1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
I will try and explain exactly everything that I have done. About 800 miles ago I replaced my brake lines to Goodridge stainless steel. Changed my rotors to cross drilled and slotted from Raceshopper.com, and replaced my pads with Axxis metal masters. Then I flushed my entire system with ATE super blue racing fluid, bleed my brakes and clutch. The brakes worked just fine with the exception of the first stop of the day needing to get the brake pads up to temperature. Also in a testing situation I was not happy with the amount of time it took for me to make the ABS kick in under a hard stop. Also they faded a little after the first braking atempt. The fade wasn't too bad but my peddle pressure was still there. The pads weren't horrible but I just wanted something with a little better fade resistance and a slightly better initial bite. Also metal masters can be a little hard on my new rotors.
My friend that has a VW Jetta VR6 with cross drilled and slotted rotors said he always used Mintex Red box pads and was very happy with them. His didn't fade after the first stopping attempt and had a good initial bite. So I decided to go out and get these for my car. I installed them after I had only 800 miles on my other new Axxis pads. Mintex Red box pads are semi metalic and supposed to be an OEM replacement so they are not a racing pad. I bedded them in for about 100 miles and they felt a little weak but I still have not really heated them up at this point. After the 100th miles I decided to test their limits and nailed the brakes. My peddle had pressure and it started to stop but not to good. I got to about the middle of the peddles travel but it just went from bad to worst as my peddle traveled down to the floor. I smelled my brakes burning up and for the amount I could smell them they sure didn't stop like that. After that the entire ride home was just plain scary. A very spongy brake peddle that stopped horrible.
I let them cool down for a few hours and went right back out to test them from 50-0mph. This time I locked them up and the ABS kicked in and they stopped much better but still not like the metal masters. After I tried again with a normal braking situation my peddal went to mush once again and was only able to roll to a stop. I could again smell my brakes burning.
At this point I didn't bleed my brakes because I shouldn't have to with only 800 miles on them since they were bleed last. I was also happy with the peddle pressure that I had before I changed to the Mintex pads. Now I said to myself it sure feels like I have air in the lines but I did not let air into the system. All I did was change the pads. There is also no brake fluid leaking from my car so I did not damage something replacing them.
Even thought I did not belive the problem was air in the lines I bleed the system again anyway with a bike tube. After I was done the problem still remained. I got 1 ok stop out of them and after that they were so hot I smelled them and my brake peddle was spongy again untill a few hours later after letting the car sit.
When I was bleeding the brakes I noted my cross drilled rotors were clogging up with brake material. Also there was crusty pieces of brake material around the pad that I was able to snap off. It kind of looked like they melted. Alot of the pad was also worn away at this point in the front. They look like there is about 70% left. The back pads seemed to still be ok. Actually my E brake test stops were just as good as the metal masters. So my back pads may not be the problem. The front brake pads did come in a different box then the back pads. The front brakes came in a box that is red and has nice color photos on it. It reads Mintex TCS friction. THe back brakes have the standard Mintex Red box look. I was thinking the front pads may be of a different type. There are racing quality mintex pads but I don't think that is what Eeroparts would be selling. The rear pads I got from a different website since Eeuroparts does not carry mintex for the rears. If they were a racing pad they should at least stop either way and just have a short life.
Now if I didn't have brake pressure I should not be able to get them hot enought to smell like buring brakes. I think my pedal may be going down because the pad is melting away. I am definatly burning the pad just due to the fact I can smell it and see it deposited in my cross drilles. Any ideas? I hope I answered some of the questions to what I am doing. I may put the metal masters back on but I have no Idea why the Mintex don't work. Can I have defective pads?
posted by 66.153.28...
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