Well - 30k miles here and still on my first set of pads, - car still stops on a postage stamp too. I do tend to brake using the gears though, and admittedly I'm very light on the brake pedal, also the Lardy Mk4 Golf is definately the kind of car you want to hurl into a corner, in a straight line its great, but the curvy stuff isn't my territory
XTR: Grooved or drilled discs are generally wasted for road use. And the grooves will increase your pad wear and almost certainly the amount of brake dust generated.
I have to say now the pads have been used a bit, they are pretty good. Hopefully with a mode solid pedal they will become fantastic as so many others have found.
Skii: I've heard that engine braking can damage your injectors. Extra wear on your clutch too
Simon
lol - yeah thats probably fookedOriginally Posted by Shad
Skii: I've heard that engine braking can damage your injectors. Extra wear on your clutch too
Couldn't care less. That isn't the way to run stuff in as you've found out!
I would like to see a brake manual that tells you to brake from 80-0 during the bedding in period, you should be taking it easy for the first 200 miles (town type driving) at least, especially as you have opted for a harder pad material. The Ferodo DS material was not designed for racing but for fast road use!
In this case you should be changing your discs with every set of pads, especially as you have now opted for a harder pad material. The face of your discs should look like contours on a map by now and this is probably the reason for the soft feeling of your pedal, although as already mentioned brake fluid should be changed every couple of years.
Totally incorrect! Given the type of driving you are describing and the fact that you didn't bed the material in properly means that you would have scorched the pad material (hence smoke), which in extreme cases can cause cracking of the pad material. If you had grooved or drilled discs they would have a. de-glazed the burnt material off the pad and b. expelled the gases away from the surface of the disc, which contributed to the burning smells and gases that you experienced.
The discs are warped and have a lot of marks on them. However, that is next months job.
In terms of stopping ability, there is no problem. Whether or not glazed pads would have an impact on this, I don't know.
Simon
IMO Alfa brakes are not the best in the world, I have found them to be in-efficient from the moment they begin to warm up, so I don't blame you for trying to improve them with a better material as I would think it's the oem material that lets them down, my experiences are based on a 156 that I had, the 147 may be a lot better.
Personally, I would'nt have gone to the expense of a fast road material knowing my discs were warped and in need of being changed, as there is no way I would re-use those pads on a new set of discs. If your discs are warped then most of the pedal issues you are describing could be attributed to this along with excessive pedal travel, vertical pedal ride and a nice blue shade on your discs.
Sounds like you need to consider a new set of discs, pads and fluid, as if they have heated up to the extremes that you are talking then you have probably boiled your brake fluid. I would also consider a set of drilled discs as the majority of the heat is generated from the gases created during braking and building up between the pad and the disc, drilled holes allow this to escape and give better braking perfomance.
Edit: Alternatively, you could opt for a Brembo conversion kit, need a set of 17's though unfortunately, but they look damn good!
Last edited by doll; 05-08-2004 at 02:07 PM.
Always there with the Brembo pimping hat on.
lol at doll and the brembos
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