Hi,

Im looking for other peoples reviews and reccomendations for pads on the wilwood powerlite calliper.

The setup i am running at the moment is the powerlite calliper on the front, with a solid front disc and Mintex 1144 pads. I have the rears off a cosworth sierra and currently use a sierra MC, which i plan to change to pedal box over the winter.

The pedal is very hard, and you have to apply a good amount of pressure to get a good bite, i know that thats probably the case as they are non servo. I guess you can upgrade to the fiesta MC, which has a smaller piston size if I'm correct?

Yesterday at abingdon the front left brake overheated, really strong smell coming from it, i had been heavy braking from 130mph down to 40 for a tight left hander. The brakes started to overheat after about 4-5 laps. The pedal went softer, required more travel to do the same braking and the brakes became less efficient.

I removed the Pads today and the fronts are glazed over on about 60% of the pad and the disc wear is uneven.

SO im looking for a better pad really, as the Mintex pads don't seem to be up to the job. Are mintex pads metalic based? as i need carbon or ceramic based i would think???

I take it options are the Ferodo DS2500/3000 pads that are carbon based? or the Wilwood Polymetrix pads. But what base are these and what is the best compound from experience?? are there any others that you would recommend?

This is a video of the car from yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwJqcJlGbb4

Thanks

John

There is only 1 choice as far as im concerned: Wilwood Polymatrix A

id have thought the 1144's would take some beating at the price level! i have ferodos on the radical with wilwood dynalites and they are astonishing compared to any ive had before!

I have just changed from a sierra master cylinder to a mk1 fiesta type with smaller bore and the transformation is amazing brilliant feel and bite and I still have crappy wilwood smart pads fitted can't wait to get some 1144's do you have up rated rear pads ? As they may overheat and fade if only standard ones fitted under heavy braking also are your front discs drilled or grooved ? This also helps with brake fade and keeps the pads deglazed, I have heard great things about wilwood polymatrix and ferrodo's so I would prob give them a try and look over things mentioned above.

Mintex 1144 for me, mostly road and a bit of track. Never had an issue.

But is your brake fluid fresh?

Slow down a bit guys and re-read the original post, there would appear to be two separate problems.
I would suggest neither of which would caused by the choice of pad material or brake fluid.

The first problem is hard pedal as we know the callipers, discs and M 1144 pads work well on other cars and the Sierra master cylinder is too big a bore the changing the master cylinder for a smaller bore Fiesta one one is the the way to go.


The second problem is overheating front brakes, in particular one brake is overheat more than the other, this points to to one or both front brakes binding on.
As the brake binding only appears when the brakes are hot this points to pressure build up when the brake fluid warms up expands. This could be caused by something simple such as the fluid reservoir being overfilled or lack of a return spring on the brake pedal. It is absolutely essential that the piston in the master cylinder can return completely, if anything stops it returning fully by even 1mm it will block fluid returning to the reservoir and cause the pressure to build up in the system resulting in the brakes binding even more.

The problem is not brake fluid related because if the fluid was boiling the brake pedal travel would become excessive.


The best course of action is: (1) Change the brake master cylinder for a smaller bore one, (2) Fit a pedal return spring and check the master cylinder piston is returning completely against the end stop, not impeded by by the pedal or end of the push rod. (3) Check fluid is flowing free to and from the front callipers.
(4) Check the front callipers are not binding, this can be caused by the rubber seal going hard due to mineral oil contamination or over heating. Under no circumstances use WD40 or simillar products near brake rubber parts. WD40 is mainly composed of mineral oils and naptha and even a trace amount will eventually harden and destroy the seals.

The front pads have been exposed to a fair amount of heat but are likely l be OK clean the friction surfaces of pads and discs with coarse grade abrasive ie. 40 to 80 grade production paper.

[Edited on 20/10/13 by britishtrident]

Thanks for the replys.

As above, i dont think this has anything to do with the fluid. It uses RBF600 fluid that is more than up to the job in this application. Its more an issue with brake heating.

The binding comment makes a bit of sence actually though. When driving home from the track after applying the brakes i was getting a squeeking from the front left brake, so it could well be like you say and not releasing the pressure and holding on.

I am due to change the pedal box to a bias adjustable version so i will be getting rid of the master cylinder anyhow. That will eliminate any issues with the return.

Does anyone with a bias adjustable pedal box know the master cylinder sizes they use?

Thanks

As the front-rear brake balnce seems OKI would suggest you retain a tandem master cylinder set up and use the Fiesta option, it is a simpler mod and will do everything you need with no setup problems.

As for brake fluid any decent quality DOT 5.1 or even DOT 4 will be more than up to the job, so called competition fluids are more hygroscopic and also more inflammable than standard fluids. Because they are more hygroscopic need changed more frequently to maintain their boiling point and reduce internal corrosion in the system. They also attack paint work even more aggressively than standard fluids.