Front Discs and Pads.....Anything to look out for?

[alfietom]

Looking to replace the front Discs and Pads on the 911T

Euro Car Parts have a selection from Pagid, Brembo and Sebro
Is there anything I should be looking out for manufacturer wise? Any pitfalls to avoid etc etc?
Thanks

[smallspeed]

no 911 advise, but some general input..

discs wise - im currently using pagid discs on my e30 and they're holding up well (lots of hard work on road and track), I brought these from GSF rather than ECP as they have a 50-60% off code just about every weekend which makes their over inflated prices actually quite cheap..
I'm currently using standard brembo discs on my e36 which is either hammered by sintered pads on track, or constantly getting coated in deposits or "re-cleaned" on the road (sticky pads dont like to work on the road ). They're standing up really well too, but going in the bin over winter for an upgrade to floating discs

Pad wise - i am running standard pagids on the e30 on the road and they work pretty well. i swap them out if the car is tracked (not much now the e36 is near-enough done). I've no experience of brembo pads

Be careful of some of the budget pad options - i fitted some apec pads to a mates kids mini a while back (he brought the pads) and they might as well have been made of wood! they went straight back.. not only no bite, but no real braking performance at all! I would estimate they were somewhere aorund 40% of the stopping power of the pagids they got replaced with

HTH

[fetuhoe]

Sebro - all day long. Zimmerman are also good but I don't think they are available for 'T'.

Pagid Road pads are nothing like the quality of the Pagid Racing Pads and are just a budget pad. I am sure they are reasonable but if you can find Textar they were the OE pad used on most early 911s and are still good.

[Nige]

I've just ordered some Sebro discs, £85 for the pair use Summer70

[inaglasshouse]

Sebro and Textar on mine. Just right for road use, and dirt cheap from EuroCarParts.

[911hillclimber]

About 5 or more years ago I installed allround cross drilled discs and the French Carbone sintered pads for better stopping on my 230 bhp 73 T.
Work well, bit noisey but stop well, very little dust and what there is is not affecting the wheel finish.
Tried stock pads and thought them very weak, Textar pads, very cheap, Carbone are very expensive.
Car has stock rear and A calliper fronts.

[smallspeed]

I've just ordered some Sebro discs, £85 for the pair use Summer70

Code for GSF is JUN58 if that’s any use for comparison

[smallspeed]

[quote="fetuhoe”]Pagid Road pads are nothing like the quality of the Pagid Racing Pads and are just a budget pad. I am sure they are reasonable but if you can find Textar they were the OE pad used on most early 911s and are still good.[/quote]

The road ones are the pads we put into the mini - pretty much on a par with the bmw pads BUT very dusty. As a budget pad they’re ok but prob better suited to a lighter car

Re: 911 Hillclimbers CL pads - if you go that route get RC5 compound - I have RC6 on the e36 and they’re too sticky on the road. As soon as you get any heat into them if you stop you start getting deposits very quickly..

[911hillclimber]

Mine are the early compound and came straight from France at the time via a distributor in Solihull, Birmingham.
Later compoundis much quieter I'm told, i.e. Less squeaky down the high street, bit embarrassing..

My stock Boxster pads can leave a sticky dust on the front on the rare occasion it get driven hard.

The Textar pads I tried before on the same discs really were weak, did about 100 miles on them waiting for the CLs.

[alfietom]

I've just ordered some Sebro discs, £85 for the pair use Summer70

Thanks Nige, just ordered a pair of Sebro's, not decided on pads yet though

[911hillclimber]

So cheap, buy some Textar first and try them?

[alfietom]

Should the be drilled????

[fetuhoe]

There was a period in time where brake pads were thought to 'outgas' at a certain temperature and that a layer of gas developed between the pad and the disc and that drilling helps to solve this problem but I am not convinced that this is very significant.

Brake fade of generally a result of overheating the brake pad and is generally recoverable once the pad cools.

Overheated brake fluid generally causes a 'long' spongey pedal depending on if it simple overheating or due to fluid that is old and has absorbed too much moisture.

Brembo suggest that drilling holes improves the Coefficient of Friction of the disc but don't provide any data and I just don't understand the Physics behind this statement.

If you run a standard car with standard brakes the chances of experiencing fade under normal circumstances are quite slim.

The vented disc on a 73 car should cope in most conditions.

We use 3 different types of pad.

Textar for Road Use

Ferodo DS2500 for Track Days

Pagid RS4-2 for Rally Cars (Aspahalt and Gravel

I am sure that there are many other pads that work equally well but we try to stick to something we know.

I would always 'condition' new pads before using the car in anger.

Bedding in pads can be quite a lengthy process and still doesn't produce the best results.

Conditioning involves finding a quiet road and applying the brakes frequently enough and hard enough to cause a minimum amount of fade.

This will help remove the volatile binders that cause outgassing.

Having heated up the pads try to drive the car for a sufficient distance to allow the pads to cool - say 2-3 miles and then firmly apply the brakes 2-3 times.

[911hillclimber]

Just to clarify..
I have fitted several sets of stock discs and various pads through my 28 years with my car.
When I was taken for a 10-10ths run up Loton Park hillclimb by Roger Moran in his rally spec 911 I realised how poor my brakes were in comparison.
He allowed me to run his car on the hill in the morning and I ran my car in the afternoon, so a great back to back comparison.
His braking was out of this world. his car had S alloy front callipers, and M on the rear, no servo, dual master cylinders.
Until then I had stock discs, 73T, and Pagid road pads.
He ran drilled discs and CL ( Carbone Loraine) pads, a combination which I went out and fitted a few weeks later as I detail above.
To repeat, my car has A type front callipers and M rear, single master cylinder.

I felt the greater friction of the pads would be coped with better with drilled discs front and back.
I have never had any signs of brake fade.

My car still has these parts and is a Sunny Day driven car, but the brakes are good for today's traffic and sudden stops from cold or hot.

[smallspeed]

Have run cross drilled, then plain discs on my bmw on track and found no difference (except noise) with the performance. I am going to full floating j-hooks over winter but only really to support my new calipers, not because there’s anything wrong with the ones I have

I’ve heard loads of reasons for drilled or slotted calipers over the years same as fethoe - removes outgassing and eliminates “pad float” (which I always called BS on too), more surface area for heat dissipation (not sure it’s particularly relevant increase vs a bigger disc), better wet weather performance, and a few others
I know BMW issued drilled front discs for the 330ci for people who complained about brake performance in the wet, however their abs “wipes” the discs dry every 15-60 seconds if the wipers are on anyway (based on the wiper operation - hence better to leave them in “auto” so the car can decide) and so I kind of call BS on that too.. seems like “snake oil” to me