Thread: discs and pads

Originally Posted by pastr

hello
for beter braking i want to replace the discs but to stay with the standart pads.
is it good decision or it is beter to change the pads to modified one?
what is the difference between drilled discs and slots discs or maybe drilled and slots disc?
what is the best combination?
thanks

How do you define "better braking". Are you simply wanting a lighter pedal etc, or are you carrying/towing heavy loads and having fading issues?
I found standard discs and pads to be pretty good on my D1. If you're getting a pretty hard pedal with no braking power you might have problem with the booster.

Steve

hi
maybe you are correct. how i check the booster?
i think the braking is not good because of the roof tent, pawerplant winch, full time trip stuff.
its 3.9 so i'm down the floor all the time and braking its feel like i have to squeeze hard.
i drove a disco with drilled discs (has i remember) and it bites.

The D1 has all the pedal feel of a brick.

Drilled discs wont make the brakes bite harder, that is most likely the pad compound so switch to a softer pad - trade off is less pad life.
Vented discs and softer pads will help with bite and fade .

I use drilled and slotted rotors on the front. Can't say they feel any different from stock, but the nice thing about the slots is they help prevent the discs from grooving due to crap caught at the edges and they work well after getting soaked. Ran a set on a car a few years back and was impressed how new they looked after 2 years wear and tear. Simon

My 1995 300 tdi auto takes a while to stop and its downright worrying as I have to plan all my braking actions. My old 4.1L Ford waggon however stopped on a dime because I put metal pads in it. It tended to warp disks and chew into them easily, but the Ford disks are cheap.
Not so I imagine with the Dico.

I always thought that harder pads such as metal pads were the way to go, but sounds like I should get softer pads ?

I certainly don't mind replacing soft pads often as pads are cheap and easy to replace if they are going to improve the braking performance.

Back to the pads... what softer ones are recommended?

My brakes are squealing on stopping. Apparently the discs are glazed, and pads are of the hard variety. I've tried unglazing them as recommended on a recent long trip but they they're still noisy.

I'm told softer pads might be a temporary remedy until such time as I want to go the whole hog with new discs.