Message text written by Vanagon Mailing List
>Subject: Brake Fade & Pads

Several months ago, I put new factory rotors and aftermarket pads on my
'90 syncro westfalia.  I went easy on them for a couple of weeks.  Now
that they are broken in, it seems that the original factory pads worked
better.  The aftermarket pads seem to be susceptable to fade.  The
shortcut from my girlfriend's house to downtown san francisco takes me
down some steep hills with stop signs along the way.  By the time I get
to the bottom, I can smell the brakes and they're fading.  This did not
happen before with the OEM pads.

Anyone else have similar experiences.  What are the best performing pads
in terms of not fading and still perfrming well?  OEM?

steve
<

I had the same experience with my van.  After replacing the front pads, I
was comming down the same steep hills in San Francisco and by the bottom of
the hill after stopping at 3-4 stop signs the brakes would be smoking and
and intense smell was comming from them.  The rotors would get so hot that
the grease was comming out of the bearings.  The mechanic kept insinsting
that there was nothing wrong with the brakes.  

I don't have an outcome to the story as the van sold the next week and I
don't know if the new owner had to change the pads again or not.

Sorin Bejenaru
 
                  California Campers
 
        Specializing in VW Westfalia Camper Rentals
 
         Offices in San Francisco and Los Angleles
 
                (415)665-7030  (phone)
                
                  (818)548-4484 (fax)
 
            E-mail: CaliforniaCampers@compuserve.com
 
          Web page: http://www.vanagon.com/rental
 
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