Are some discs better than others?
My S-Max had new front discs at its first MOT and two years down the line needs another pair. The previous replacements were sourced from my local car spares shop. Just wondering if there are brands to seek out for longevity & value. The current ones haven’t worn thin, but have corroded significantly around their circumference.
Cheers.

Corroded discs and brake pipes are the MOT station / repairer saviours.
I can’t offer any advice, but feel your pain!

Cheap brake discs from motor factors and the suchlike are produced from poor quality steel, likewise their cheap brakepads. Choose either a well known brand such as Brembo/Girling/Pagid etc as the manufacturing and thermal quality of the cast steel used is far superior to many aftermarket cheap items that are generally made from poor quality iron. (mechanic to trade) .

Have a look at online places such as Euro Car Parts as they have a massive discount offer on all servicing items till monday night, you could pick up genuine Pagid discs for £33 at the moment.

Go with vetech from GSF carparts they are a quality disc have them all round on my car and sell boat loads of them i dont hang about and they beeen on a year no warp no judder also know lots of taxi drivers who swear by them thet fit jurid/bendix pads and the vetech discs

geoffj – Member
Corroded discs and brake pipes are the MOT station / repairer saviours.
I can’t offer any advice, but feel your pain!

??

You can’t fail a car for corroded brake discs and personally , i’d rather attempt to chew my own left testicle off than replace corroded brake pipes , unterlly detestable job .

Mintex and Pagid are always good. Brembo standard don’t seem to last any better than Mintex or Pagid but cost more. EBC are the only discs I have managed to warp, which is shocking for their price.
I would go for standard Mintex discs and pads which tend to be low dust so easier wheel cleaning too

corroded lines are a favorite 😉 scotch bright and a wirebrush usually gets them testable again 😉 – ie they aint really corroded just a bit of light surface corrosion on them

Thanks Pagid seem to be the readily available & quality option. Funny, I’d not been aware of the brand before, but that is what the hive mind is for.
Cheers.

cheap parts store discs are likely cast iron and hugely prone to rust and any I’ve cheapies used I swap out with every set of pads.
Higher quality discs have a higher carbon content making them less prone to rusting.
Some brands add treatments or coatings to prevent rust carbon, nitrogen, zinc), some companies offering stainless steel discs.
oem discs from the dealer are generally pretty good ime. parts discs are almost always cheap cr*p, even the likes of brembo supply price point products to the motor factors.

Corrosion around the edge (where the vets are if vented) is fairly normal and can be easily cleaned up with a wire brush and some time. Corrosion or pitting on the braking surface isn’t and can be an indication of other problems – ill fitting pads, stuck piston/slider etc.

I use Mintex pads and discs, they are cheap enough to change both at the same time every 12 to 18 months and seem to offer good performance for the money.

I use Mintex pads and discs, they are cheap enough to change both at the same time every 12 to 18 months and seem to offer good performance for the money.

Are you doing mega miles or track days or something? In the last 30,000miles mine barely look used!

Miles I guess but not many rally, 25k pa. Diesel Mondeo estate, heavyish and late on the brakes I guess. But at £60 – probably similar to the s-max – a time not worth the effort to clean up old discs and very easy to change. Track days tend to boil the 997’s but recover, discs have lasted well.

Just replaced the rear pads and discs on my Cmax this morning with a set of New Mintex Discs/Pads off evilbay.

They appear to be decent quality and for £54 inc postage cannot grumble.

Had a Audi A2 in the past and replaced the front discs(unsure of the brand) on that with ones from Euro car parts ,had to replace them again after 3months as they were warped.

Also replaced front discs on a Merc A-class they were Febe-Bilstein which make a lot of OEM parts for the manufacturers never had a problem with them whilst I owned it.

I had my front discs and pads replaced two weeks ago with Mintex for £74.66 (labour charges included in overall full service). The mechanic said they were reliable so I just took his word for it.

Since I got them I have driven about 300 miles and they just work nicely apart from having slight rust (oxidation, whatever you called it). So far they have no squeal and the car stops whenever I need it to …

I have no idea about brands or high performance brake but was told that high performance brakes may need “warming up” …

Anyway, money spent so now just have to see how they performance since it’s still early days for me. May need to get some super doper disc pads from far east …

🙂

I spent £190 on front and rear Brembo Max discs plus Brembo pads for my 206 gti and they were a vast improvement over what came off the car and after 18k miles in 18 months they are lasting well in terms of wear and corrosion. I would buy them again.

Mintex discs for me too, though I stuck EBC Pads Of Some Colour Or Another in it as the standard ones didn’t feel too great.

Rust on the braking surface isn’t a good sign- not because of the rust exactly, but because it really ought to be polished off by the pads, so the question’s always why is it there.

Northwind – Member

Rust on the braking surface isn’t a good sign- not because of the rust exactly, but because it really ought to be polished off by the pads, so the question’s always why is it there.

Not on the braking surface. That is shinning new.

The rust or surface rust is around the bit where the wheel is hang on … not sure what the technical term is.

Ya, not sure how to get rid of them or prevent them from surface rusting. Any idea?

That’s the hats I think.. As per my post.. Discs with higher carbon content or coated or even treated with GM’s ferric-nitro carburizing process… Or stainless;)
Even caliper or vht paint will peel.

BearBack – Member

That’s the hats I think.. As per my post.. Discs with higher carbon content or coated or even treated with GM’s ferric-nitro carburizing process… Or stainless;)
Even caliper or vht paint will peel.

I see that’s called a brake rotor hat … yes looks a bit like this but not as posh. Mine are just one piece with rotor.

Well, I guess I will try to see if I can get rid of the oxidation rust on the surface … 🙂 I think I will paint it … no?

My rear brake rotor hats are all rusty but work fine.

doesnt really matter about rust on the front disks of an autobox. , if you drive an automatic like most folk youll warp the disks in no time anyway.

Burger… which smax do you have and what do you think of it !

cheers

Steve

trail_rat – Member

doesnt really matter about rust on the front disks of an autobox. , if you drive an automatic like most folk youll warp the disks in no time anyway.

You mean those people driving big heavy German cars?

Nope. No heavy braking me or no last minute stopping as well so let’s see how long it will last.

If I can warp mine then the company should go bankrupt with crap product … 😆

This is timely – the discs on Mrs Gti’s Ibiza are juddering because the pads got rusted on while we were away skiing. She doesn’t brake hard enough; the discs on her last car, a C1, actually rusted!

How easy is it to replace the discs using standard tools and a Halfrauds socket set?

no i mean those driving autos who slow down with the brakes then hold it on the foot brake for ages waiting making the disk cool unevenly.

I’m getting worried now! I do ~15,000/year, but drive like i ride my singlespeed (only brake when I have to, and late).

They’ve just passed their MOT so I presumed they’ve checked, or do they just do it visualy? Time to dig the micrometer out and check them.

trail_rat – Member

no i mean those driving autos who slow down with the brakes then hold it on the foot brake for ages waiting making the disk cool unevenly.

I see what you mean.

I have the tendency to pump (press and release) the brake before I actually press down the brake to stop completely (bad habit of mine from driving 1967/8 VW Beetle). The purpose is to slow down then totally slow down to a stop. Doesn’t not make sense … so I don’t press and hold until the car slow.

At the complete stop at the traffic jam/lights I usually put the gear in “N” then apply handbrake (or parking brake). For very brief/short stop I either apply handbrake with gear in “D” or simply brake for a moment.

Oh yes … I have seen so many people doing hard braking at the last moment I thought they were going to plough straight into the traffic at the roundabout.

globalti – Member

How easy is it to replace the discs using standard tools and a Halfrauds socket set?

Never done an Ibiza but generally it’s as simple as take off wheel, take off caliper, replace disc, wind back pads, refit. They might have some added brandspecific nastiness, and you might want to do the pads at the same time (every time I’ve replaced discs it’s been to fix a defect, so I do pads too)

trail_rat – Member

doesnt really matter about rust on the front disks of an autobox. , if you drive an automatic like most folk youll warp the disks in no time anyway.

You mean those people driving big heavy German cars?

Big heavy German auto car owner here. I’ve done 55K since I got mine and haven’t had to change the pads yet never mind the discs. 82K on the original discs.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?s=65da531b169027c8d688478f9062b1ae&t=2476679&page=2

This is scareing me!

The discs are fine apart from the thickness being below the manufacturers recommended minimum thickness.

So they’re not fine then…….

dont worry about it.

if one of your discs cracks / shatters you have 3 other brakes to rely on. if you have a posh car you might have rear discs too, and if its very posh it’ll have abs. all you need to do is look out for the abs light. you’ll be ok. plus, discs are expensive, at least £20 a corner. Not worth spending on, the chances of you not being able to stop and end up killing someone are still quite low. happy motoring!

Dear god I hope I’m not at the back of the trafic jam when he comes along!

@ Renton
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ford-s-max-owners

Feel free to pose any questions not answered there,