And why not

Norretal · #1 18th May 2015, 08:50 PM

Just took delivery of these beauties, can't wait to have them fitted.

It all started a few weeks ago when I took the rear wheels off to paint the brake callipers. I noticed the pads were well worn and decided to look at replacements. I also remembered that the garage that had it for 7 weeks while the manifold issue was sorted commented on corrosion on the front discs, something I'd seen for myself when it was on the ramp having the power steering hose and sump gasket sorted.

So, I spoke to the main man, Marcin, and soon placed an order for new discs and pads all round. They were ordered a week gone Saturday, arrived today, will be fitted next week, if not before. They're ATE and were recommended, I'll update on them once fitted and tried out

M-A8 · #2 18th May 2015, 08:57 PM

So happy to see a happy 8 and it's owner

Norretal · #3 8th June 2015, 11:44 AM

I finally had the discs and pads fitted last Thursday, very pleased with the feel and performance of the brakes now. I also had the fluid changed as it was well overdue (last done at 40k and the car now has 125k on the clock) A sticking rear calliper was sorted and the wheels swapped front to back while it was on the lift, the whole job done for the princely sum of £100, so very happy with that

Many thanks to Marcin for sorting me out with a supplier, the discs and pads cost me £453 precisely for anyone thinking of doing the same change

David's8 · #4 8th June 2015, 12:43 PM

Looks good and you must find a significant improvement in braking as the old ones didnt seem to have much effective area left!

Norretal · #5 8th June 2015, 12:52 PM

I have to be honest David, they didn't feel too bad but I'm someone that likes to use the engine braking, especially since I got flappy paddles to assist me. The corrosion shown is on the non-contact area of the disc, you can see the pad contact area as the shiny strip in the central area of the old disc. I've made a point of using the brakes more to bed them in and they are really smooth and will hopefully be more responsive and reliable when I really need them.

I really wanted to get the wheels refurbished this spring but common sense prevailed and I put mechanical priorities before cosmetic ones for a change, the wheels can wait a while longer

M-A8 · #6 18th June 2015, 07:59 PM

Well done mate and I'm glad it's all sorted now

There is something about new brakes and tyres, I can just keep looking at them for hours

tonupkid · #7 20th June 2015, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Norretal

The corrosion shown is on the non-contact area of the disc, you can see the pad contact area as the shiny strip in the central area of the old disc.

This got me wondering, and I believe the corrosion covered a significant part of the working area of your discs. I guess it became 'non working' as the corroded metal chewed away the pads.
With all those ponies under the bonnet....... Crikey

Norretal · #8 20th June 2015, 05:45 PM

The pads were fine, looking at the new ones the corroded area is the non -contact area of the inner pads, so I assume they're all like that?

I could be very wrong of course but the contact area was smooth and shiny and the pads had plenty of meat on them, I only replaced them due to changing all of the discs. I'd be interested to hear what anyone else with a 9 year old S8 sees when they inspect their discs and pads

ainarssems · #9 20th June 2015, 06:46 PM

It should be contact area, why would they make discs so large otherwise, it would be just extra weight. Normally pads touch almost to the edge of disc, leaving 0.5-1mm. Situation like yours usually occurs if car is left with out driving for a long period of time and lot of rust builds up on discs and the rough surface eats away pad material before the rust clears. Other scenario is if the pads get overheated and start to brake down from the edges. I thiink you probably lost 50% of breaking power with discs like that. Have a look at your new brakes and you will see that they contact full area.

Norretal · #10 21st June 2015, 01:52 PM

I need to have a look now, I'm curious. I wish I'd taken more photos but I recall thinking that the contact area of the inner pads wasn't the full area (they had a taper, if that makes sense) so from that I concluded that the corroded area on the old discs was a non contact area. I'll check and report back in due course. The corrosion was there before I got the car and it'd done 120k miles in 8 years so it's hardly stood about.

As for the weight, just short of 20 kilos a disc, I can understand the appeal of ceramics but the cost doesn't justify it in my opinion