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Brake time again

8K views 12 replies 5 participants last post by  waterbuff 
#1 ·
Well, it was brake work time again this weekend. Pads, rotors (due to a caliper or pad sticking and wearing the inboard pad down to the metal - unnoticed until too late), calipers, and brake hoses.

I chose to go with the new Raybestos EHT Element3 pads this time around. These things have a GG edge code friction rating (!), something not usually seen in a street pad. They're still breaking in, so the jury's out on performance over time, but so far they work well.

I also took a file and smoothed out the guide rails to level out the worn spots that might result in brake shudder or cause a pad to stick.

I'll try to update here again later once I have more experience with the Raybestos pads.

- G
 
#2 ·
Well, we unexpectedly got to test out those Element3 pads a week or so ago. My wife was driving our minivan home, when a couple of neighborhood kids on bicycles ran a stop sign and pulled right out in front of her (the road/intersection has relatively poor visibility due to many cars parked curbside). The brakes (which were broken in by then) worked plenty well enough on dry pavement to activate the ABS, and the minivan stopped about 6 feet short of hitting the kids. Whew!

Then we just had to clean up the mess inside the minivan from all of the stuff sliding forward...

- G
 
#3 ·
Then we just had to clean up the mess inside the minivan from all of the stuff sliding forward...

I'm glad you specified what mess you had to clean up. ;-)
I would have probably had a mess in my pants to clean up ;-)

Thank God for good brakes and your wife's fast reflexes.
 
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#4 ·
Update here -- we've had the Raybestos EHT pads on the front brakes for three months now, including some significant mountain driving with the vehicle fully loaded. It's definitely a very good performing brake setup. I do occasionally notice a squeak, but for the most part the brakes are nice and quiet. About a month ago I also redid the rear brakes. Didn't install anything special, but the new shoes appeared to be FF rated instead of EE like the old ones.

- G
 
#5 ·
I don't know that stopping fast once from 60 mph is any indication. Even the small 9" drum brakes in my 64 Valiant can skid the tires, so you can't stop any faster than that (actually just before skidding, or pump the brakes as ABS does). The true indicator is if they are immune to fading such as stopping from 80 mph (I never go there) or repeated braking on twisty roads (not a way to save gas).
 
#6 ·
They actually stop better with repeated or long applications. When cold, they feel like a normal brake pad -- not bad, but not wonderful either. Once warmed up, they have some nice grab, which continues to be very good when hot.

I do enough mountain driving with a heavily loaded vehicle that I pay attention to brake fade resistance when choosing pads.

- G
 
#8 ·
I'm definitely pleased with the EHT pads. The better stopping power and absence of brake fade are significant benefits. I just did our front brakes again, with another set of EHT pads, and here are some observations:

- These pads have normal stopping power when cold and excellent stopping power when warm or hot (GG friction rating).
- No brake fade whatsoever, even in heavy mountain driving (watch out though - this may let you get your brakes really hot and not realize what's going on, with possible rotor damage).
- The pads wore reasonably evenly and were not hard on the rotors.
- The pads did wear out a little sooner than the previous type (NAPA AdaptiveOne, also a hybrid pad) that I had been using. 18 months life for EHT vs 24 months life for AdaptiveOne.
- The pads squeak just a little during the break-in period, but then become silent.
- The pads did show some cracking, but no material separation from the backing plate. This was my biggest concern, though I had worse issues with AdaptiveOne.

I have not found any brick-and-mortar retailers yet that carry EHT; the folks at O'Reilly were querying me about the pads though when I had rotors turned recently. I ordered my pads from Amazon, where the mfr is mis-labeled as "RM Brakes" instead of "Raybestos".

Hope this helps,

- G
 
#10 ·
Update: got around to putting in the EHT front pads. So far no noise and brakes fine. I'm looking forward to seeing how much dust they leave on the wheels.

Quick comment: the 10 mm bolts came out with grease and grime on the threads. I cleaned them before replacing, but it made me doubt how accurate the torque wrench would be.
 
#11 ·
These are a hybrid ceramic / semi-metallic pad, and are not dust-free by any means. I do have to clean my wheels just like with other types of pads.

- G
 
#13 ·
Thanks. I meant I'll see how much dust and what color dust show up on the aluminum wheels. The old pads gave off a reddish dust that wasn't too bad in amount, and I've heard that ceramic supposedly means 'less dust' or maybe just a lighter colored dust that doesn't show up as much.
 
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