Just had a scary experience in my 2002 Focus TDDI. I came up at lowish speed to a T junction and pressing the brake pedal only resulted in a crunch, and lots of grinding noises.
Limped the car home, stripped the brakes down to find one pad on one side had completely lost its friction material!
Now, I regularly service (over-service generally!) my cars and I put these Ferrodo pads (a top brand) on with OE Ford discs about 18 months ago, and by all appearance they are approx. 50% worn. The opposite side is perfect apart from the normal wear. I don't drive or brake aggresively at all.
The car stood for about 4 days when we had the 'heavy' snow but apart from that can anyone guess what caused a pretty unusual failure?
I've just put Ford pads and Halfords discs on now - bit wary though!
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I have had a rear pad seperate from it's metal backing caused by corrosion as water had clearly got in between the pad and the backing and broken the bond. The only other time I have had this type of pad failer is a Fiat hire car from Birmingham A/P and I got 200 yards away and bang one locked front wheel and a car that wanted to turn right. The Manager told me it was not the first time it had happened. Scarey !!!!. Regards Peter
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"water had clearly got between the pad and the backing and broken the bond".
So I would guess that in view of recent weather, perhaps hard frost was a more likely cause than corrosion?
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I also had a rear pad separate from its backing. This was on an Omega and no damage was done - in fact the only indication of a problem at all was an occasional clicking from the rear of the car. The pads had done 80K+ miles and were less than half worn - so this sort of thing can happen with OEM parts as well.
HTH
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i would be inclined to let customer services at the pad manufacturers know what happened as a batch may be affected and you could help.
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I'd agree - contact the manufacturer and arrange to send back the faulty pad and others from the same batch as I reckon their R+D people would be interested to see them.
At the very least they should supply you with a new set of pads for your trouble.
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Ferodo are only in the Peak district, you should give them a ring, they looked helpful people when they helped teh Salvage Squad TV programme with some bespoke shoes for some old amphibious car.
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Snakey
Where did you get those pads? Maybe they weren't actually made by Ferodo at all? The counterfeit car-parts market was estimated at $3 billion last year and brake parts are the easiest to fake.
(After several odd crashes, Bell Helicopters even found someone was making counterfeit "genuine manufacturer's" rotor blades!!!)
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I got the pads from a local motor factor, who in the past has been very good - I would guess they were genuine Ferrodo parts - certainly the packaging didn't make me suspicious.
It might be worth giving Ferrodo a call. I'm not concerned about the money - only about 25-30 quid a set, just why this happened on fairly new pads. I've changed pads on many cars, and even the oldest haven't sheared off like this.
Frost could be a possibility - we did have temparatures of around -7 some nights over the cold snap. Can frost do that kind of damage on what is effectively a high-stress component?
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>>Can frost do that kind of damage on what is effectively a high-stress component?
you would be surprised what expanding frozen water can do,colder it gets the more it expands, any defects in the bonding or pad material will allow water in so yes it can do this and more!
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Steve
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forgot to mention,agree with other posts ie let pad firm know.Last thing they want is bad publicity and usualy welcome feedback on problems,so they can improve on the product they sell
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Steve
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Snakey
With counterfeit parts, the packaging will always be the only thing that does exactly match the original specifications!
A stillage full of unbranded rubbish pads - 30p a set. Put them in a nice, shiny fake-Ferodo box.....
Considering the temp range that pads might have to endure in some markets worldwide; I'd have thought -7C was mere childs-play.
Give Ferodo a ring; they were always one of the friendliest "big-name" companies to deal with.
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Thanks for all your advice.
I'll try and call their Customer Services - I don't have the original packaging and most of the markings have been removed or obscured on the pads, but there might be enough to go on!
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Tell Ford as well-they have a whole dept. that deals with fake parts.
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Ice does not continue expanding as it gets colder;once it has frozen and expanded,it will then contract(albeit by a very small amount)as it gets colder.
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Don't think ice has got anything to do with it. Once it starts to come away it just keeps going. I had a Sierra a few years back on which the owner complained of noisy brakes. The friction material had come completely away from the backing on 3 or 4 pads, but had stayed in the caliper so the brakes still worked. I've also seen a few pads where the material has just started to crack away - mostly old pads though, I admit.
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agreed aprilia and another good reason for regular servicing as pads do indeed go off and brittle over time,this of course will be seen when the brakes are stripped for periodic cleaning and checking.
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I agree with the regular servicing - I generally change pads when they are half worn or 2 years old whichever happens first.
Ironically I checked the pads a couple of weeks before to see what was left and all seemed good. I don't scrimp on brakes as its not worth the 'saving'
The fact the opposite side was in perfect order suggests an unlucky failure - or lucky for me I wasn't going faster!
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