Godspeed 335 brake pad wear!!
 

First of all, this kit is superb and has been since I fitted it over 2 years ago.

Now, I have JUST fitted new pads as there was only 2mm left on them!! I know not to leave them to get this low and usually change them well before this.

When removing the pads I have found that they have about 2mm on the top of the pads and about 4mm on the bottom and this is along with the normal wedge shape you get.

So this was strange enough on the OS but the NS has the same type of wear but not as much. What I mean is that instead of 2mm to 4mm, there is 3mm at the top and 5mm on the bottom.

There are no sticking pistons in the callipers or any leaks. So what causes this top to bottom wear difference? And why is the wear different OS to NS?


What have other people found the wear to be like?

Cheers,

Wayne.

Wayne,
I think as part of the kit you get bigger pads as the sweep area of the disc is increased. What this means is that the pad stick further out of the bottom of the calipers and as a result the pistons are now not the centre of the pads, more to the top. The top of the pads have more pressure applied which will lead to them wearing more at the top than the bottom. As for the side to side wear that could just be that one caliper is not moving back as far on one side after you brake, so when you go again they are nearer to the disc and first into action.
Thanks,
Paul.

Paul,

I was wondering if there is more pressure applied to the top pistons myself, but surely other standard 4 pot users would have the same symptoms?

Wayne, i suspect it might be something to do with the top of the pad ending up on a hotter part of the disc..... therefore ending up wearing the pad more, but hey, what do i know!

Wayne,
Are we talking about the same thing, as when I say the top of the pad I am classing the part of the pad with the holes for the pins as the top? You say about the top piston and that makes me think that you mean you have wear on what I would call the end of the pad. If that is what you mean then I have only seen that when a piston is sticking and that was restricted to one of the four pads but to do that on both calipers would mean that all four bottom pistons are sticking.
Thanks,
Paul.

I took it that 'top' meant the top as you look at the caliper on the car.....

Ron,
We'll have to wait and see what Wayne says he means by 'top'. I am not easy on my brake and having raced a Renault for a few years I can say I've never seen wear on a pad at the 'end' unless there's a caliper problem even when I've completely cook them.
Thanks,
Paul.

Paul, as RON said, as you look at the calliper. No sticking pistons as I have checked.

Wayne,
I don't know then, maybe it just something that happens with this kit. I've had 2 set of pads in my standard 4 pots since I've had the car and they show parallel wear side to side and top to bottom. I've had standard pads and disc and redstuff pad and grooved disc all with the same result. As the Godspeed kit is bigger (more surface area) with alloy bells (less metal mass) and wider vents (better air flow) I would imagine that they are better at dispersing heat from the brakes so if heat was the cause I would think it would show it's self more on the standard brakes.
I would be interested in finding out if this is normal on this kit as I am looking at this as my next step.
Thanks,
Paul.

Cheers Paul. I am going to keep an eye on how these new pads wear. In fairness to the kit itself, I would highly recommend it even with the wear I have encounted. The wear isnt' causing any problmes as such and hasn't affected how the car brakes. Well worth the money.


Wayne.

did you replace the pads with subaru sized ones or the same size that Ian sends ?

Wayne,
It sounds to me that there is something amiss in your installation/callipers.
I run the same kit and over the last 14-5months pad wear is even on mine, even after 10k miles and a few track outings.
And as asked before, what size pads are you using? (std Subaru or Godspeed ones?)

Gents,

They are the same size as the ones supplied with the kit. FDB817 is the ferodo part number.

OK, as for my set up.

Its been bled (SP?)
The pistons are all free
The discs are in really good condition with all grooves free of crap.
Nothing loose or broken.

After inspeacting them again I dont think that there is anything wrong.

So no one else gets the uneven pad wear?

I bought an Impreza with a set of these fitted.

The part of the pad that wears the most is the bit with the pistons behind it, yes?

I put it down to the oversized pads not having the force of the piston evenly across the back of them- ie offset to the outer edge, so the pads always seem to come out wedge shaped. Have seen it happen a few times.

RRH, yes it does wear this way too, but it also wears the top more than the bottom of the pad when viewing the pad when fitted into the calliper, ie length ways.

Sorry, I misunderstood you.

I haven't noticed that type of wear tbh- not really sure how that could happen unless the pressure within the caliper was inconsistent. Are you using the caliper spacers to use a thicker disk?