EBC red pads - too tick - 93 viggen

I doubt they are too thick. The clearance required is minuscule. They should have worn in already.

What do you mean by noise? Squeal or rough surface kind of noise?

I'd be more suspicious that the ceramic (hard) pads are causing the noise - unless the rotors are not solid, in which case they could be helping with the noise.

Before tossing them, read this, learn, try the break in method suggested. The article is more about "warping" but what you will learn by reading it may be very helpful in understanding what is going on with your pads and rotors. Works wonders with some cars. Be safe, don't do this on public roads:

Assuming this isn't a troll, do not try to modify anything yourself. No offence, but you fundamentally don't understand how disk brakes are meant to work. Considering how safety critical brakes are, you might want to get a trusted mechanic to look at them.

There should be virtually no clearance between the pads,disks and pistons at any time. Even if you reduce the thickness of the pads (which is pretty-much impossible to do safely without the right gear and knowledge) all that will happen is that the pistons will extend to fill the gap you've just made.

What kind of noise are they making?

Cheers,

Colin.

Thanks for the link - lots of good information! In this particular case the rotors are new from the same brand so no warping is likely. The noise is friction noise like the pads are touching the rotors. I read the EBC installation instructions and ran the car to say 40mph and gently slowed down the car for about 10 times - the imbeding did not happen or happened but did not help. The noise is stronger when I turn the wheels - I guess because of the hubs having some play and drive shafts pushing the rotors a bit.

what is happening is that with the pistons completely retracted the pads touch rotors and make friction noise. I agree the breaks are critical for safety but so is the rest of the car - say the wheels fall off :-)

It's normal for the pads to touch the disks all the time, as long as the brakes aren't actually binding. There's nothing to pull them away when the brakes are released. The system can only push, not pull.

The extra noise may be because of the redstuff pads. One tradeoff you get with "high performance" pads is extra noise. Normal OE pads just make a faint hissing noise as they drag against the disks.

You mentioned the size of the new disks in your original post. Does that mean they're larger than standard? If they are, their edges could be scraping on the calipers.

But you weren't talking about grinding any bits off your wheel bolts though. For the sake of completeness, don't do that either ;o)

Cheers,

Colin.

Yes it is. See below. I

Correct. So the rotors move in relation to the pads hence they touch more.

No the drive shafts have sufficient play not to push anything towards the hub of towards the gear box.

How many miles has the car done? The movement you describe above would be caused by a worn wheel bearing or a loose drive shaft nut (ehmmm, I think). In which case the rotor is never in the position it should have been hence the noise.

If the car is new ... the other possibility (which is the easier one to solve) is that the rotor and pads when combined are slightly too thick. I have had pads (Lucas) which I could not fit in my C900 when brand new but I could fit any other set of brand new pads.

If it helps a little.

Regards Charles

As Colin said. Pads always touch ... If they are binding ... then do 2 or 3 miles without braking and the rotors will be *hot*. Too hot to touch.

Have you used coper paste between the pads/the pistons/the caliper?

Most likely you have a very simple problem and you should not modify anything the way you were suggesting. If you were to remove friction material from the pad (you may have to do that if your brakes run *hot*) you have to keep the pad perfectly flat. Else you will get a smaller surface of the pad touching the rotor, the rotor will be damaged and braking performance will be much worse.

One way of reducing the thickness of the new pads (I will be killed now) would be to use one old and one new pad on each side of the rotor for a few miles, and at some point try replacing the old with the new pads. This is how I used the Lucas pads I mentioned in my other post.

I got the fire extinguisher ready. :-) Charles

I had my saab on the lift for a few days to fix the leak around the timing cover (dropped the engine and dismantled the suspension) and after I put the breaks back together the friction noise disappeared. I wonder if me touching the rotors with a bit oily gloves had something to do with it... No I did not use any copper paste.

FYI - I pointed you at that article so that you could learn something about the depositing of pad material on the rotors, not warping per se. This is a necessary step with some types of pad material - you have to get an even coat of it on the rotors before they work properly. Racers know this well and as you move to higher performance pads you have to learn about it.

Also, those stops have to be hard - just short of lockup - stops from about 55-60mph. If you do it right, the rotors turn blue. Watch out for brake fade and don't do it where there is traffic. A lonely road with a high speed limit and no traffic on Sunday morning at 6AM is usually best.

Good to hear that it is working better.