Faulty brake pad.

Spriteracer

Member
 West Wales
Afternoon all,
As some may recall I have been trying to find the cause of some odd and severe vibration on the car, particularly under braking although sometimes it happened when not braking. Also an intermittent strange grinding / scraping noise from the rear. I have had the whole of the back of the car apart and replaced all the bushes, joints, had the prop and driveshafts checked out all with no joy. At wits end as to the cause.....

Had MOT and alignment on Wednesday and passed with only comment that all was fine. Alignment tech took car for a short drive at normal / slowish speeds and said he thought the brake disks were vibrating a bit although not bad and should clean up. Not surprised as the car has sat for a few months sorned during lockdown and I knew the disks had a bit of surface rust but should have been in good condition generally being only about 18 months old Mtec drilled / grooved.

To cut a long story short I bit the bullet and got a full set of new disks and pads, all Brembo, and fitted yesterday. At the back I found one of the handbrake pull off springs was detached which might account for the strange noises, however at the front I found the "Mintex" pads with strange pitting, and one of the pads had come apart. The friction material totally detached from the back plate. These were about a year old and worn perhaps 10%. I was wondering if they could be counterfeited although they look perfectly normal.

I drove the car this morning for 10-15 mins and the problems seem to have gone away. No hard braking for the next 200 km so time will tell if the issue is really cured but it seems too much of a coincidence that the vibration has gone immediately after the change. I will contact Mintex for their comment.

Anyone else seen anything like this before ?
 

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That's bad, very bad! :cry:
Where did you buy the Mintex from? There was a spate of Mintex failures but you never know if it's down to counterfeits.
 
I discovered a similar situation recently - see this post:

https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=93757&start=9450

These were the original factory fitted BMW pads - 18 years old but the car has less than 6000 miles on the clock from new. The pads were still firmly attached to the backing plate, but were crumbling due to rust. Both rear sets were the same, but the fronts were fine.

I've fitted EBC ceramic pads now, so hopefully this is a problem just with sintered pads...
 
I just replied to Ewazix's post but it seems to have gone missing. Apologies if this duplicates. The pads came from A to Z motor spares Wakefied an ebay seller with 100% feedback on 45086 transactions (at the time in April 2019) so about as good as you can get. Unlikely to be counterfeit I think but you never know. . . Re Alan's post I can kind of understand pads rusting away after so long but mine were effectively only 2 years old with a year of use.

Any more info on other failures ? that would be useful when I go back to Mintex.
 
I’ve seen all sorts over the years. Crack, chunks missing and yes, I’ve seen pads do that before.
Speak to Mintex, they should be able to tell if they are genuine or not and you might get a free set out of them.
 
I've used Mintex pads previously on my Zed and other cars and currently have Mintex discs and pads on my Disco4, all purchased from Ebay sellers and I've never had any issues with them at all.
It is fairly clear from your photos that corrosion is the reason for the pad disintegration but whether this is due to faulty pad construction/materials or otherwise is difficult to say. Certainly 2 years old is not a very long time before their demise :(
 
I've never had issues with Mintex pads (and was very impressed with 1144s on an MX5 track car).

However, I have had 2 sets of EBC Redstuff pads fail. They cracked and disintegrated leaving only steel and a few bits of pad material still attached, in a few weeks of road use on the rear of a 3 litre Subaru Outback. EBC replaced them without comment for Yellowstuff pads that performed well.
 
I have been in contact with Mintex and they have asked for the faulty pads back for analysis via the original supplier so we shall see what their response is. Looking at my records, the actual mileage since they were fitted is 5,402. As with many others there has been a fair bit of sitting around which will not have helped the surface corrosion, but the fact that the backplate is rusty right across the area where the friction material should be bonded indicates to me that the friction material has been detached for a while. I think this theory is supported by the vibrations I've been trying to find the cause of for months which now seem to have gone, albeit only over a short drive so far......

Like others I have used Mintex on all sorts of things over the years. Most recently 1144, 1155 and 1166 on the Sprite. All have been fine. I'm hoping this failure is just an aberration. I'll update when I hear back from Mintex.
 
I've had this on rear pads on a previous car (not sure of pad manufacturer). I always thought the rears suffer more as they tend to last quite a bit longer so age becomes an issue. Still shouldn't happen though!
 
I've had it on an EBC Greenstuff pad (on a family shopping car), and an older spec Pagid RS42 pad on an M5.

Both were less than 1,000 miles old when noises started, but taking the pads out to check they were the correct ones, and fitted correctly was probably the first thing we did to investigate.

Both sets were replaced without quibble - and didn't require anything other than an email with photo as proof (along with invoice as proof of purchase).

Of course, I've also had the odd occurrence of pad flying out of the caliper when I've done 'just a couple more laps' when I've known my pads were low - there was a very long brown streak down into Hislops/Knickerbrook at Oulton :oops:
 
I know it well, in fact should have been there on Sat with the CSCC. Unfortunately Welsh border closed till yesterday. With hindsight no big deal as I gather the weather was appalling....
 
Wish you luck with Mintex. I had issues with them regarding some new discs for the rear of my Zed. The code was correct on the box and the disc, but the bells werent deep enough. I showed them the old bells and the new ones and was 25mm shallow. Said they wont refund me because I had coated the bells in paint to stop rust. I then used thinners to remove it, even though the argument was about supplying the right parts in the first instance, as couldnt fit them. So remember, if you buy raw steel discs from Mintex, then put an anti rust paint on them, they wont cover anything or assist helping regarding the discs.
So, I bought some Borg and Beck discs and they are really decent and better quality items. Come ironically painted in rust protection on the bells and at the time , cheaper than Mintex. Its a sour taste Mintex and their 'support' that means I wont be buying anymore of their products for any of my cars from them or their network . I thought I supported a british company, but all their products I have seen are also now manufactured in China.
 
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