I replaced the brake pads on my bike with EBC double H sintered brake pads and I can assure you that the
increased braking power after fitting was no placebo effect.
I don't think you can fit sintered pads to a car though.
And to those fellow bikers that will say, "yes but they will warp your disks ! "
I say ,I have had them on all my bikes and never had a problem.
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I also have EBC HH's on the ZZR and I'm well pleased with them. Never had a disc warping issue either.
My mate fitted EBC Greens to his ur Quattro and it made a heck of a difference, particularly with regard to initial bite and feel.
Cheers
DP
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I can accept that these pads will make a car/bike's brakes *feel* better -- however as long as the standard brakes are capable of making the driven wheels lock, or the ABS cut in, then they have done their part of the job.
The fact that it takes a harder push to get them to that point is immaterial -- the lock point is as effective as the brakes can physically get.
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The brakes on my Saab 9-3 used to be pretty poor; I had one or two instances braking from speed on downhill dual carriageways/ motorway sliproads where I didnt think it was going to stop... They didnt *feel* capable of locking the wheels and inspired no confidence.
I fitted Pagid fast road pads and Brembo high carbon discs (a combination recommended by other Saab owners), and the braking is very much improved. I know new brakes are going to feel better than old ones, but I still think they are better than the standard items, with better 'bite' and give more predictable stopping power. The bonus is they are actually a bit cheaper than Saab branded parts.
This is not the case for all cars though. My Dads Audi A4 has very sharp brakes (compared with mine) and IMO it would be unnecessary to fit uprated brakes for normal road use.
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Sintered pads will only warp a disc if you stop hard and hold the brakes on. I daresay the same thing would happen with organic pads.
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I feel Jase1 has a good point. On virtually all modern cars most people can lock the brakes up, or call on the ABS to do it's job, even in dry conditions on good road. However uprated brakes may still be a good idea for the minority of the population (think of that 85 year old grannys), and thus must be considered useful. In older cars uprated brakes may be a good idea too. My 1996 clio surprised me when I first started driving it since the 1989 cavalier I had before had brakes you could lock up with less pedal pressure (or so I remember).
Another critical factor is how progressive the brakes on a car are. If brakes provide predictable response and do not fade, then fantastic. I have gone down big hills in my clio with a full car and have found myself standing on the brakes by the end of the hill.
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The 85-year-old grannies are all driving around in Kias. I don't know how many of you have driven one of the newer Kia Rios or Picantos, but the brakes are stupidly over-assisted, in fact to the point where I don't like them very much. Touch the pedal and your head hits the steering wheel...
Brake fade is a good point though. I don't seem to have had any problems with my Nissan or Hyundai going down steep hills. I don't know if that has anything to do with technique (what I tend to do is select as low a gear as possible, and pulse the brakes the whole way down -- seems to work for the cars I have).
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Re 4x4 braking distances: Even my old Land Rover 90, which was had the the front discs / rear drums set up rather than the all discs of the Defender, had excellent brakes. But then such vehicles are designed for towing heavy trailers so they need good brakes even with a trailer's over-run brakes .
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It is not just the power of the brakes on the wheel though also the tyres ability to grip the road, many 4x4 tyres are a compromise at best hence I find it difficult to believe VoNs figures above. Perhaps on a dry surface on road tyres an X5 or Range Rover can stop as well as a 3 Series or Mondeo (even though they are 50% heavier!) however on all terrain tyres on a wet motorway I would not want one tailgating me.
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>>I can accept that these pads will make a car/bike's brakes *feel* better -- however as long as the standard brakes are capable of making the driven wheels lock, or the ABS cut in, then they have done their part of the job.>>
This is a key point, to add to it - increasing the friction between the front discs and pads can create an imbalance if the rear is not also attended to.
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