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[Kevin Wood]

I've just fitted a set of e-bay discs and green stuff pads. I wonder if they will hold up ok, it currently stops better than anything else i've driven.

Green stuff are quite soft so I'd expect them to be a bit short lived on an Omega. It will be interesting to see how you get on. They are better suited to lighter cars really but it depends what sort of driving you subject them to I guess.

Kevin

[Taxi_Driver]

I am on my third set of discs&pads in the 6 years I owned the car, all were original Vx...

A few months ago while still on the second set, started having vibration while braking at Motorway speeds. Changed last April again (third set), as per usual used original Vx on TC, and all was well again. For a while, anyway... the vibration came back six months later... very annoying.

And yes, the Vx discs seemed clean but I gave them a good wash with brake cleaner anyway.

I dont like to say it MJ, but this could be because of how you drive your Omega......and it can be a common prob with Autos.

When braking from speed and coming to standstill, do you keep your foot on the brakes when stationary?

Reasoning behind this.....the disks get very hot.....and when stopped if you keep your foot on the brakes.....the discs start to cool....however the portion of disk clamped by the pads dont cool at the same rate and therefore could cause warping to occur.

What i try to do ie existing from motorway......try to stop short by a few metres of the junction/car in front......and release the brake pedal slightly so it creeps forward slightly.....hopefully by doing this theres a more evening cooling of the disks.

Tho you could when stopped apply handbrake and select N or P and take your foot of the brake pedal completely.

You probably already do this tho.......if so just ignore my ramblings  

[Markjay]

I am on my third set of discs&pads in the 6 years I owned the car, all were original Vx...

A few months ago while still on the second set, started having vibration while braking at Motorway speeds. Changed last April again (third set), as per usual used original Vx on TC, and all was well again. For a while, anyway... the vibration came back six months later... very annoying.

And yes, the Vx discs seemed clean but I gave them a good wash with brake cleaner anyway.

I dont like to say it MJ, but this could be because of how you drive your Omega......and it can be a common prob with Autos.

When braking from speed and coming to standstill, do you keep your foot on the brakes when stationary?

Reasoning behind this.....the disks get very hot.....and when stopped if you keep your foot on the brakes.....the discs start to cool....however the portion of disk clamped by the pads dont cool at the same rate and therefore could cause warping to occur.

What i try to do ie existing from motorway......try to stop short by a few metres of the junction/car in front......and release the brake pedal slightly so it creeps forward slightly.....hopefully by doing this theres a more evening cooling of the disks.

Tho you could when stopped apply handbrake and select N or P and take your foot of the brake pedal completely.

You probably already do this tho.......if so just ignore my ramblings  

Following AA's recent post, I just started using the handbrake while stationary, but admittedly I did not do this beforehand.

I take your point about brakes heating up and warping when the footbrake is applied at traffic lights etc, but I still find it very odd. The previous set of Vx discs developed the vibration problem after 3 years and 25,000 miles... so I can't see why the current set developed this problem after only three months...

Also I suspect that the vast majority of auto drivers are using the footbrake at traffic lights etc, and I don't see a pandemic of warped discs after just few months from replacing...

So it is possible that the previous set were warped because of this, which as said after 3 years is fair enough, but I can't see that this by itself can explain why the problem re-occurred again after such a short time.... maybe some other suspension component has failed, I will have to look into this... or maybe the vibration is felt at the front but is actually generated by a problem with the rear brakes (still on factory-fitted discs&pads after 6 years...). Don't know...

[Auto Addict]

I am on my third set of discs&pads in the 6 years I owned the car, all were original Vx...

A few months ago while still on the second set, started having vibration while braking at Motorway speeds. Changed last April again (third set), as per usual used original Vx on TC, and all was well again. For a while, anyway... the vibration came back six months later... very annoying.

And yes, the Vx discs seemed clean but I gave them a good wash with brake cleaner anyway.

I dont like to say it MJ, but this could be because of how you drive your Omega......and it can be a common prob with Autos.

When braking from speed and coming to standstill, do you keep your foot on the brakes when stationary?

Reasoning behind this.....the disks get very hot.....and when stopped if you keep your foot on the brakes.....the discs start to cool....however the portion of disk clamped by the pads dont cool at the same rate and therefore could cause warping to occur.

What i try to do ie existing from motorway......try to stop short by a few metres of the junction/car in front......and release the brake pedal slightly so it creeps forward slightly.....hopefully by doing this theres a more evening cooling of the disks.

Tho you could when stopped apply handbrake and select N or P and take your foot of the brake pedal completely.

You probably already do this tho.......if so just ignore my ramblings  

Following AA's recent post, I just started using the handbrake while stationary, but admittedly I did not do this beforehand.

I take your point about brakes heating up and warping when the footbrake is applied at traffic lights etc, but I still find it very odd. The previous set of Vx discs developed the vibration problem after 3 years and 25,000 miles... so I can't see why the current set developed this problem after only three months...

Also I suspect that the vast majority of auto drivers are using the footbrake at traffic lights etc, and I don't see a pandemic of warped discs after just few months from replacing...

So it is possible that the previous set were warped because of this, which as said after 3 years is fair enough, but I can't see that this by itself can explain why the problem re-occurred again after such a short time.... maybe some other suspension component has failed, I will have to look into this... or maybe the vibration is felt at the front but is actually generated by a problem with the rear brakes (still on factory-fitted discs&pads after 6 years...). Don't know...

I wouldn't have thought that the discs would warp after a few months.

I would suspect, as you say, another suspension component is starting to fail.

[Kevin Wood]

I have heard that there is another cause of uneven braking that happens when the pads are applied to the disk when stopped and hot. I think it was something to do with material from the pad being deposited on the disk and building up an area of increased friction - not actually warping the disk. Sam cause and effect, but by a different mechanism.

Repeated disk warping could also be caused by run-out somewhere else in the hub. If the hub's not quite running true, there is crud on the surface which is preventing the disk seating or possibly even if the wheel is a little out-of-round it could cause premature disk failure.

It'd be worth getting out a DTI and measuring the disks to see if it's just one that has warped, and to check that the new ones are running perfectly true when replacing.

Kevin

Kevin

[Markjay]

I have heard that there is another cause of uneven braking that happens when the pads are applied to the disk when stopped and hot. I think it was something to do with material from the pad being deposited on the disk and building up an area of increased friction - not actually warping the disk. Sam cause and effect, but by a different mechanism.

Repeated disk warping could also be caused by run-out somewhere else in the hub. If the hub's not quite running true, there is crud on the surface which is preventing the disk seating or possibly even if the wheel is a little out-of-round it could cause premature disk failure.

It'd be worth getting out a DTI and measuring the disks to see if it's just one that has warped, and to check that the new ones are running perfectly true when replacing.

Kevin

Kevin

Yes, there post a post here a while ago with a link to someone's website who says that being a race mechanic for many years (in the U.S.) he has never seen ‘warped’ discs, instead as you say the vibration is caused by uneven material transfer from the pads to the disc surface due to overheating. But even so, he also says that this problem rarely occurs with road-going cars, and is mainly confined to race tracks.

The other point you raise is very interesting. The previous set of discs became 'warped' shortly after the front wheel bearings became loose and needed replacing, so it could be that  the play on the front bearings is what caused the ‘warping’ of the previous set.

But I replaced the front wheel bearings at the same time when I did the discs, so now have two new bearings... they may have gone again, in which case I will have to investigate why (and also keeping in mind that the front bearing went at 50k first time 'round, which is unusual as they should normally last double that mileage, and also both went at the same time...).

I did not yet re-check the front wheels for play, but will do so soon to see if the front bearings are loose again. If they are then this will explain the discs becoming 'warped' again, though I will still have to figure out why the bearings go... if there is no play at the front wheels, then I am back to square one on the ‘warped’ discs issue.

[davlad22]

Has anyone else got 'uprated' discs and pads on their car then?

I personally think brake wear has alot to do with driving style. i.e. good anticipation, planning, smoothness and forward observation is the key. I'd want to see 50k from a set of discs and at least half that from pads on any car.

Obviously if you're towing alot though, that will shorten the life of your brakes so make sure the brakes on your trailer/van are serviced regularly and well adjusted.

[Andy B]

...... I'd want to see 50k from a set of discs and .....

And the rest!   My front discs have been on the car for the last 50 000 miles since I've had the car. I'm pretty sure that they're original too, & the car has 145 000 miles on the clock.

[Markjay]

...... I'd want to see 50k from a set of discs and .....

And the rest!   My front discs have been on the car for the last 50 000 miles since I've had the car. I'm pretty sure that they're original too, & the car has 145 000 miles on the clock.

145k on same discs? No way...  

[Andy B]

....
145k on same discs? No way...  

Like I said I can't comment on the first 95k but they didn't look to have been recently changed. They are looking past ther best now, as i have a noticable wear ridge - or should that be a NON wear ridge!  

[davlad22]

These lot were talking 4000 miles and a few months then warped discs!  

[pauln]

I've just fitted a set of e-bay discs and green stuff pads. I wonder if they will hold up ok, it currently stops better than anything else i've driven.

Green stuff are quite soft so I'd expect them to be a bit short lived on an Omega. It will be interesting to see how you get on. They are better suited to lighter cars really but it depends what sort of driving you subject them to I guess.

Kevin

The Omega shares its annual mileage with my Cortina so it's going to do a max of 4500 this year of which a third will be high speed stuff so greens even with a relatively short life seemed to be the best option (I was worried about the cold stop ability of the reds). If I wear them out this year I will take the hint and go to reds

[Mike Collins]

Discs can last well, I've had my 2.6 auto from around 20,000, now at 130,000 or so, still on original disks.

Just approaching the wear limit so discs along with pads next time.