POS EBC Green Pads nearly caused an accident. - UPDATED WITH PICS
Turbo Mini Forums

These pieces of junk are coming off my mini and going in the bin tomorrow.
They were purchased just 4 months ago, and covered around 6/700 miles; ie They ARE bedded in.

So - I won't say what speed I was doing, but an Integra and the Mini were having fun on a (private naturally) road at speeds that weren't previoulsy possible with the 3.44 diff...
Now, this was being incredibly stupid. If i'd have been caught by a policeman who happened to be monitoring that particular stretch of private road, I'd justifyably had the book thrown at me. Very foolish indeed.

Ok, now that is out of the way, we don't need - and I don't want any BS comments about anything other than pads.

So - Integra was in front of me - and Locked up hard. He did this for good reason - there was deer in the road ahead of us.

I was a suitably (un - admittedly given the speeds, but enough) safe distance behind him - and also dropped the anchors. I had brilliant retardation down to about 50 mph, then the retardation slowed. Then I took evasive action and made for the hard shoulder, missing the integra by millimeters, and continued, ultimately stopping some eight, maybe ten car-lengths in FRONT of the integra, and about one car-length away from the deer that was clearly on a suicide mission.

That is the hardest I've ever had to brake in the mini - and these POS pads did a frankly pathetic job of stopping me. In reality, if I'd never have gone over 70mph, I'd never know - and would say that they are really good. As it is - They're FAR from it.

Now, I know that that is a hell of an expectancy from any brake material on little (non-vented, but grooved) 7.5" OD discs, but the fact is - I believe a pad should be able to do this - especially one that claims to be 'performance' oriented.
As it is, I'll be calling minispares on Monday and ordering some mintex pads - AND a new pair of undershorts.

I'm even tempted to box up the pads and send them to EBC telling them where they can stick their greenstuff junk.

Edited by TurboDave16V on 6th Aug, 2006.

bonjours!, u are lucky to sort indemn after this sort of fear....
About pads
I had tried ebc greens there is a long time (before they changed the pad materials if I'm remember well), I bedded them with difficultys, and didn't found that claimed performance stopping .... I thru em out and bought a set of 1144 stuff, really good stopping power with a very good feeling, easy to bed in, they also have a good "attack" on the disk (good action even at low pressure). If I couldn't find em next time I will also try ferodo DS pads ,they are excelent in my mate mini.
this said, what about your brake fluid? your pedal feeling make me think of bad fluid which have overeated .
with the time didn't you mind changed these "calipers" for real ones... when I changed my first set up for upgrade (boost mg cam 1.5's) I felt that the 7.5 inchs won't cope with the new speed ( we have made runs near 200 kph ), so I have used mg 8.4 vented and 4 calipers (didn't like going for 12 but brake were more important), at least but I reverted to 10' when I bought a set of four pot ally calipers and vented disks,the difference with the genuine set up is amazing and not so pricey,..

with your new high speeds and desir to fight imports
fab

Edited by fab on 30th Jul, 2006.

Mintex....

EBCs are crap and have been for years*

* Claim tested on various cars up to 300bhp


Alex

AlexF

Chris uses greens in his car with no probs and i had greens in the vaux, both worked well at trackdays?
The only difference is we always have vented / grooved / drilled turbo 4 pots.

Here for the craic..

Supercharged Arden powered

Dave before you take them off please do something for me

If possible go out again and simulate this emergancy stop and see if they react differently?

I had some green stuffs on my green mini a few years ago, I went upto a roundabout quite fast, put the brakes on super hard, like you I slowed down quite well, then they faded away. Luckily the mini was able to go round the roundable at the speed i was going, but it was scary.

Anyway after that big fad the pads were brilliant. I have since been told the pads need to be cooked like that to set the compound. However the instructions that came with the pads just mention normal bedding in? My pads had covered well over 2000 miles before this incident.

http://www.passionford.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=212379

not sure you'll be able to see it unless your a member, if not I'll copy and paste the pics and words here...

Alex

AlexF

I have to agree with sumpnut here. I have had pads that seemed ok, but the first time they were asked a bit more they faded badly. After the big fade they never faded to that level again and were excelent.

http://www.twin-turbo.co.uk
http://www.hillclimbandsprint.co.uk/default.asp

A man without a project is like a like a woman without a shopping list.

Junk.

I have used a variety of different fast road/comp pads on a variety of different cars, in all cases EBC green stuff have simply not been up to the job, no matter what we did to them, I had the fuckers on fire once and they were no different afterwards. In actual fact on a previous mini of mine with Cooper S setup, they were not as good as the standard Unipart replacement pads they replaced.

Two pads that I have ALWAYS had good results with; Mintex 1144 (or 1155 on heavier/faster stuff, but 1144 ideal for Minis), Ferodo DS2500.

Hi,
I've got Black stuff pads with EBC Turbo (grooves and dimples) discs on metro 4 pots. You need your seat belt on or you look like Garfield when you hit the brakes!
I have to agree with Fab, Metro turbo brakes are the least we should be running. After all manufacturers (at the time) weren't known for being generous with brakes, so these will be on the limit with the boost wound up a little.....
Cheers,
Gavin :)

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My Mini build diary

I ran green stuff on my Clio Williams and could get niether a good pedal or more importantly the car to stop, i stuck with them thinking they would bed in, but they never did, swapped them for black stuff, which i have to say where amazing, no fade at all, the only problem is i had to change the discs every 3000miles, maybe says more about my driving than anything else

I run MiniSpares carbo metallic pads on my Metro. The best pad i have found to date by a long way.

I'd imagine they would do them in a S and normal 2 pot set up.

They work from cold and keep their good braking under very hard braking.

I do not rate green or redstuff pads that i have tried in my Mini.

JF.

I have EBC pads. i found them SHIT.
i will replace them soon when my car goes in for mot.

Carbon metallic pads... they are £60 a set for Cooper S setup. bit pricey but i hear they are top.

I've tried two cars with carbon metallic pads as well. They're great.

£60 bucks yes but money well spent.

Another excellant pad for the S is the genuine UNIPART item, they work from cold, well under sprited driving, I used to used them hillclimbing.

JF.

mintex 1144 for me so far

i had greenstuff in the quicksilver and hated them

The carbon metalics are really unbeatable I have found too, they make the rims pretty dirty though....

What setup we talking about here?

Cooper S with 7.5" disks
or
Metro Tubro with 4pots, and 8.4" disks?

I am getting some S brakes soon, they have greenstuff in atm, but before I fit them to the car, I want to change the pads.

I have 7,5" discs and 7,5" alu 4 pot calipers from minipares. I dont know if I would use them on a road car though, as they make loads of dust!

So mintex 1144, unipart ??, Carbon metallic pads are good for cooper 7.5" brakes ?

my new mini has 4pots on 7.5 discs with greenstuff and i have had two occasions that i can remember where the brakes have faded badly, very scary!
definatley time for a change methinks!
DAN :)

i had green stuff pads on my 998 with minispares 7.5" alloy calipers for a while and the only time i got them working propoly was at donnington trackday were they were good but the pedal still felt rubish and i felt the need to pump them a bit (no air in brakes at all).
iv changed them for black stuff pads and the pedal feels better and they work well from cold.
i think i will try the mintex 1144's next, just to compare.
cheers
josh

My build thread..

http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=542985

Why EBC green stuff is marketed as peformace pad then ?