40% of new brake discs are substandard....
05 December 2006, 07:59 PM
#1
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ascended to the next level
Posts: 7,498
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
40% of new brake discs are substandard....
....According to Brembo, after testing 5000 discs from major brands and found that 40% of which had a serious defect. 
This includes branded manufacturers and ones that claim to be OEM specification. Brembo calls for the stricter standards and regulations like those which are applied to road legal brake pads.
Faults include machining errors, leading to run out or non-aligning holes to air bubbles and sand in the castings
The bottom line is this is that many of the manufacturers don't actually make the discs but contract other companies to manufacture them, whilst combined with cost cutting allows quality lapse in the process.
Makes you wonder when the discs crack for no reason on a car thats not used hard or enthusiastically. And even top brands don't guarantee that this won't happen either.
This includes branded manufacturers and ones that claim to be OEM specification. Brembo calls for the stricter standards and regulations like those which are applied to road legal brake pads.
Faults include machining errors, leading to run out or non-aligning holes to air bubbles and sand in the castings
The bottom line is this is that many of the manufacturers don't actually make the discs but contract other companies to manufacture them, whilst combined with cost cutting allows quality lapse in the process.
Makes you wonder when the discs crack for no reason on a car thats not used hard or enthusiastically. And even top brands don't guarantee that this won't happen either.
Last edited by Shark Man; 05 December 2006 at 08:06 PM.
.
05 December 2006, 10:55 PM
#4
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ascended to the next level
Posts: 7,498
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Maybe you should get out that dial guage to inspect them and send them off for an x-ray 
Seriously though, they say Godspeed on the box, but where is the foundry that casts them and who machines them? Is it Godspeed themselves, or are they buying discs in from another manufacturer, or even several different manufacturers?
Brembo's point is that currently in Europe there is no requirement for the manufacturers to state the origins of their discs. So you could have 2 pairs of discs of the same brand. But one purchased from a different source or country to the other, or just a different batch. And although boxes could be identical, the discs could vary in quality as they could be made in different factories, in different countries, employing different casting and machining standards and tolerances.
Obviously Brembo gloats in that they use their own foundries, so there is sales patter mixed in with that, so they might not be totally impartial. But it is them who are calling for the legislation, which already exists in the USA. So you have to question if other manufacturers are exploiting this and taking advantage of it for financial gain.
Seriously though, they say Godspeed on the box, but where is the foundry that casts them and who machines them? Is it Godspeed themselves, or are they buying discs in from another manufacturer, or even several different manufacturers?
Brembo's point is that currently in Europe there is no requirement for the manufacturers to state the origins of their discs. So you could have 2 pairs of discs of the same brand. But one purchased from a different source or country to the other, or just a different batch. And although boxes could be identical, the discs could vary in quality as they could be made in different factories, in different countries, employing different casting and machining standards and tolerances.
Obviously Brembo gloats in that they use their own foundries, so there is sales patter mixed in with that, so they might not be totally impartial. But it is them who are calling for the legislation, which already exists in the USA. So you have to question if other manufacturers are exploiting this and taking advantage of it for financial gain.
06 December 2006, 01:04 AM
#5
Scooby Regular
Having owned an XR4x4 for over ten years I've learned the hard way that you don't fit 'genuine' Ford discs when replacing the brakes: They cost the earth ad wap as soon as they're subjected to any form of heating
06 December 2006, 01:00 PM
#7
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: East Yorkshire
Posts: 1,966
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Put Halfords discs on G/Fs Fiesta (£22 each, wish my APs were that cheap) with DS2500 pads (£90 incredibly superior to OE pads), work a treat and no probs. She's very impressed.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post