Mintex Brake Pads & Brake Fluid

[VisaGTi16v 1]

Hi,

 

I normally use my car for just sprints and hillclimbs where the brakes have been ok. On Wednesday night however I did a evening track day at Brands which was great but has highlighted problems with my braking setup. The pedal got progressively longer throughout the evening and a bit softer as well therefore I am going to give it some new fluid and at the same time a change of front pads as the existing Pagid fast road ones are bad on the road first press and I want something with a bit more bite.

 

I will still be using it for sprints and hillclimbs so need reasonable straight from cold performance (I always do a long route round the paddock left foot braking anyway so not really an issue) but I will be doing more track days as well.

 

Searching through here I think my best option is for a set of Mintex 1155 pads but where on earth do you buy them from? I have only found Demon Tweeks so far and they list about 3 different 1155 pads and only for the 1.9 which may be different to the 1.6?

 

I would also like advice on what brake fluid to use, standard stuff (4.1? forget now), or some enhanced type?

 

Spec

 

Standard 1.6 GTi calipers and vented discs. Goodridge braided hoses. Standard rear drums.

 

cheers

 

Darren

[pdd144c 0]

PM'd

[VisaGTi16v 1]

Noted ta Will give you a ring later. Slightly concerned at how I set my best times there the other night with a shot pedal but I guess if your brakes dont work you have to carry more corner speed heh!

[ah250 0]

Hi Darren, its Dave (that tried to buy your Visa....

 

In my MK1 Golfs i used to use Mintex M171's (not sure of todays designation, email Mintex) that were a cracking compromise for road/circuit....Also DOT 5 fluid as its boiling point is higher (make sure you thoroughly flush old stuff out, as i've heard DOT 4/5 dont mix very well).

 

The hydroscopic value of DOT5 (that actually makes me sound clever), is higher that normal fluids, ie its ability to absorb moisture out of the atmosphere, so you may have to do slightly more frequent fluid changes.....

 

The braided flexible pipes are supposidly give a better feel....Also a decent disc helps, yep OK Tarox drilled/grooved will cost ya, but decent quality OE discs such as Brembo seemed to improve things for me....

 

I suppose at the end of the day the whole braking principle is based on two different surfaces stopping the car via friction, and its probably a case of a compatibility of the two materials...If the quality of the materials are not suited your brakes aren't going to be spot on...Like the best pads in the world, mated to discs that have a very shiney/hard surface....less friction...

 

Cheers

 

Dave

Edited May 11, 2007 by ah250

[VisaGTi16v 1]

Hi there!

 

The car went great at the track day btw, playing with rx7's etc I put a thread in the trackday section here.

 

The brakes have been fine, it was only this 60 odd laps which has lengthened the pedal and I could just do with slightly more bite.

 

I think I might put on a set of new brembo discs as they are not much like you say, freshen the lot up and I will flush the current fluid through and replace with new better stuff.

 

OT: There was a nice silver mk1 Golf GTi there who I caught up then he hung onto me for a while

 

cheers

 

Darren

[Rippthrough 98]

Hi Darren, its Dave (that tried to buy your Visa....

 

In my MK1 Golfs i used to use Mintex M171's (not sure of todays designation, email Mintex) that were a cracking compromise for road/circuit....Also DOT 5 fluid as its boiling point is higher (make sure you thoroughly flush old stuff out, as i've heard DOT 4/5 dont mix very well).

 

The hydroscopic value of DOT5 (that actually makes me sound clever), is higher that normal fluids, ie its ability to absorb moisture out of the atmosphere, so you may have to do slightly more frequent fluid changes.....

 

The braided flexible pipes are supposidly give a better feel....Also a decent disc helps, yep OK Tarox drilled/grooved will cost ya, but decent quality OE discs such as Brembo seemed to improve things for me....

 

I suppose at the end of the day the whole braking principle is based on two different surfaces stopping the car via friction, and its probably a case of a compatibility of the two materials...If the quality of the materials are not suited your brakes aren't going to be spot on...Like the best pads in the world, mated to discs that have a very shiney/hard surface....less friction...

 

Cheers

 

Dave

 

Dot 5.1 - Dot 5 is silicon based and you don't want to be using it on track.

A lot of the DOT 4+ fluids are better anyway.

[Turbo7379 3]

Since you are already using pagid pads I would strongly advise you to go for one of their race compound pads .

 

I tried several types of pads in my Legacy Turbo road car which also does quite a few track days & here are my findings -

 

EBC - crap , melted after a few fast laps

Mintex 1155's - not good from cold , good stopping ability when warm but wear away very quickly once you reach their temp limit though they still stop you .

Mintex 1166's - dangerous when cold , similiar to 1155's when warm but have higher max temp .

Pagid RS42 ( Blue ) - good from cold , great when warm , similiar grip to the 1155's but wear much better . I was hitting their upper temp limit on track so I switched to these -

Pagid RS14 ( Black ) - Awesome from cold , unbelievable when hot .

 

I doubt if I'll ever find a better road / track combo pad than the RS14 . The grip is superb from cold & I've never came close to overheating them . Even though they are expensive at £140 per set they are very hard wearing & will outlast 2 sets of Mintex 1155's . Only downside is that they produce a lot of black dust which welds itself to your wheels .

 

Looking at this site http://www.motorsportworld.co.uk/frame-det...=/manranges.asp the RS14 isn't available for the 205 GTI but the RS42 is & they should work ok on a lighter car like a 205 .

 

I'm using Ferodo DS2500's on the front of my 205 & cheapo Apec pads on the rear . They work very well on short rallysprints & races but on track days & longer races I'm finding that the pedal starts getting long . I'm using DOT 5.1 fluid , braided lines & standard discs . I might upgrade to Pagids when the Ferodos wear out .

[pdd144c 0]

The Mintex pads are great, they are fine from cold if you bed them in correctly. If you don't they will glaze over and not perform well...

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

I've used the pagid's and they are the best pad I've used to date but a bit expensive, It might even be worth using say the Mintex Extreme for Hillclimb's and some DS 2500/3000's which work fairly well from cold on track days etc

[jackherer 543]

Mintex 1166's - dangerous when cold , similiar to 1155's when warm but have higher max temp

 

I've got 1166 on my 205 and they are fine from cold, its my daily driver in fact.

[James_R 3]

I've been running ferodo DS2500 pads for years (back when I had my nova) to now in the 205 on std 1.9 calipers they're fine from cold, but bite better once warm. Never had fade issues on them.

 

I was running Castol SRF, but swapped to AP600 due to cost, but really you should be fine using 5.1 fluid, maybe swapping to 1.9 calipers would be a good move as the pads are more availible in them, as they're used on lots of cars.

 

Other than that had experince of Mintex 1144 in Anthony's cars and they're good aswell, but he's now swapping to DS2500's

[VisaGTi16v 1]

Well as it turns out, it was one of those silly things causing the long pedal. The quality PSA self adjusters in my rear drums did the normal thing of doing nothing. I wound the handbrake cable adjusters up yesterday and pedal is back to how it should be!

 

Still it needs a fluid change and more bite will be good so I will still use the mintex pads I have coming from pdd144c

 

Must take the drums off and adjust them properly though as the handbrake cables are at the end of their treads

Edited May 13, 2007 by VisaGTi16v