Hi to All

I fitted new Brembo front discs and Mintex Xtreme pads. They were run in exactly to instructions and I have had no problems with them in 2000 miles of general driving, but today they got very hot on a 45 minute C road journey. There was an unusual smell of hot pads although stopping power was not diminished. I did get out to check for anything untoward, but there was no smoke and the discs did not feel unusually hot.

A bit later in the journey, I noticed the familiar judder / oscillation of warped discs coming down to a junction on a dual carriageway.

The C road drive was nippy, but not fast (the original disc / pad setup has been down this same route faster with no problems at all). There is no sign of binding and the discs have not discoloured.

What do we reckon? Pads work too hot for discs or discs just defective? Any other ideas?

Chris

They do the smell thing. Especially if it's the first time the got hot, awesome pads!

The juddering... is it still there after it's all cooled down? If it isn't all you did was boil the fluid. Get it changed for higher spec.

I have Mintex Extremes with ZeroSixty pads. Within a week of getting them, the rear discs were rubbing when first setting off in traffic, and when reversing. Taking account of the comments in this thread regarding warped discs on a road car being borderline Urban Myth, I took my car out and properly cooked the brakes.

Still rubbing, though, when setting off. Still, it's in for service on Thursday so I'll get them looked at then. Would have done is sooner, but there's no obvious excessive wear, so I suspect it may be the Fabia 'rear-calipers-not-releasing-properly' issue, rather than anything to do with the disc / pad combination...

My standard rears do this :(

Was debating fitting these to my car but think I'll wait now and see the outcome.

Were the disks the OEM equivalent ones?

Was debating fitting these to my car but think I'll wait now and see the outcome.

Were the disks the OEM equivalent ones?

Yeah, I didn't feel the need to put 312s on the front at the time, and having tested them thoroughly, I'm more than happy with the performance! I really do think the rubbing thing is down to the rear calipers not releasing properly (like may be happening on Decron's motor), but I'll hopefully know for sure by the weekend...

Hi

I have the Brembo discs on my car :(

They are the second set and I have warped both pairs :(

But they still work extreamly well

Just on gentle braking I get the wheel wobble , so I will be looking at upgrading mine hopefully this will help with the brake discs not warping

I will be doing the Extreams next time too

Sarah

More info, I am absolutely sure the issue is that the discs run out when hot (fine when cold or slightly warm). I just wonder if the Mintex Xtreme pads are possibly responsible for this?

I bought both disks and pads from same supplier as a kit. I wanted the stock replacement Pagid pads but they only had the Xtremes in stock. They most definitely do the job of stopping the car, even when stinky, it is just the discs I am concerned about.

Chris

More info, I am absolutely sure the issue is that the discs run out when hot (fine when cold or slightly warm). I just wonder if the Mintex Xtreme pads are possibly responsible for this?

:rubchin: There might be something in that - I've suspected since it's been happening that it only happens towards the end of a journey (i.e. when the brakes have warned up) but I've always put it down to me just not noticing when I set off. Maybe not, after all...

:rubchin: There might be something in that - I've suspected since it's been happening that it only happens towards the end of a journey (i.e. when the brakes have warned up) but I've always put it down to me just not noticing when I set off. Maybe not, after all...

Quite often, the distortion of the disks will only become apparent once they get warm or hot. I have seen properly warped discs where they wobbled from cold (on an old Audi) but my experience of disks warping has been noticeable with temperature only.

Chris

More info, I am absolutely sure the issue is that the discs run out when hot (fine when cold or slightly warm). I just wonder if the Mintex Xtreme pads are possibly responsible for this?

I did 72 laps round hullavington (Got them hot enough to peel the paint off the calipers) and about 10k on a set of Xtremes and they didn't warp the 312 discs I had.

If your's are feeling warped when hot it could be your fluid boiling.

I did 72 laps round hullavington (Got them hot enough to peel the paint off the calipers) and about 10k on a set of Xtremes and they didn't warp the 312 discs I had.

If your's are feeling warped when hot it could be your fluid boiling.

Cant see the connection?

Boiling fluid = spongy pedal and loss of braking force.

Warped disks = Wobble through steering, little or no loss of braking force.

If the fluid were going to boil, I think it would have happened on the C road drive when brake temperature was at maximum. The warped feeling develops if I slow quickly form high speed, say braking hardish down a slip road. I have not driven the car since Monday, so need to see if it has all gone back to normal now it has had time to cool down properly, however, past experience tells me that the disks will exhibit the same wobbliniess once they get hot. Will get a chance to extend it a bit tomorrow hopefully.

Chris

Is it not possible the disc pads themselves are warping temporarily due to uneven heat dissipation (and poor design compared to other types) - and then reverting to normal on cooling down ?

Is it not possible the disc pads themselves are warping temporarily due to uneven heat dissipation (and poor design compared to other types) - and then reverting to normal on cooling down ?

The wobble the driver experiences is due to the disks themselves warping. This causes alternating sideways thrust at a frequency directly related to wheel speed to be applied to the hubs as the brakes are applied.

If the pads are rocking, this generally is experienced as grumble or droning by the driver.

I think the pads are OK, there was never any hint of loss of feel or retardation even when they where hot. If anything, feel got better.

Chris

The wobble the driver experiences is due to the disks themselves warping. This causes alternating sideways thrust at a frequency directly related to wheel speed to be applied to the hubs as the brakes are applied.

Doh. True.

Puts back head thinking on

Fitted Mintex Xtreme pads and Quinten Hazel front and Mintex rear OEM disks at 30,000 miles to my vRS and find the brakes to be fantastic. No hint of warping. Still haven't adjusted to shorter braking distances!!Pulling up far short of my intended stopping point!! Now find the rear brakes to be working harder than before with no hint of the corrosion the factory set suffered from.These pads are brilliant.

Hi

I have the Brembo discs on my car :(

They are the second set and I have warped both pairs :(

But they still work extreamly well

Just on gentle braking I get the wheel wobble , so I will be looking at upgrading mine hopefully this will help with the brake discs not warping

I will be doing the Extreams next time too

Sarah

And the Brembos cost how much??? Aren't they like a grand for the set? If I'm looking for a brake upgrade, will the standard TT set be enough/better (not to mention a third of the price)?

Cant see the connection?

Boiling fluid = spongy pedal and loss of braking force.

Warped disks = Wobble through steering, little or no loss of braking force.

If the fluid were going to boil, I think it would have happened on the C road drive when brake temperature was at maximum. The warped feeling develops if I slow quickly form high speed, say braking hardish down a slip road. I have not driven the car since Monday, so need to see if it has all gone back to normal now it has had time to cool down properly, however, past experience tells me that the disks will exhibit the same wobbliniess once they get hot. Will get a chance to extend it a bit tomorrow hopefully.

Chris

Granted. I used to have a Cavalier SRI (And several other Vauxhalls) and these would warp the discs within hours of fitting, I used to check these with a DTI and they we deffo warped. I got used to it and just put up with it after I got annoyed fitting new discs.

However with my 312 setup I found that after 4 laps of Coomb there was massive vibration as if the discs had wapped, indeed thats what I thought and drove home grumpy as hell as I was looking at replacing the rather expensive Zimmerman discs. They cooled and all was well. Replaced the fluid with 5.1 the next day and never had a problem after that.

And the Brembos cost how much??? Aren't they like a grand for the set? If I'm looking for a brake upgrade, will the standard TT set be enough/better (not to mention a third of the price)?

Unless you are planning on some serious track time then yes, they are great:D

Especially with Mintex Extremes, Xdrilled discs and 5.1/super4 fluid

So to get this straight, you got the TT calipers with the Zimmerman discs, they warped under duress but reverted to normal once cool, and the good brake fluid will stop this happening? Also, cross-drilling the discs, is this for temp or weight?

Eh? Wot?

£1000 a set, nope. £23.50 each for the front disks.

Boiling brake fluid can cause pad chatter I would imagine, but the braking performance must have gone horribly off as well? Motul RBF600 is the one for that.

Chris

So to get this straight, you got the TT calipers with the Zimmerman discs, they warped under duress but reverted to normal once cool, and the good brake fluid will stop this happening? Also, cross-drilling the discs, is this for temp or weight?

Umm no.

They didn't warp, the fluid boiled causing the vibration. Higher spec fluid has a higher boiling point.

Cross drilled discs vent better, cooling quicker.

Eh? Wot?

£1000 a set, nope. £23.50 each for the front disks.

Boiling brake fluid can cause pad chatter I would imagine, but the braking performance must have gone horribly off as well? Motul RBF600 is the one for that.

Chris

Hell yeah, I had to come in early.

Hell yeah, I had to come in early.

Luckily I got no brake force loss at all. The drive down C roads is pretty demanding for brakes IMO. Speeds have to be constantly varied to make progress but retain limit point stopping capability, so the car is constantly changing speed fron maybe 10 or 15mph on narrow corners rapidly up to 80+ when visibility presents itself, then hauling the speed rapidly back down as the visibility drops off. Most of the drive is accelerating or braking. Funnily enough, it was not when the brakes were properly hot that the problem revealed itself, rather, it was after I had been back onto plodding trafficked A road driving for 15 minutes and the system had got a chance to get some decent sustained airflow and lose most of it's heat.

Will try them out tomorrow and report back.

Chris

£23.50 each for the front disks.

Boiling brake fluid can cause pad chatter I would imagine, but the braking performance must have gone horribly off as well? Motul RBF600 is the one for that.

Chris

Thats your problem. Dig a bit deeper, ok, alot deeper and get some Tarox G88's on. I was reliably informed even I couldnt warp a set. I duly did, but this secoind set have no problems, several track days, 20k, and Rallye pads which are harder than a hard thing.

I also find Halfords 5.1 fluid to be as good if nor better than any other fluid, especially for the ££.