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Changing Brake Pads

4K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  psproule 
#1 ·
I want to change the pads on my EL to ultimates. I use to have them in my old XF and they felt really good.

Just wanted to know if there is any dramas at all with putting the ultimates on EL's, like rotor damage, and if changing them is any different to a car with non abs??

Cheers
 
#2 ·
No problem..First you want your brakes to work!!Rotors are NOT that expensive either..Esp dba std....
 
#3 ·
G'day

I am not sure if they have changed the rotors from the EF to the EL, but the EF rotors were very soft and needed replacing when I bought my car, which I replaced with dba rotors. When you go to change the pads, check the disc for wear, you can do this by looking at the lip at the edge of the rotor, between the edge of the rotor and the edge of the brake pad. If the rotor has worn 3 or 4 mm, it may be getting time to replace them. If you do, be sure to buy ABS rotors... obviously. I have written up a thread on chaging rotors, should you need to. If they aren't too worn, or only slightly worn, machining the rotors is alot cheaper...

As for changing the brake pads on ABS cars, it isn't any different to change the brake pads as on a non ABS car. Be sure to specify that you want ABS brake pads when you buy them, as sometimes the manufacturer makes them slightly differently to suit the cars system. Usually they are the same though... but no difference when changing them.

A really good fairly new brake pad Bendix have put out is the Advance, I use these pads as they dont make any noise, they grip very well, and best of all, never put any dust on my mag wheels. And they dont cost much more than normal standard pads either. Just my experience with them...

Hope that helps... cheers.......... Tim
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the replies guys.

I don't think dust will really be an issue with me, cause i still have the *gulp* standard hubcaps on. But i have heard of the advance, and was wondering if there better than the ultimates in actual performance. I don't really care about noise/dust etc....

The main reason for the change in brake pads is that i've experienced brake fade a couple of times. Is this common with EF/EL's?? And will the bendix pads fix this?

My old XF had the ultimates in it, and I really liked them. Sure there was heaps of dust, but it would pull up stop after stop... No matter how hot they got.
 
#5 ·
I haven't experienced any brake fade with these Advance pads whatsoever, but I don't exactly drive around like a touring car driver either. I did get alot of fade with my previous brake pads even on moderate braking, but these are unreal, haven't experienced any at all. And with the bigger rubber, it oulls up very fast indeed if needed.

The only comment to add to that would be that I also put on DBA rotors at the same time as adding those pads, but I am not sure that would change the "fade characteristics" of the pads or not. The Advance pads are actually slotted twice (three separate brake pads on one unit) for cooling, and despite this, grip better and are currently wearing better on my car.

Not trying to sell Advance pads or anything, lol, but I have found them very good, and I'll always buy them.

Cheers.......... Tim
 
#6 ·
If your discs are still the original ones, then they will suffer badly from wear. I have an EL, and bought it when it had 32,000km on it. The discs are almost worn by then, and it was on its 3rd set of pads. This was normal the Ford guy told me. I had alot of issues with the brakes fading. Especially when I was towing my boat.

At that stage Bendix just realsed their Performax pads. Thought I would give them a go, and they were fantastic. They hardly wear the disc, little dust and hardly any fade. They actually made the discs last 12 more months (and they were still above minimum size) and the pads lasted 12 months with some "energetic" driving and towing at 16ft boat. (A miracle the same Ford serivce guy told me!)

I finally changed the discs one month ago, put the Performax back on and they are great.

Good balance between rotor wear and performance. If you do push the car a bit, they are a bit better than the Advance cos they run at a higher temperature. The Ultimate would be a little better again, but if you have standard discs, you will go through them quickly.
 
#7 ·
I've got Bendex Performax in my EF and they're gold Jerry!!!! shite loads better the standard but they do take a couple of application to get hot though.....I believe the ultimates (spelling??) are a little worse in this area...

Dave...
 
#8 ·
Zantetsuken said:
G'day

... If the rotor has worn 3 or 4 mm, it may be getting time to replace them. If you do, be sure to buy ABS rotors... obviously. I have written up a thread on chaging rotors, should you need to...... cheers.......... Tim
I've been looking high and low for that thread. Do you reckon you can point me in the right direction???

I'm thinking I will just get the slotted rotors and ultimates...
 
#10 ·
What pads did you get put in??

To bleed the brakes, you'll need at least two people.

You should see a little nipple on the caliper that you can stick a plastic tube on. Get a ring spanner to fit it, and then put the tube on over the spanner. Remove the lid from the fluid reservoir.

Now loosen the nipple and get your mate to push the brake pedal all the way in and hold it. Now tighten the nipple and get your mate to release the brake. This is very important that you do not mis comunicate, as if he lets the pedal up, and the nipple is still loose it will draw air back into the system.

Repeat this step several times, or until there is no air left in the system. You will be able to tell.
 
#12 ·
Re Bendix Performax vs Ultimates.... I had a lot of brake fade and DTV (Disc Thickness Variation - similar but not the same as disk warping) troubles with My EL Wagon when we first bought it. Of course ours is and abnormal situation where we regularly load it up with camping gear and 1100kg ski boat and head off to the mountains.

On advice we tried Performax pads all-round, which were IMHO awful, and worse than the standard pads. I spoke to the friendly people at the Bendix help line about this and they had a few suggestions for me. The first was that the bed in procedure probably wasn't followed and it is critical to getting Performax pads to work. The people who performed the work (Pedders who machined the disks and replaced the pads at the same time as changing the suspension setup) didn't inform me of the bed in procedure even though there are aparantly notes on it that come with the pads. The second was that Performax pads aren't designed to handle any more heat than standard pads, and thus we were probably frying them in our application. Bendix suggested Ultimates as they can handle a much higher heat range. They were also helpful with the DTV problem, which is caused by not doing up the wheel bearings to the correct specifications.

I ended up changing the front rotors to fresh DBA Long-Life and putting Ultimate pads in all-round. The brakes are fantastic albiet with some trade-off's. They are absolutely bloody filthy, we are doing well if we get 15,000km out of the fronts (35,000 on the rears and still OK) and the front rotors are just about stuffed after 2 sets. My (new) mechanic has suggested cross-drilled rotors, not for any performance benefit but for improved cooling.

I guess it all comes down to application but I did find both the online help and the phone help at Bendix a big.... well... help :)

Have a look here for pads at reasonable prices - www.discpads.com.au.

And if you change the rotors yourself please follow the instructions in the workshop manual to the letter.

Cheers - Pat.
 
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