Most friction materials back then contained lots of asbestos.
While asbestos is very bad for your health it made great brake pads. It took quite a while to find a compound which works as well as asbestos based material.
Another thing that makes a lot of difference is the surface condition of the disc rotor itself. I've always machined rotors when fitting new pads, they don't bed in very well on a glazed or shiny discs. Bedding-in procedures are now very defined also.
The brake's job is to convert mechanical energy into heat, if the brakes are getting hot they are doing their job, it depends how well it dissipates.
Dr Terry |
If at first you don't succeed, just call it Version 1.0 |
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I think they always smell more when new. but if you did the same trip again it should be better. or the old piston is sticking a bit like causing the pad not to back off enough increasing wear and pushing the temp up higher than normal.
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The std type pads of today have a lot of resen that needs to come up to a temperature high enough and then cool down and it's ok as it settles down from there.
If you went out to a race track with new std pads and give it a flogging they will not last long at all as they will just fall apart on day one.
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if memory serves me right gct's have a titanium stripe on the surface that makes them run hot initially so that they dont need to be bed in by the normal process, how long were you driving on them before the hill?
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Hi Big Cav
Yes you are right. They do have a Titanium stripe. I think I have done about 600 Kms on these pads but that was all gentle low speed around town stuff. The trip on the weekend involved a drop of about 500m in about 15 minutes, so it was the first time the pads had really done some work.
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Has the composition of brake pads changed?
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