Technical Advice with rear discs/ pads

[RobBravo]

Hellooo

Basically, everytime I wash my car, I notice that my rear wheels are considerably dirtier than the front ones.

Usually not a problem - but with 18 spoke wheels it can become tiresome (no pun intended)

We have been lucky this week with no rain - so it shows up the brake dust and it bushes off with ease. However on a normal week, add some rain and road silt and it sticks like s**t!

See the photos, first being my drivers side front, second being my drivers side rear. Same case for the P/S.

Why would the rears collect more dust than the fronts? Is it because the fronts also turn and thus the dust is blown away? OR, is there something wrong with my rear pads/ discs?

Basically, I just need to know;

A. Is this normal?

B. Is there anyway to reduce the brake dust?

Thanks for reading

 

[Rigby]

They shouldn't produce more brake dust as they are smaller and less wearing, as long as they are still wearing evenly I wouldn't worry about it. Don't forget the front will kick up debris and throw it back.

Look at my picture for proof that was last winters collection!

 

[RobBravo]

That's what I figured, which is why I was concerned at the rears being consistently dirtier!

Haha, I used to have a white astra van.. I love white cars but I'm not sure I'd have one again

 

[GrandeGuy]

It's normal mines done it from day 1,
And all other 4 disc cars, smaller discs spinning faster than the fronts means roughly every 1circle of the fronts is 1and a quarter of the rear, so if the front brakes 8 rotations the rear have done 10, plus smaller radius means they are tuning quicker,
If fronts are breaking at 80mph rears are doing it from 100mph etc etc.

 

[GrandeGuy]

Got round excessive wheel cleaning by fitting red stuff pads, they keep them WAY cleaner.

 

[RobBravo]

I've heard of them, they really work?

Do they improve braking performance at all?

Cheers

 

[GrandeGuy]

I've heard of them, they really work?



Do they improve braking performance at all?



Cheers

Braking is totally transformed, feels how it should be. You touch them it bites and I mean bites.

 

[RobBravo]

All round?

So basically, red stuff gives you both better performance and less dust? Sounds good!

 

[Matthewr1990]

Red stuff is a bit excessive for a Bravo don't you think? They say themselves, "High performance cars over 200BHP" also aren't they like £40 a corner?

EDIT: a quick google search and I found this. http://www.dcperformance.co.uk/improve/performance-brakes/brake-pads/fiat/bravo.html This has all makes and models of Pads for the bravo. I spotted they have front and rear green and yellow stuff. By the looks of it the yellow stuff looks the best and it says it reduces heat fade to almost nothing. Green stiff is cheaper but says it only reduces heat fade though does still increase performance. To get yellow stuff all around will set you back nearly £100.

I personally have actually experienced heat fade with the bravo. And it was a case of one minute they worked next thing nothing. I won't go into detail as I'll have the safety police at my door. But let's just say my car decided it wanted to stay in front of a fiesta ST all on it's own, who would of guessed it *cough*. Within about 5 minutes I had nothing left of the brakes they were just not effective in anyway. I'm not exaggerating either, literally nothing! I had to pull over and wait 30 minutes for them to cool to resume my journey. So the yellow stuff seems great as I never want to experience that again. however I couldn't live with myself paying £100 for pads. Surely there are better and cheaper alternatives? (Disclaimer: I don't race my car around as a hobbie. This was a very rare occasion of obvious stupidity, and I'm not proud of it. Though for anyone interested I did beat the ST and still can't figure out how.)

 

[GrandeGuy]

IMO it's the best compromise, you get very low dust,
I've had OEM, mintex, and green stuff, red is the best pad I've ever used.

 

[GrandeGuy]

Red stuff is a bit excessive for a Bravo don't you think? They say themselves, "High performance cars over 200BHP" also aren't they like £40 a corner?

EDIT: a quick google search and I found this. http://www.dcperformance.co.uk/improve/performance-brakes/brake-pads/fiat/bravo.html This has all makes and models of Pads for the bravo. I spotted they have front and rear green and yellow stuff. By the looks of it the yellow stuff looks the best and it says it reduces heat fade to almost nothing. Green stiff is cheaper but says it only reduces heat fade though does still increase performance. To get yellow stuff all around will set you back nearly £100.

I personally have actually experienced heat fade with the bravo. And it was a case of one minute they worked next thing nothing. I won't go into detail as I'll have the safety police at my door. But let's just say my car decided it wanted to stay in front of a fiesta ST all on it's own, who would of guessed it *cough*. Within about 5 minutes I had nothing left of the brakes they were just not effective in anyway. I'm not exaggerating either, literally nothing! I had to pull over and wait 30 minutes for them to cool to resume my journey. So the yellow stuff seems great as I never want to experience that again. however I couldn't live with myself paying £100 for pads. Surely there are better and cheaper alternatives? (Disclaimer: I don't race my car around as a hobbie. This was a very rare occasion of obvious stupidity, and I'm not proud of it. Though for anyone interested I did beat the ST and still can't figure out how.)

Mine also faded to nothing because our discs are smaller than a GP/Stilo/mito 1.4,
The red don't fade but also don't require warm up and less dust, yellow need heated it's next above red,
The price is fantastic for what you gain,
But bearing in mind I had a Japanese coupe that cost £400 to just do the front disks and pads, so £56 for pads is nothing . .

 

[Peter Pick-Up]

My Alfa GT jtd does thesame....
Btw, I use Mtec Black Edition grooved discs with Ferodo Performance pads, front and rear.

 

[staffordmike]

It's normal mines done it from day 1,
And all other 4 disc cars, smaller discs spinning faster than the fronts means roughly every 1circle of the fronts is 1and a quarter of the rear, so if the front brakes 8 rotations the rear have done 10, plus smaller radius means they are tuning quicker,
If fronts are breaking at 80mph rears are doing it from 100mph etc etc.

How do figure that smaller discs on the back spin faster than bigger discs on the front? It's the size of the wheels that determines how fast the discs spin, so if your front and rear wheels are the same diameter then the discs will spin at the same speed. The outer edges of the front discs will actually be travelling faster than that of the rears do to the larger diameter.
But anyway, to get back to the question, I'd guess the rear brakes are dragging due to a build up of dirt in the caliper. Jack up each rear wheel individually and see how freely they spin. If they don't spin easily (with the handbrake off, obviously!) then you may need to clean and lube them, you'll get better performance and mpg too!

 

[GrandeGuy]

I got that the wrong way round and managed to get confused with gear ratios lol
So that blows my theory, larger the diameter the further distance to do 1 revolution
Back discs making more dust will remain a mystery :O

 

[RobBravo]

Mine also faded to nothing because our discs are smaller than a GP/Stilo/mito 1.4,
The red don't fade but also don't require warm up and less dust, yellow need heated it's next above red,
The price is fantastic for what you gain,
But bearing in mind I had a Japanese coupe that cost £400 to just do the front disks and pads, so £56 for pads is nothing . .

I've done it before on another car...

How difficult would it be to fit Stilo brakes?

 

[RobBravo]

Lmao. For some reason the 120 comes with bigger discs than the 150?

120 = 284 mm

150 = 281 mm

How odd?

Either way, according to my brief ebay research they have exactly the same discs as the abarth stilo?

 

[GrandeGuy]

Lmao. For some reason the 120 comes with bigger discs than the 150?



120 = 284 mm



150 = 281 mm



How odd?



Either way, according to my brief ebay research they have exactly the same discs as the abarth stilo?

Try having a bravo 165t sport with 281 mm discs