Free brake pads!?

[graeme]

Do you reckon you could pop back every few weeks for a new set of pads on your road-legal race car: http://www.kwik-fit.com/free-brake-check.asp

[AU N EGL]

as long as they do the job of braking your racing speeds down.

Go for it

[quantic]

'Kwik-Fit guarantees brake pads or shoes against accidental damage, wear and defects for as long as you own your car, provided you authorise all work identified as being required during your free brake check.'

Hmmm, those 'free' pads could work out expensive by the time you have the 4 shock absorbers, 4 tyres, complete exhaust etc etc!! It's all 'required' work though of course...

[GORDON STREETER]

They won't "give "you free brake pads , they will fit them for free (a very difficult job !) You will still have to pay money every time for the pads. A friend of mine took a newish Golf to one of their centers and said the brakes were making a noise . After about half an hour the manager who looked about 12 appeared and said it's all ok. He phoned me as they still made a noise so I drove it about 2ft and said the rear pads are on the metal, and so they were! I will also add that the car had had a "major" service the week before at a main VW agents and he had told them the brakes were making a noise. The rear wheels had not even been off !

[zefarelly]

this isn't a rare occurance either . . . being a cynical B'5tard I mark things before they go so you can check when they come back . . .although having said that I've only ever had one car that went to a main dealer, I usually do it myself.

[Stephen Green]

Don't forget that EBC brakes do a 50% discount for competition licence holders!

[Chris Y]

I'm afraid I would have to say that EBC are cheap for a reason...

[a.bart]

i think you will find that things have changed greatly over the last few years with many competitors and champions of series using ebc
be sure to use yellowstuff front and rear
contact us on 01604 583344 and we will do you a deal

[Chris Y]

Perhaps I was a touch harsh in my last post, but I have become a little fed up with the EBC brake pads I buy breaking up after just one race.

This is the very latest Yellowstuff 1793 compound, bought last year (September I think). Brand new pads, and they lasted one race at Croft. When I came to use them a couple of weeks later at Oulton, I was getting appaling fade from them. They were inconsistent during braking and the pedal travel was longer than usual.

When I looked at them after the race, they were all broken up around the edges, and the centre channel had been filled in by pad material broken off from elsewhere.

This is an 850kg car. Less than 120bhp at the wheels.

In contrast, I got myself a set of Ferodo 4003 pads for my last race at Donington, and they were rock-solid consistant all throughout practice and the race - nice firm pedal with no travel, and no break up. That compound is over 12 years old, and is meant for 'light inertia' cars, of which mine really isn't, but they performed very well indeed.

I know others have good success with Yellowstuff, and I know the compound has been developed in recent years, but the above is not an isolated incident. I've tried about 3 sets of yellowstuff pads and each one has done the same. I cannot use them until that problem is rectified.

If it's any use to anyone at EBC, I'd be willing to send pictures of the pads, or even send the pads back to you, in the hope you can improve the recipe somehow.

[a.bart]

very unusual but this may be due to only having yellowstuff in the front
if you have rear pads then it is critical that you put yellowstuff in the rear also
we know yellowstuff works perfectly well on cars with shoes on the rear on porsche 924 and the mg maestros
give us a call on 01604 583344 and if possible we would like to see the set you used