Carlos13

Until recently I had EBC pads and EBC grooved/spotted discs on the front. Pads wore out, phoned a very reputable tuning firm who suggested I go for Tarox. Picked up a set, fitted them myself and drove 200 very easy commuting miles on them. Seriously, no big stops, no repeated braking, just my regular commute over a couple of weeks.

Went to a mates house tonight, experienced total brake failure when braking from 70 mph. No warning whatsoever, no jingling from the brakes or scoring sound. Was approaching a roundabout and had to go over it at 35mph, no traffic in front of me or on the roundabout luckily. A brown trouser moment I can tell you.

Checked them out through the wheels, the pads are totally down to the metal, with what appears to be iron filings everywhere.

Two logical possibilities: 1) The pads were faulty or 2) More likely I have fitted them wrongly.

The procedure I used was just to prise the pistons off the pads using a flat blade screwdriver, remove the spring clip and backing plate, take out the cross rods, then repeat in reverse to fit the new pads. Is there anything wrong with this?

The one thing I did notice was that the old EBC pads had a thin metal backing strip on the piston side which I could not easily remove so I assumed was part of the pad, the Tarox pads did not have this so were mated directly to the pistons.

Any advice or help appreciated!

wrrjones

they have worn down way too quick i would say ther is somthing wrong with the pads
should contact the supplyer asap......


chris

anfywills

this is way to soon
The only thing you can do wrong is put the pad in with the material pointing towards the pistons and running the back ( sttel ) part of the pad on the disc.
Check to make sure the pistons and not seized?
other wise return them to who you bought them off

Buckrogers

Thats really bad! I hope your supplier offers to replace them FOC.

spikus1969

This is really bad and should never happen..........and find this totally unacceptable..so i have been in touch with my guys at EBC and are willing as just a one off here to give you a set of REDSTUFF CERAMIC free of charge..
through my company please give details of your model to the following email address biketech@brakes4u.co.uk
all we ask is that you tell your mates and spread the word on the REDSTUFF CERAMIC..........i think you will be impressed with the difference in braking..

and well done to you guys at EBC...................

Hoppy

Carlos, you should get your brakes professionally checked out. No disrespect to you, but the potential consequences are obviously horrific.

Could it be that the pad material has detached itself from the backing-plate? If that's happened on all four at once, there's a very serious manufactuing fault demanding a total recall and full investigation.

Good luck,

Richard.

Brit_in_Japan

I don't know what the "iron filings" you mention could be but it doesn't sound good. You need to get everything checked out properly. There's no way that you should go through a set of pads in 200 miles in normal road usage unless the pads were made of nougart. Believe me, the shop and the manufacturers would want to know about this.

I used to use Taxox when I did road rallies. I remember when I first fitted them I thought that the performance was awful, but they just needed bedding in. After about 3 emergency style stops from speed on a quiet motorway they anchored-on like no-ones business. Probably the most stopping power out of any pads I tried and any car I've owned. They didn't last as long 3 road rallies plus ordinary driving in between. Went back to Mintex 171's (and then their non asbestos replacement) due to cost.

MadMark

I have heard of this before and it's where the pads have not "keyed" onto the backing plates. Relatively rare but can be fatal - accept the free pads and have them professionally fitted methinks .....

The Zohan

Could also be fake/imitation pads if they have failed this quickly. i remember seeing a set of Ferodo pads that had the material pattern literally printed onto the surface. Boxed looked autherntic and came from a reputable dealer who was also duped!

Carlos13

Thanks for all your replies chaps, and especially to you spikus for your kind offer of free pads, I have sent an email as you suggested.

The car is being inspected on saturday and I will be taking photographs to post on here.

By iron filings I mean pad material had built up in clusters on the calipers - it looks like iron filings.

At this stage I don't think I have done anything wrong in fitting them, I'm certain they are pointing the right way, and also certain that the caliper was not grabbing the disc without the brakes being applied - I noticed no degradation in performance.

I am interested in MadMark's reply regarding the material just detaching itself, it seems the most likely scenario to me.

I'll post back on here with what happens.

spikus1969

[QUOTE=Carlos13]Thanks for all your replies chaps, and especially to you spikus for your kind offer of free pads, I have sent an email as you suggested.

The pads are on there way...........i have supplied front and rears mate

let me know how you got on...........they should arrive to you Monday via UPS courier you will need someone to sign for them...........

Carlos13

You can see how the material has detached itself here:

http://www.bluefinsoft.com/trans/assembly1.jpg

The pads look ok to me in terms of how they were fitted:

http://www.bluefinsoft.com/trans/assembly2.jpg

You can see the wear indicator thingie in contact with the disc on this one:

http://www.bluefinsoft.com/trans/pad%20closeup.jpg

Again note the "iron filing" -like pad material on the inside edge of the pad:

http://www.bluefinsoft.com/trans/pad%20on%20disc.jpg

A lot of material has been dumped on the inside of the wheel:

http://www.bluefinsoft.com/trans/wheel%20inside1.jpg

The car had been driven 15 miles in the dry(ish) since washing - this again looks like brake dust to me:

http://www.bluefinsoft.com/trans/door.jpg

http://www.bluefinsoft.com/trans/door2.jpg

Taking it in for inspection this morning so will see what transpires

Butty

iTrader: (2)

:shock: OMG!
The material has just deformed with pressure and spread like putty.
Can't fault your installation - Tarox need to be told asap about those and the batch tracked down, but they could well be faked.
Make sure you keep at least one of those pads and go to trading stds if no-one is very bothered over the problem. They are life threatening as you have already found out.

Nick

richiewong

Holy crap those pads were death traps

stockcar

hard to tell from the pics you have taken....................

a couple of possibles (based on pics so no lynch mobs!!)............possibly a seized caliper as the pads appear to have been subjected to excessive heat, could also be a sticky pad either caused by poor manufacturing or also possibly prior pad debris (based on the poor condition of the caliper and general dirt)

would suggest you have it checked professionally, as above particuarly the possible sticky caliper!!

hope this helps and is aimed constructively to try and help your problem and not a "dig"
cheers, alyn - asperformance.com

Carlos13

Alyn - no probs, no offence taken. I'd rather it was something other than the pads to be honest.

It would need to be both front calipers though as the nearside is identical to the offside (offside shown in the pics).

RON

Carlos, when you fitted the pads, were they a tight fit in the caliper, cos that could cause this too, they basically wouldn't release when you took your foot off the brake,m although I would have thought that it would be noticable, just a thought really, I can't understand this, unless they really are just crap pads!! or faulty!

grahamfrary

I assume from the pics the car has 4 pot calipers and 295mm discs. I think you will find you have the wrong pads in. They certainly look nothing like the(many) the pads I have fitted to my MY00 and previous MY98 with 4 pot upgrade. Looking from the pin side they aree OK, but the wear indicator looks completely wrong, a) it should not rub on the braking area of the disc and b) there should be two of them mounted symetrically on the pad.

Graham

Buckrogers

I agree, it is not the correct pad for 4 pot subaru caliper.

Tech outline of DP31200C (ebc p/n)
http://www.ebcbrakesdirect.com/car/i...image=DP31200C

Compared to:
http://www.bluefinsoft.com/trans/pad%20on%20disc.jpg

Butty

iTrader: (2)

But these problem pads are Tarox ones - is their shape different than the std ones/EBC type?

Any outcome over this Carlos13?

grahamfrary

I've had OE, Mintex, Predator, Greenstuff and Redstuff and they have all been the same backing plate and pad size. I don't see why Tarox should be any different.

Butty

iTrader: (2)

The backing plate has the correct dimensions for the pins and caliper size, the pads line up with the disc brake surfaces - looks a good match to me even if it isn't the same outline as other makers pads.
Many Nissan cars share the same calipers and disc sizes, but then the pads are also the same dimensions as std Scooby ones. I can't think of other cars that have pads that are the same as these odd ones and would line up so well?

I guess we'll just have to wait from Carlos13.

Nick

Carlos13

Garage has confirmed there appears nothing wrong with the brakes or the way the pads are fitted.

I am having the (kindly donated) EBC red stuff ceramic pads fitted, I will go back to the pad supplier to see if the Tarox ones are faulty or if I was supplied with incorrect pads. The code on the Tarox box is 2703.112 if that means anything to anyone.

Will post pics of the dodgy pads by themselves at the weekend, alongside the previous set of pads I had fitted before (again these are EBC redstuff) to compare size and shape.

Thanks again to all for your advice.

Carlos13

Talking with the garage they have had the brakes apart to check them and can find nothing wrong. They suspect the pads are the wrong shape for the disc. Took some pics of the pads this morning with the previous set of EBC pads that were on the car before.

This picture shows how much material was left on all 4 pads. You can see that only 2 are completely gone, but the others are significantly more worn than they should be after 200 miles:

http://www.bluefinsoft.com/trans/side_all.jpg

This shows the front of one of the most worn pads:

http://www.bluefinsoft.com/trans/pad1.jpg

This shows one of the very worn pads next to one that was previously fitted (EBC red ceramic). Note that the shape is similar but it differs where the pad faces towards the centre of the disc. The Tarox pad (right) tapers into the centre more, whereas the EBC pad is straight:

http://www.bluefinsoft.com/trans/compare1.jpg

Finally this one shows difference in shape by stacking one on top of another (Tarox pad on top, EBC below):

http://www.bluefinsoft.com/trans/stack2.jpg

I am now going to speak to the supplier to see what they suggest.

stockcar

although the shape differs slightly it would appear to be the correct pad for that caliper (used in various guises by different manufacturers!!), can't see why they chamfer the pad to that particular shape, but also can't see why it should make any difference....................

don't know how you drive or what compound they supplied but would guess they are too 'soft' for your use...................??

alyn - asperformance.com

Carlos13

Alyn - I was running them in! The got into that state after 200 miles of dual carriageway commuting with no big stops.

XS-Home

Interesting camera shots, I'd want to get these back to the manufacturer for testing & reports........They'll soon find the cause of the pad failure..