RRH

I had an interesting situation this afternoon. All was quiet in the office, so decided to change my brake pads on the STi. How hard could it be?

Anyway, old pads out, complete with shims. Push the pistons all the way in, a healthy dose of copper grease- and the passenger side is in with a couple of tapps from a 'pursuader'. Very tight, I might add.

On to the passenger side- same again, but not so tight.

Off I go to do my bedding in runs- hard braking from 40 about 10 times over, then a non-braking run to cool them, then give them some abuse.

Near side front feels a bit sticky- like its binding. Never mind thinks I, its probs just not seated right- so give it some more stick (BIG mistake!) then head back to the office as it still feels tight.

As it was raining I got the lads to open the roller-shutter and drove straight in. A little smoke from the off-side pads, but no more than expected. however, there's a LOT of smoke from the pads on the near side (which I reckoned had been binding) and the pads gone white.

I shoot down to one of the welding bays, grab some gauntlets, and off with the wheel, flick off the clips, and whip the pads out real fast.The main reason I did this is because my gold-with-red-sticker brembo caliper has now gone dark-brown-with-black!

Anyway, put the pads on one of the surface grinders, took half a mil off each, and all is well- apart from my brown caliper!

I must say I've NEVER heard of this happening to anyone before

RRH

maydew

iTrader: (9)

i have always run 80 miles or so before giving them abuse and never had a problem

H12MRO

Well you have bigger ***** than me thats for sure
I always give them 200 plus easy miles after fitting new brakes before going mad.

RRH

They're Mintex F series pads, not normal road pads

D1CCY

What make of pads were they that came oversized. Caliper and disc look like they have had a serious track day. Brakes will feel a bit rough till those pad deposits have worn off. You could have just left the shims out as they are only an anti noise device and I think the brake feel on those Brembos is better without them anyway.

I have AP 5570 calipers and these use a 17mm pad but the standard Pagid 1903 shape is 18mm, OK with worn discs but need skimming with new ones, worth being aware of for caution. Pagid actually do a 17mm pad (8018) but thats not commonly available.

RRH

The shims are already out- that was the debris from the bedding run- which I cleaned up before using it again. I literally took the wheel off and took some photos.

I suspect the culprit is the disk, but not sure why one side was ok and the other wasn't. Pistons seem to be running free etc, so I'm scratching my head a bit. maybe the previous owner put different thickness disks in each side

Anyway, sorted now, apart from a slightly spongy pedal (and a bronze caliper).

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I'd get the brake fluid changed asap, as it sounds like you boiled it. Not good, and can be the cause of the spongy pedal.

Alcazar

RRH

yep, thats what I was thinking

D1CCY

If it was one side only it sounds like the caliper is not centered on the disc. Try measuring disc to caliper faces to see if you have a dodgy offset.

dunx

iTrader: (3)

Aren't there some EV* pads out there that are thicker than the almost identical Scooby items.... ?

DunxC

RRH

Not sure? They're the right pads for the caliper.

The cadburys tarox disc looks thicker than the oem disc