The pads arrived today, definitely looks like old stock, even instruction paper inside has turned yellow like old newspaper, there is 1/2001 on the corner on instructions which might indicate time when it was printed or written. Looks like Apec maybe ordered too much of them but could not sell as much as they would like because of limited vehicle range they fit and now are letting them go cheaply.
Also it says on box manufactured by Remsa in the EEC (
http://www.remsa.com/). Looked up company name and it is part of Lucas which in turn is part of TRW group. Also checked reviews online for Remsa pads and they are favorable with most mentioned plus point being low dust which would imply they are hard and therefor more likely to squeal and there was 1 review saying that they squeal a lot but only 1 that I found. Will see how I get on with them.
If they are OK will buy couple of sets for future while they are this cheap.
Also bought this grease instead of copper grease to see if it will help with reducing/eliminating the squealing
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3314686643...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT