Hey all.
i need new brakes in about 4000kms.
and the brakes the mech puts on my car are too hard for my liking.
so this time around i want to buy some soft brakes and then take them to the mech to install them.
so can anyone throw in some suggestions for some good, reliable, reasonably priced, soft brakes...
i don't actually know much about brakes and my parents car has really soft brakes so i am assuming that there is such things as "softer brakes"

cheers everyone!
Alex.

i presume that the 'hardness' you refer to is when you push on the brakes and the sensitivity to which the car brakes.

to me, touchy brakes would mean that the brake lines have been bled really well, not so much to do with the pads

Bendix General CT's sounds like what you are after.

I'll be going the Bendix also, currently have the Bendix Metal Advance? (I think that's what they were called, no longer made)

If you have never had the brake fluid changed (flushed) that would be a good idea also as it will improve the responsiveness of the brakes.

Remember newer cars will have better brakes, also if the car is smaller there is less weight to stop hence it will feel like it stops better

I have Bendix HD up front and General CT rears. Seems like a pretty good combination, havnt experienced any brake squeal etc. I assume this would be the same on a 3rd gen.

Bendix General CT's sounds like what you are after.

I replaced stock pads (TW) with CTs, couldn't tell the difference

If you were made of $$$$ I would recomend green stuff, but otherwise use the bendix. If you do alot of hard braking general ct's can overheat your rotors causing brake rotor variation which will give you vibrations under braking, so I prefer bendix HD's. The downside is that this requres more pedal force (which you are trying to avoid)

I've just taken the ferodo zero's out of the front of the Dee and replaced them with some CT's I had laying around (was SICK of cleaning my wheels after a short drive so thought hey only takes me 20 mins to change em why not)

Anyway, pedal feel isnt as firm and they bite no-where near as good as the ferodo's. I filed down the surface of the pads so they were totally smooth. after 400k's the pedal feel is still not as nice as a ferodo's. Upside, no hint of dust :D
So yeah catch 22...

QFM make some nice pads, not much dust and they stop well

Slight thread necromancy here, but I've got to do the missus brakes on the car in the AM, and I'm worried that I may not have the right tools to remove the calipers. Can anyone tell me off hand if they are mounted with a nut or allen head and if so, what size?

Thanks.

they are either 19 or 21 mm heads on the bolts. thats the only tools, oh and maybe multigrips to retract piston

they are either 19 or 21 mm heads on the bolts. thats the only tools, oh and maybe multigrips to retract piston

Cool. I'll have a look before heading out, and checking the rotors to make sure I don't need to replace those as well.

Thanks.

Indeed, I find Bendix HT's in the front don't have much bite at all and I find they shed worse than a cat. This may well be what you're looking for..

Nuts, no allen keys. If you have 14, 15, 17 mm (etc) ring spanners you will be right. Undo one end, swing up. Before you undo anything move the piston fully in. A couple of screwdrivers between the old pad and disc applied carefully at opposite spots is usually enough to push the piston right in. Or take the caliper right off and use the g clamp method.

Any shims on the old pads need to go on the new ones.

Yep, 15mm on the nut bolt itself, and 17mm on the nut holding it. Piece of cake. Glad I knocked that one out, one of the pads on the passenger side was rubbing down a bit on the raw metal plate. Glorious grinding noise. Anyway, pulling the wheels off revealed I've got a tear on at least one of the outer CV boots, so I'm considering replacing both of em just to be sure. I noticed it on the second wheel and couldn't be bothered to go back and check the first one.

Check your power steering rack boots aswell as while the tie rod has to come off to get the d/s out mightaswell do it all at once!

Do the inner boots as well. They have to come off anyway to do the outer boots. Don't buy them from Mitsu, they charge double the price of car parts places. $60 for all four is what I paid last time I did this, come complete with grease. Check the type of retaining bands though, some designs need a crimping tool, or reuse the old bands. It's a good idea to check/replace the steering rack boots and check for play/lack of grease in the tie rod ball joints. Might as well do the whole job properly the first time. lol

Circlip pliers can be handy too.

Hey guys, thanks. I'm not too sure about doing em, but there's always fun to be had putting yourself into a situation where you're forced to shit or get off the pot. I'll have a look at my book on how to remove them, hopefully with the tools I have I can manage it. Cept the circlips, Always a good excuse to force the wife into letting me buy new tools.

Circlip pliers are dirt cheap. I spent years winkling circlips off with screwdrivers, then found out how cheap they are. lol

I once spent the time getting all mucky changing CV boots myself (getting them properly clean at home means popping the cage and all the balls out...) but eventually it dawned on me that life is too short and I now pay a driveshaft specialist to do it!!

You should not pay more than $100 to have all 4 boots replaced (you would struggle to buy the boots and grease etc for that usually - a couple of hours of mucking around at home is not worth the 20 bucks I might save!)) - and they have a proper degreasing set up to properly flush out the dirt and old grease.

I would pull out the shafts and take them to the local CV shop. While they're being done, do the brakes (don't forget to get the discs machined - new pads cant bed in properly otherwise).

Mind you, given what I have seen about Magna's propensity for wearing outer CV joints, I would be inclined to put new joints on. New complete outer joints are dirt cheap. Complete new changeover shafts can be had for 300 ish a pair! If there is any slack in the joint, I would bin it.