GTijoejoe

iTrader: (25)

I'm not up on my stop tech pads for this application... but normally there is a designated inboard pad and out board pad, for a number of reasons but mostly in our case for the pad wear indicator.
If all the pads look identical, then there is no specific placement.

I'd switch the inboard RH (passenger side) pad to the inboard LH (driver side) and outboard pad the same fashion.

If you get real desperate you can even try inboard to outboard swaps too.

I'll be honest pad NVH is a biznach, sometimes there is no fix, its an extremely complex mechanism... just imagine what we go through as OEM's lol

ToddRhodes

iTrader: (6)

I'm likely just being anxious. I've read a few reports of the ST pads needing a few weeks before they settle in. It's very possible I didn't bed them as well as I should have. For instance, I didn't smell them or see any semblance of smoke during the process, both of which sound like they are common. I'll do that a little more aggressively this evening and go from there. Thanks for the clarification on the pad swap, that sounds simple enough.

An old high school buddy of mine designs, or at least used to design braking systems for the higher-end Nissan cars. I guess I never imagined how complex that stuff gets when you have nothing. Working with something already-designed tends to make one take for granted the effort that went in to designing everything...

lv05evo

iTrader: (13)

you should have had the "brake smell" when bedding them in. I think all pads come with a layer the wears out quickly and causes this smell. You should apply the brakes hard enough to almost engage the ABS. I say do as Joe said and switch the pads from side to side and don't forget to sand(with sand paper) the pads lightly and the rotors down completely. This is to create a new surface so that rotor and pad are new to each other.

On another note, do the stop tech pads have a wear indicator? I'm not sure but i think they have to go on the outside of the rotor.

ToddRhodes

iTrader: (6)

Yea, I don't recall getting that at all. I don't think I did the 10 reps quick enough (damn slow EVO). That was due to another issue I was fighting at the time but is resolved now.

Good call on the sand paper, I've got it sitting on my bench so I don't forget to do that. The rotors feel like glass, if that's any indication. I did a little searching and I found a couple threads, not many, but they indicated that some Hawks and the StopTechs do not have wear indicators on the fronts. Others have them on the fronts but not the rears.

GTijoejoe

iTrader: (25)

Your 10 stops should be like 80-30mph 0.8G.. which is getting close to ABS lock, this is the aggressiveness of the stops for bedding in... personally I wouldn't do 10 back to back, but I also have alot more experience with bedding pads you start to get a feeling of what its taking. After I promise you'll smell friction lol..... but just keep driving to let your brakes cool off, that is the best way.

TommiM

iTrader: (19)

You said you lubed up the pads and all the pins did you make sure that none of that grease got on the brake pad surface? If enough gets trapped between the rotor and pad surface you can get squealing. Did you clean off the new rotors before you installed them?

ToddRhodes

iTrader: (6)

Joe, thanks for the heads up. I was just going by StopTech's site but I can do it the way you suggest to see what happens.

Tommi, I was very careful not to get any anti-sieze on the pad surface or rotors but you never know, that **** likes to get to places it was never intended to be. I did clean the rotors before install using a scotch brite pad with brake cleaner. Mounted them, sprayed them off again, then used air to blow them off. Finally, lubed and installed pads, lubed springs, and final assembly.

Grimgrak

iTrader: (3)

What does it mean if i dont smell brakes but I feel the fading after two top of 2nd gear to 5mph stops?

intj123

iTrader: (1)

I'm 2 years into my stoptechs and bedding did nothing for me, I had to drive like a freggin month doing fast freeway stops to really get them bedded. They felt like they had no stopping force until I broke them in.

I used the brembo shims and the leftover brembo grease and they didn't squeal much at all until recently. I just switched the rear rotor and pad to the new centric OEM formula pad(100 series?) and my initial impression is that they are better than stoptechs. But my stoptechs didn't squeal at first either, but this time I have nearly new, and resurfaced rotors with about 20k on it.

Also I always place the pad with the scratcher on the inside side. And the pad without the scratcher on the outside, you can visually check the outside pad easily, but the inside pad you gotta lift or take the tire off to inspect, and the inside pad CAN wear faster than the outside, happened to me before, the scratcher will warn you if this happens.

The OEM formula pad definitely has a different looking composition than brembos, but it had no gas slit in the middle, it does have slight chamfered edges. The feel definitely, it has more bite than the stoptechs right off the bat, probably because there are no slits and more friction area contact.

Centric also now sells the brake hardware kit, the pins and retainer spring thing is included. I installed these new ones too because my stock springs were looking kinda crooked. I believe I bought the rear kit for a mere $9 plus shipping. Much cheaper than the OEMs. OEMs are maybe $20 just for the spring and I dunno what the pins cost.


Oh by the way, My opinion on the stoptechs are that they are WACK, I'm probably never going to use them again, they just don't stop you very well. I only bought them because I didn't have a lot of money at the time, but before the stoptechs I was using brembo front and ferodo rear, which was an awwwssoooommmee combo. Ferodo rear are worth buying for about $100 shipped, they got really good bite and heat resistance, with very minimal sandy kind of noise that's totally livable for DD.

TommiM

iTrader: (19)

Strange, I have quite to opposite opinion on the stoptechs. 2 seasons of autox and some driving around town they were a great pad. Mine were quiet and even when they got hot they performed great. I wouldn't do track events with them, but for autox they are great.

I didn't reuse the oem shims though. Hell I was in a bind and didn't even get the genuine centrics, I ended up with the cheapo generic rotors. The plan was to just get something on and replace them asap when I had the funds, but even the cheapo rotors ended up holding up just fine for 2 seasons of autox and one full season of regular track events.

Fwiw I bedded them in EXACTLY how Stoptech recommends bedding them in, and never had issues. After they were bedded in I could tell they had a bit more initial bite and felt better overall.

TommiM

iTrader: (19)

Sounds like you cleaned up everything fine, although the scotchbrite might be a bit extreme. A simple rag to wipe off any residue and debris from the rotor is enough.

Could it be possible the scotchbrite pad polished the rotor surface a bit too much? Just throwing any ideas out there. G/L

intj123

iTrader: (1)

Actually I forgot to mention I didn't use the brembo shims this time for the new centric OE rears, the shims are already mounted with rubber on these pads and I think someone mentioned how it's uneven with the shim. I used zero grease or permatex/whatever for these pads and they are silent. Half my squealing is gone now, just gotta do the fronts.

If you are a budget guy you should try the centric OE I'm using, the rears cost just a little more than stoptechs, and mine came with a hardware kit included, however the included set only has the springs that work, they include the wrong pins, so I had to use the kit I bought separately anyways, but I now have an extra set of rear springs. I think the front pads are the same price or cheaper as stoptechs. They mimic brembos pretty well it seems, but the real test would be the fronts but I'm using something else for the fronts.

silverevo05

iTrader: (7)

^ How is the stopping with the centric ones? I got some centric posi-quiets for my xb that came with all new hardware and I love it.

Are the centrics semi metallic, ceramic or what? do you have a part number?

Thanks

intj123

iTrader: (1)

It's different from all those materials. It simply says OE formula, however it looks a little different from OE Brembo, you can see a little more metallic bits in it, but it is of a dark almost blackish color, which in my opinion is the better stuff than lighter colored or full metallic, and ceramic stuff.

I honestly think this is the only one I am going to be satisfied with from centric. Well actually Centric doesn't manufacture this friction material, they order it from better real OE companies. One of which is textar, a euro car OEM manufacturer, like Porsche. Not sure which made the ones that are on my car right now, but seems better than what centric has to offer from their own manufacturing.

The stopping power seems better than stoptechs right from the start. Modulation feels good too, not too soft, not too stiff, reminds me of brembos, but I need more time to fully evaluate them and I'm still running front stoptechs. (the stoptechs have bad modulation, way too soft, I can tell the pads are compressing on hard brakes and the nose dives a lot from weak rear braking). Using stoptech fronts and these as rears now the nose does not dive much at all, so I can tell it has better coefficient of friction.

I like to wait a year or two and see how much of the rotor gets eaten, that'll let you know how good your pads were lol..... Those stoptechs left the rotors in the same condition as when I first slapped them on, no good in my book.


http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?ck[viewcurrency]=USD&ck[ID]=0&ck[idlist]=0&ck[PHP_SESSION_ID]=6uk6it404sp0bm59ltalc4eum5

CENTRIC Part # 10010010 fronts
These seem to not come with hardware, I bought my front hardware for about $18-$20
CENTRIC Part # 10009611 rears
Remember the hardware doesn't come with the correct pins.

They are in daily driver section so it doesn't seem attractive, but I didn't like any other materials including stoptechs so I thought I'd try just the rears.

Grimgrak

iTrader: (3)

Why would you want your pads to eat your rotors? I'd rather be replacing pads that eat themselves then both pads and rotors.