Brake Pad Recommendation For 1996 9000 CS

Kirk R,

I thought the SAAB Dan-Block pads were always the way to go, semi-metallic.

- Ryan

I would not recommend cross drilled rotors. You don't need them and they are more likely to warp, crack and will wear your pads faster no matter what you get.

The only thing they have going for them is bling factor...

I thought they stay cooler as a general rule..............

My experience differs from your comment, Fred. The increased cooling of the crossdrilled rotors (allegedly) reduces operating temperature, so the pads allegedly last longer. I didn't try a comparison but I certainly didn't notice anything being _worse_. Stopping distance seemed to improve.

Then why do they use them on motorcycles? I was of the impression it was about improving stopping distance and reducing heat into the braking system which causes fade.

I am going ahead with this change so I will let everyone know how they perform.

Dave H> >

I'd say not. Why would they?

Since you have reduced the contact area of the pad's limited dimensions, in order to get the same friction (and stopping force) you have to squeeze the pads to the calipers *harder*! The force exerted per square inch of surface is greater and therefore more heat will be generated. There would be marginally more surface area (for heat dissapation) I guess, but the real issue is peak heat (and heat variations/fluctuation), not average value. The heat builds much faster than you can shed it on just about all braking systems.

Because the cross-drilled holes create an air column. The air absorbs and then disperses the heat, carrying it away from the rotor.

I've seen a really good writeup of the thermodynamics involved, but it's been a few years. Made sense to me at the time and I was freshly out of thermo class at the time. "Wizard Words" maybe?

THe crossdrillings give the air somewhere to compress to instead of making your pads float on the rotors, and when those heated columns of air are released (you can hear it), they carry away heat for you.

I think the holes are for cooling the pads rather than cooling the rotors. It gives the pads a pause to vent the heat. But the brake heat depends a lot on driving style. An impatient driver will have to brake many more times than a relaxed driver. I did once experience brake fading on my (then) Fiat Croma, the brakes weren't really up to urgent driving.

I'm not seeing this... The rotors are already vented from the edges for additional cooling. Where is this purported "column" of air? Do you have any sort of web reference I can go to?

Well, it gives the air being heated on the surface of the rotor, somewhere to escape to. Think hydroplaning but with a different fluid. This is the equivalent of grooved pavement, and siping on tires. Give the fluid somewhere else to go and you get better contact. In the case of braking, that fluid is hot air, and helps carry the heat away from the rotor/pads.

If "wizard words" isn't google-able I probably don't have a link.

But the pads cover only a small part of the entire disc so there is plenty of space on the disc to transfer heat to the surrounding air.