General Tech Brake Pad Brands and Materials - Advice Wanted

[dklawson]

I am preparing our '72 Spitfire for sale. My older son drove through high-school and college. I drove it this weekend and found it requires much more pedal effort to stop than our GT6. I know the GT6 rotors are bigger but I also suspect the Spitfire pads and rotors are glazed. I want to make the brakes on this car a bit more effective before passing it along to the next owner.

I plan to turn the rotors and want to replace the pads with something "sticky". This is a street car, not a performance car. I just want it to stop without excessive pedal effort. I've spoken with Ted at TSI and he feels I need to try turning the rotors first before buying any new parts. I would still like some material and brand recommendations for decent pads. Do you have any brand/material recommendations for a street car?

The following is provided as background:
All the brake components are newish or rebuilt.
The hoses are stainless braided.
This car IS running DOT-5 but the pedal is firm without being squishy (this is not a bleeding or compressibility issue).
There is not excessive pedal travel (shoes are adjusted and there are no worn clevis holes or pins).
The shoes and pads have a decent amount of material.
The shoes and pads are whatever the low end brakes from BP Northwest are made of.
The PDWA is rebuilt and centered.

I assume the low end pads are basic organic material. The next step up appears to be ceramic pads with the high-end being Kevlar or Kevlar blends. Please give me your suggestions for grippy pads keeping in mind that I want the car safe... but I don't want to invest a mint since I am selling the car.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and advice.

Doug L.

 

[bobhustead]

Are you sure the calipers are free? I use the pads from Moss on my 3. I tried some ceramics on my wife's Jeep and didn't like them. Don't remember why but istr the friction material showed cracks in short order.
Bob

 

[dklawson]

I rebuilt the calipers when we put the car back on the road and the pistons were free after the rebuild. There is no left or right pulling that would make me suspect a piston is stuck now. Regardless, I will confirm the pistons are free when I pull the rotors to have them turned.

Thanks for the comments about ceramic and Moss pads. I found a few threads where people posted that they liked the feel of the Moss Gold pads.

 

[TR3driver]

I like the 'Kevlar' pads that Ted sells, for the street. Very good grip even cold, good fade resistance, minimal dust generation, long life. Seem to be gentle on rotors too. Probably not as cheap as the cheapest, but not too pricey either (about $70/axle last time I checked).

Don't recall where I got them, but I once got a set of pads (for my TR3A) that acted just as you describe.

 

[dklawson]

When I called Ted it was with the intention of buying a set of the Kevlar pads. I even had my charge card on the desk when I dialed. Based on my description of what the car was doing and what I had already done with the brakes he didn't want to sell them to me yet. I am not opposed to buying Ted's Kevlar pads but he wants me to try the inexpensive things first... especially since I am getting ready to sell the car.

Maybe turning the rotors and getting the glaze off my old pads will be enough. However, in the event that more new components are required I'd like the opinions of people like Bob and yourself so I can make an educated decision.

 

[TuffTR250]

Doug, I remember reading about a specific and inportant procedure for "breaking in" new rotars and pads to prevent glazing. I recommend that you Google for that special procedure and see if that helps with the turned rotars and new pads. Sorry, I can't remember where I read it.
Regards, Bob

 

[bobhustead]

The bedding (break-in) procedure is described in the moss paper catalog.
Bob

 

[dklawson]

Thanks for the bedding in suggestions.

For people reading this thread in the future, two Moss articles on bedding brakes are below.

https://www.mossmotoring.com/bedding-in-your-brakes/
and
https://www.mossmotors.com/graphics/products/PDF/980-400.pdf

 

[dklawson]

I left work early so I could take the brakes apart before the sun went down.


The rotors look horrible. They are pitted, grooved, wavy, with what looks like a glassy, rust colored surface. The pads were almost a the wear limit. The drums themselves look OK. However, the shoes... one pair had what looked like acne scars... places where material had been pulled out. However, the drums did not have any irregular interior features to explain it.


So... now I get to order a bunch of brake parts. It's no big deal, just more work before I list the car for sale. I will feel better knowing the next owner can stop safely.


I will post updates once I have the car back on all four.


Doug L.

 

[dklawson]

It just keeps getting better. Last night I ordered a pair of rotors, pads, and shoes from BP Northwest.

I came to work early this a.m. so I could sandblast the drums and get them ready for a fresh coat of paint. I showed them to a friend who also owns British cars. He immediately found cracks radiating from one of the lug holes on the left drum.

Tonight I head to the stash of parts in the crawlspace to see if I still have any spare drums.

 

[dklawson]

The brakes are done.

I found a spare set of drums in my stash of parts. Since my lathe isn't big enough I set them up on my rotary table and milled the inside to clean them up. New brake parts then arrived from BP Northwest. I installed new rotors, Ferodo semi-metallic pads, and new shoes.

Once all the new bits were installed and adjusted I took the car on several test drives both to get a feel for the brakes and try to bed them in following the Moss procedure as closely as possible. The brakes are substantially better but still require a lot of pedal effort compared to our GT6 or Mini. Because of the bedding in procedure I did not lock the brakes up... but the pedal now feels good enough that I am confident I could lock them up if I wanted to.

Doug L.

 

[glemon]

Some semi metallic pads don't have great initial bite, but work better when everything's gets warmed up. I had some semi metallic pads on my TR4a, you could feel them getting more bite as they were used. Not the best for a street car. I have had other semi mentalism on different cars that did not exhibit this behavior.