ZX: Best Disc / Pad combo

rossnunn · Post by **rossnunn** » 23 Nov 2005, 23:53

Evnin all,

Its that time again, I need to renew discs & pads on the ZX. I'm going to renew all round & am wondering what the best combo would be?

I have heard that Greenstuff pads are not that good & that normal vented discs are the way to go over grooved / drilled, as my ZX is only a 1.4 at the mo.

I am currently running full 16v suspension & brakes tho. Up here the roads a mostly flatish, straight & where the're are bends they tend to be 90 degree jobs, so its nipping along, hard on the brakes, nipping along again (might just be how I drive).

I also don't want rock hard pads that squeel like a little piggy & give me almost no stopping power when cold. I was looking at ATE power disks & pads all round?

Cheers

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 24 Nov 2005, 08:14

Are they actually fading - if not why bother? Our Zx 1.9D isn't fast enough to really need brakes and thats the same performance as a 1.4.

VLL · Post by **VLL** » 24 Nov 2005, 16:05

I've got ATE Powerdiscs on the front and standard discs on the rear with greenstuff pads all round, had Pagid fast road pads on before with the same disc setup and i cant say i notice any difference from the Pagid to the greenstuff pads apart from i get a bit less brake dust on the wheels with the greenies.

Think it just comes down to cost really.

rossnunn · Post by **rossnunn** » 24 Nov 2005, 18:09

my ZX brakes have never been good, heance the upgrade to 16v's.

VLL, what are the greenstuffs like for wear? I have read that they used to be crap, but now they have a new formula & all is ok?

VLL · Post by **VLL** » 24 Nov 2005, 18:28

The greenstuffs will wear out quicker than standard pads i think but are very similar to Pagids, i've had mine in for 2years now and do around 5-6k a year and still have loads left, probably about half. The roads round here are pretty twisty so i've fairly hard on brakes so they are pretty good for wear. Have heard 12-15k miles on a set but I should get more.

rossnunn · Post by **rossnunn** » 24 Nov 2005, 18:48

ok cool, do you know if the ate discs are vented on the rear too? according to my Euro Car Parts Catalog they seem to be??

VisaGTi16v · Post by **VisaGTi16v** » 25 Nov 2005, 14:20

I never had a problem with the standard brakes on my 16v which had considerably more power even when competing on tracks! Are you sure they are bled right and have you got the right master cylinder? If so there should be no need for different discs etc. I could stand my 16v on its nose and easily lock all 4 wheels if I wanted (abs was turned off)

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 25 Nov 2005, 15:04

Ross
Is your real problem that the brakes on the Zx just don't feel good? If this is the case then I know what you mean.

I don't think its anything to do with brake size but think the causes could be:

Back drums in need of adjustment - the self adjusters may be stuck - but this will give a slack but firm pedal.

Sponginess and or excessive travel - which our ZX 1.9D suffers from to some extent. I'm going to investigate soon when I have a bit more time and will be looking at the adjustment of the pedal - servo - master cylinder linkage which has always seemed to allow excessive travel. There seem to be separate adjustments and any adjustment here must be done very carefully - as if the master cylinder piston movement is restricted in any way the thing may not open the recuperator ports and the brakes will not release properly.

Ours had new back cylinders which made no difference at all to the feel. I suppose both circuits were bled to some extent as they are split diagonally (ie one front and the opposite rear in each circuit) but it may be that the front ones didn't need bleeding and there is old fluid in the front pipes. If this looks likely I will bleed first.

I did have a problem of little bite about 1 year ago - which was caused by old discs. I should explain that when I goyt the car the pads were worn but the discs didn't look very worn so i just replaced the pads with Delphi ones. The brakes always lacked bite and i eventually decided to replace discs and pads - and on removing the old discs I could see that the Delphi pads were a slightly different shape and that they rubbed on the rusty bit in the middle. The new discs and pads were a great improvement and I think the rusty ring was preventing proper disc/pad contact. If you have something similar it may be part of your problem and green stuff pads which have an abrasive coating may improve things (BUT new discs and ordinary pads may be cheaper.)

The problem is that after BX fully powered brakes the ZX ones always feel slack, slow and feeble and I always think by the time they have fitted a power steering pump, a brake vacuum pump and a servo it would have beed cheaper and easier to have fitted a LHM pump and a regulator and used the fully powered system.

rossnunn · Post by **rossnunn** » 25 Nov 2005, 21:24

I find my ZX brakes were just not very good, bit spongey underfoot & did not inspire confidence. At high speed they shrugged off speed but still didn't inspire, thus the 16v upgrade.
The 16v brakes need new disks & pads so I wondered about a upgrade while I was there

VisaGTi16v · Post by **VisaGTi16v** » 25 Nov 2005, 21:40

but were they bled correctly and when you put the 16v ones on with compeltly different piston sizes, did you swap the master cylinder? Also do you have a leak in the servo? If you are on a hill, brake to a stop and keep foot on the pedal, does it start to creep down to the floor?

rossnunn · Post by **rossnunn** » 25 Nov 2005, 21:54

brought over the complete brake setup from the 16v inc BMC all seals were checked & new fluid was used, brakes have been bled twice, I have yet to do a high speed run with them, as it needs new discs & pads, hence the reason for this thread

VisaGTi16v · Post by **VisaGTi16v** » 25 Nov 2005, 22:49

I would just get standard ones and make sure you bed them in. I always thought you should take it easy with new pads but that doesnt work and my visa ones were so bad it was beyond a joke. Put some new standard ones in, did about 10 stops from 60+ to 5mph and that was it, bed in nicely!

James.UK · Post by **James.UK** » 26 Nov 2005, 20:05

As my ZX is an auto my brakes do a lot more work than those with a manual box, and i found they were NOT good at all.. Sooo..

First i bought some Volcane ally's, mainly because they are 14 inch and the original ones were only 13 inch. Then I swopped the calipers for those off a Volcane, I bought air cooled discs that were slightly bigger than the originals and just fitted behind the 14 inch wheels, and standard pads.

At that point the brakes were still not much better, so I bought a new master cylinder, put new shoes on the back and copper greased everything in sight! ..

They are a lot better now, not brilliant, but quite good

I should have bought greenstuff pads as my front wheels are always getting covered in black dust

.. So next time I replace them thats what I will get..

.

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 26 Nov 2005, 21:08

So what you are saying is that after all that work you still have a slack and soft brake pedal? - The reason I'm asking is that its that bit I'd like to cure and as the brakes don't seem to fade I can't see any point in changing anything else.