brakes: which brand are best?

Hello,

I need to change the rear brake pads on my 60 plate 2 litre diesel Mondeo. I see there are a number of different makes available, so I started googling to find out which, if any, is best but the more I read, the more contradictory and confusing things become.

For example, one web site said Brembo is a good make but another says that just because they make good brakes for racing cars, does not mean that their OEM brakes for family cars are the best.

A post on one of the Ford forums said Mintex were very good but I found another post on another forum saying that Mintex were a budget brand, and that Pagid were made by the same people but to a higher standard, and that textar were the same people and better still. So is Mintex good or not?

Some posts suggest that the same manufacturer will use different type of friction material on different pads to give a difference between their budget and premium pads. But then I found a post from someone who claimed to work at a disc pad factory and he said they made pads for a number of manufacturers and that they were all made in one batch with the same materials and the only difference was when they were sorted at the end to be painted and boxed. So which is right?

One option is to buy parts from the dealer but others say that these are made by Bosch or ATE. I can get these brands cheaper elsewhere. I also found a forum post suggesting that Ford would try and sell Ford motorcraft pads as the commission was greater (it did not say greater than what). When I check with the dealer, it was indeed motorcraft they had quoted for.

Some people might say that the car was designed for the OEM brakes, so they are the best to use. On the other hand, when designing are a car, I imagine Ford (any anyone else) have to compromise and build to a budget.

I have found web sites selling EBC brakes. They claim the police use the "yellow stuff" pads. These are the same price as pads from Ford or Bosch or Brembo, so is it worth trying considering they are the same price?

And then what about the discs? Some people say that having holes or grooves allows the heat to dissipate; others say these are weak points in the disc and make the disc more likely to fail or warp. Which is correct?

This is just used as a normal family car and I do not go racing on race tracks (or roads!) but I would like to be able to stop quickly and over a short distance if a child/animal ran out in front of me. I also realise that stopping distance is more than just about breaks and tyres are important too.

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen
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Just to add another make, my local brake specialists use Pagid pads, which seem to be quite popular with DIYers..

Reply to
Ramsman

You DON'T want drilled or grooved discs on a family car. They wear the pad out much quicker. The idea of drilled or grooved pads is to scrape an overheated layer off the pad surface exposing fresh pad material and to let the gases and dust out from the pad/disc interface quicker.

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You don't want or need "Premium" pads. Race and Track day pads like Ferodo DS2500 and EBC Yellowstuff are harder and take warming up. They are intended for frequent hard application like at every bend of a race track, about 30-60 seconds between application. Get on M-way and don't touch the brakes for 30 miles and they will be stone cold so when you need to use them they don't work as well you would have liked.

For an everyday family car you are totally over analysing it. Just buy some pads and discs off E-bay/Amazon. Make sure they are ECE R90 approved - all UK stock should be. EC law now requires all brakes sold in EU to match the OEM spec within 15%.

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Reply to
Peter Hill

With over 50 years experience of car DIYing, I never now use non-OEM brake parts. I learnt the hard way that you pretty much get what you pay for. Although pattern parts *may* perform identically, it's not worth taking the slight risk of that not being the case.

With some manufacturers fitting slightly different parts to the same model seemingly at random (not Ford), you may also experience the inconvenience of having to return parts that don't fit.

For genuine Ford parts, if you want the convenience of buying online, have a look here:

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They give a minimum 10% discount, although that is countered to some degree by delivery charges.

I have used them perhaps a dozen times, with satisfactory results.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

But do Ford make their own brake parts? Or simply put parts from one of the large makers - like ATE - in a Ford box and charge a premium for that? And do they only source from one maker?

I've always used ATE on my various BMWs, and never had a problem. Considerable savings over BMW prices too.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

They quite possibly buy them in from a manufacturer, but they will be made to their specification. You can't be sure the same manufacturer would sell their own branded ones with an identical spec.

I've nothing against non-OEM parts in general, but over the years I've had a number of occasions where brake parts from a factor were simply the wrong ones. This can be dangerous; I once had a pair of rear wheel cylinders for someone's Fiesta that were the wrong diameter. They caused the rears to lock even in moderate braking. The factor insisted they were the only ones listed, yet measuring then against the originals, and the genuine Ford replacements, showed them to be wrong.

I've just done front pads and discs on my Focus - this morning, funnily enough. They were 80UKP. I just checked on brakesparts.co.uk, and they would have been 47UKP. (Both prices not including delivery.)

For a 33 quid difference, over perhaps 30k miles, I prefer to stick with OEM.

Of course, at BMW prices I might have a different POV!

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

I'd put it the other way round. Why would a respectable maker who manufactures OEM parts for say Ford, sell inferior ones under their own name - as being suitable for that application? Making themselves wide open to being sued?

The fact is that makers boxed parts are a cash cow for many car makers. Something trading standards should stop.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)
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Without the profit made from parts, new cars would be unaffordable. Their business model is the Gillette one. Whether you think that is wrong doesn't matter; it's how the motor trade has always worked.

If you look at how much in debt most mainstream makers are, it's likely that both new car and parts prices must rise.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Interesting - I always thought the motor manufacturing business was one which didn't run on the Gillette model. Cars don't need _that_ many parts after they've been built - the finance margins are rather bigger.

Now, I would be happy to agree that the parts subsidise the dealers - that does sound rather more likely.

Reply to
Clive George

I doubt that. The dealer may make the majority of their profit out of servicing, but not the maker.

Any requirement for spare parts for a car is very much more variable than blades for a razor, or ink for a printer.

It's a competitive market. Making your profits on something so variable as servicing is a very poor model. The more expensive you make that servicing the more independant outlets will take your business.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

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