Afternoon all,

So then guys, was going to get the car on a power run at RS Tuning at end of this month but.. a big but - them plans have been set back.

I need to choose some new discs and pads.

The current discs seem fine but... this car is new to me and I want to change both discs and pads this time round so i know they are both brand new.

Whats prompted me to want to change them so soon?
Well, on Saturday evening i had a car full - two of the people in the car are about 20 - 30 stone each, me and the other two are like 10 - 12 stone each, you can imagine the load my car was under.

I was on the motorway, didnt realise the speed i was doing! looked at the dashboard and thought feck! i had hit tripple figures with 90+ stone in the car... i backed off the gas and gently pressed the brakes, about 1 second into the breaking and slowing down to 70, i hear a big bearing like noise - whirring like mad, i let off the brakes and it stopped, gently pressed again and it came back... decided to keep the speed low due to the weight in the car and needing to get her back home safeley and the noise went away.

Since this episode - the noise has not come back, i havent had that much weight in the car either, i have tried heavy braking to see if the noise came back but nothing, it seems fine.

On closer inspection yesterday morning - i notice that the pads all round (each corner) seem on the really low side, probably have about 1 - 1.5mm left of thickness, discs have a little lip but nothing major - have had worse.

So, i was wondering - was it the shear weight, speed and low pads that could have caused this, i did suspect something may have lodged in between the disc and pad but that would of caused a groove or some markings and there is nothing there.

Can anyone recommend a good brand / model
Also, anyone tried green, yellow pads and the grooved discs?

Any advice, ideas and thoughts welcomed.

had green red and yellow on mine.
no real difference in braking(vids of mot on my youtube)
big difference on how clean wheels stay, yellow have been worst so far dirty wheels in days.
also green stuff had issue with backing plate corroding and popping the friction material off, luckily on the rear and just backing out of drive.
you might struggle to find part numbers for the red and yellow i dont think they were listed for the 150mj(at least not when i was after them)
have a read through here i might have listed the pad numbers in there.
i tried slotted and dimpled and saw no advantage and were just noisy to be honest.
as i am now just on std brembo discs (but not stilo,)
car seemed to warp the std size discs pretty quick when working them hard.
edit from whats visable through caliper on mine i have some numbers
ebc yellow fronts not visable then 4213.41382rsc ebay ref looks like dp41382r redstuff would be dp31382c
ebc red rears not vis31381not vis quick ebay ref looks like dp31381c

It's probably going to be impossible for us to accurately assess the source of the noise. It could well just be the extent of the loading on the front axle braking hard, at speed, fully loaded.

Brake replacement wise there is no reason why the standard setup and a branded set of pads won't be sufficient for road use. The amount of energy required to ruin a set of discs or pads is significant.

If you're suffering brake fade like issues with is more likely to suggest that the brake fluid requires changing. I believe service schedule wise the brake fluid should be changed every 5 years but this is a commonly overlooked task. Brake fluid is hydroscopic so takes on water over time which reduces it's performance ability. Remember the clutch is fed off the same fluid reservoir as the brakes when bleeding too.

If you're set of having some performance parts then probably Ferrodo DS2500s are the way forward if they're available.

Aye! Freddie Ferodo's DS2500 will see you alright, on the front at least.

I'd change the brake fluid every two years maximum.. (every year for a quick bleed doesn't hurt).

The noise might have been one of the backing plates touching, particularly at the rear. If you had some hefty lads on board the rear brake compensator would have pushed more force to the rear... which won't be the case when the car is empty.

New pads and fluid will sort you, anyways..

Ralf S.

just to add noticed one rear pad was more pink than red when i got those numbers so on next journey had a quick feel of discs one warm, one bloody hot.(checked with thermometer 30c vs 160c)
so you helped me spot a seized o/s caliper freed off now and rekon it was robbing 4-5mpg, bear in mind if your still in low 30'smpg

sussexa said:

just to add noticed one rear pad was more pink than red when i got those numbers so on next journey had a quick feel of discs one warm, one bloody hot.(checked with thermometer 30c vs 160c)
so you helped me spot a seized o/s caliper freed off now and rekon it was robbing 4-5mpg, bear in mind if your still in low 30'smpg

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And (in UK at least) if you put a car in for MOT with this issue it'd likely fail on brake imbalance.

Rear calipers are a bit prone to seizing up on these things!

since freeing off all calipers and re copper slipping mpg did increase from 39mpg to 42mpg but i know thats still low so went about knocking off any lips and grooves in the discs and fitted ebc reds all round again.
fronts done raised mpg another 1mpg and rear discs were skimmed to re flat them as the inner pad had a groove maybe 1/2 to 3/4 the width of the pad on both rears, yet outer visable side both had nice flat full coverage and normal lip on very edge.
also found both rear caliprs stuck fast again when trying to wind back to get fresh pads in, i reckon if pads have only a couple of mm's of material left the piston is too far out as again once wound back in a few turns it went back to nice and smooth all the way back.
just finished rears and will report back end of week what i have for same commute all week.

also cleaned front wheels after going back to the reds and so far still clean(as apposed to the yellows)

sussexa said:

since freeing off all calipers and re copper slipping mpg did increase from 39mpg to 42mpg but i know thats still low so went about knocking off any lips and grooves in the discs and fitted ebc reds all round again.
fronts done raised mpg another 1mpg and rear discs were skimmed to re flat them as the inner pad had a groove maybe 1/2 to 3/4 the width of the pad on both rears, yet outer visable side both had nice flat full coverage and normal lip on very edge.
also found both rear caliprs stuck fast again when trying to wind back to get fresh pads in, i reckon if pads have only a couple of mm's of material left the piston is too far out as again once wound back in a few turns it went back to nice and smooth all the way back.
just finished rears and will report back end of week what i have for same commute all week.
View attachment 181562
also cleaned front wheels after going back to the reds and so far still clean(as apposed to the yellows)

Click to expand...

I don't know where you coppaslipped but don't use it on slide pins, it quickly goes thick and gungy .

as normal just on the carrier shim faces where the pad slides and on the pad tips and edges also just bits that side in the shims.(still original shims also)
i have never actually lubed my slider pins on this car to date so assume from new 11 years never lubed.
i check each time i have pads out and never found any of them to be stiff or sticky, all rubber boots still in good condition also.
also copperslip was still fresh/ viscous enough to transfer off old pads all over my table after a couple of years on car.

sussexa said:

as normal just on the carrier shim faces where the pad slides and on the pad tips and edges also just bits that side in the shims.(still original shims also)
i have never actually lubed my slider pins on this car to date so assume from new 11 years never lubed.
i check each time i have pads out and never found any of them to be stiff or sticky, all rubber boots still in good condition also.
also copperslip was still fresh/ viscous enough to transfer off old pads all over my table after a couple of years on car.

Click to expand...

That's good news.
You have been very lucky not to have had to free up slide pins.

Are the pads a nice sliding fit in the stainless steel anti rattle spring plates that fit between pad back plate and caliper frame?

It is very common for very hard rust to build up under the stainless plates trapping the pads so they cannot move back away from disc.
Not just Fiat all manufacturers suffer.

Best thing to do would be to strip it and remove the shims / plates and get it all cleaned out and protected... not a big long job and can't do any harm, if not help everything.

so figures for week upto 44.5mpg 11 trips plus some other small runs
I know figure will drop a few maybe .2-.3mpg on way home again today.
but still an improvement from under 40 to 44mpg with just skimming discs and new pads and (with free sliding calipers.)