I've been looking afer two Pandas for a while now, and have finally got to the bottom of why the braking effort required is so different between the two (neither of which have a servo).

The one I use as my daily driver had some "Pagid" pads and new disks fitted when I got it, and it stops quite well: you don't need to do your Bruce Lee impressions to stop it, and you can lock the fronts up on a dry surface if push comes to shove.
But the other one (which my daughter crashed the other day, because it wouldn't stop...) has never had the same feel to the brakes, despite lots of cleaning of the sliding bits, and lots of "copper ease" on reassembly.

Today (having got it all straightened, and glued back together again) I thought I'd have another go at the brakes on the daughters Panda and replaced the FIAT pads with some BOSCH ones (£9.99 from A.P.E. in Erdington - cheaper than Halfords own brand), I had wanted the Pagid ones so I could compare like with like, but they were out of stock. Anyway, having got them somewhere near bedded in I reckon the braking effort is now broadly similar between the two. AND a lot better than it was

Moral to the story, if you want to stop a Panda (or have a handbrake that works on a Cinq, from what I gather in the other bits of this forum) you need something grippier than FIAT standard parts.

I understand Pagid is German as of course Bosch is - I think they know about the need to stop [^]

Oh yes, the Germans know all about stopping. They stop you doing this, they stop you doing that, and they've stopped overtime now. Bloody Siemens

Seriously though, I've used Halfords pads in the past on my Panda and they squeal like hell. I've also tried the Bosch ones and as you say, they are very good. Without a servo you need all the help you can get

Steve the geriatric Panda owner

(Me or the car? Actually, you're right on both counts )

Standard Fiat Cento brake pads and shoes are made from a tool steel or cast iron based lining (by the feel of them!). I swapped to Mintex, ten times better than Fiats. I was gonna try Red Dot but I've heard they need warming up before they will work - fine for a track but not so good for commuter traffic!

Pete.
Cinq sporting 1242cc
http://mysite.freeserve.com/close_to_cracking_up/
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Cinqs_and_Seis/
http://www.clubcento.co.uk/

Important stuff to bear in mind there.

The shameful thing is, I've absolutely no idea what make of brakes I have. [V] They're the ones that were fitted when I bought the car 14,500 miles ago and they're still working fine.

But a lack of servo has taught me to utilise engine braking, so I barely use the foot brake [^]

Paul

Thing is to change them is about a tenner.. so is it worth leaving them ?

Might save you straightening out the front ( I wish I'd changed them sooner on the CL )

Brake pads are cheaper than gearboxes too

<blockquote id="quote"> face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by John H
Brake pads are cheaper than gearboxes too
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Good point, but my skills in reading the road have improved since I started driving the Panda, so I'm never harsh with the 'box.

Paul