Aspire brakes.. is this normal...

[ericsmith32]

On my 94 aspire the brakes are somewhat touchy.. but work great, actually a little to good if you're not use to them. The thing is they don't start grabbing till you push the pedal in a little ways and when it grabs whoaa!! I'm used to it my fiancee' just about threw me through the windshield since she's used to the festiva's brakes. I think I need to replace the rear shoes shouldn't cause the delay though. Is everyone's aspire's brakes the same or do I need to adjust something?? Off-topic:: With how these brakes grab on the heavier aspire around here I wouldn't want to put them on the festiva, i'd get ran over in a heartbeat.

[mattswabb]

I would think it is the rear brakes that are causing the extra pedal travel. They might not be adjusting properly. As they wear the auto adjusters move the shoes out so the wheel cylinder doesn't have to travel as much. If the adjusters are rusted and frozen the shoes are away from the drum and the wheel cylinder has to travel further and this is what you feel in the pedal.

The aspire brakes on the festiva is amazing. I have cheap pads and they stop great. I think I can out stop most any car on the road. I wouldn't suggest these for the average person on the road.

matt

[Safety Guy]

I got ceramic pads for Lux's Aspire brake swap.

I hope they're not "too good!" I hope I don't have to redo them with cheap pads so I don't become a ship anchor when I hit the brakes.

Matt, what would you recommend for the rear Aspire shoes? I'm inclined to go "medium quality" on them. Sound good to you?

I wonder how good the "relined" shoes are like on Ebay?

I haven't even looked at my old Aspire shoes yet. If they're still good I'll just keep them.

Karl

[PaulLehr]

Where did you get your Ceramic pads from? The only place I've seen them was on E bay and I was a little weary of there quality

[Safety Guy]

I got mine from A-Zone. They were just under $30 and I think the company's name starts with "M." Morris? Morrison? Something like that. They're US made. We'll see how they do.

I'm short on money right now so I'm reusing my Aspire rotors. I'll sand them down and clean them up a bit first. I'll also check for runout as best I can. They were at least 17mm. Minimum is 16mm. They didn't seem to have any scars or unevenness on them. Jut flaky rust around the circumference where the vents are. I'll get new rotors by the spring.

Karl

[gomer]

Most shoes are relined ,, it is rare to get entirely new shoes from any auto parts store... the metal backing plates are all that are re-used,, they are perfectly safe... pads for disc brakes however are almost always 100% new because the metal backing plates can be stamped out of flat stock and require much less in the way of metal forming machinery to produce...

This talk about good/better/best ... silver/gold pads is silly ... most auto parts stores sell one pad in 2 or 3 different boxes with different warranties...

The real differences are organic (generally compressed cardboard or similar) , semi-metallic or full metallic or ceramic... don't dismiss the organic pads .. on a lightweight car they work fine ... and better than the others especially when cold .. if you're autocrossing and can't wait to the 2nd or 3rd brake application to get good bite on your brakes organic is for you... semi metallic pads are standard on most cars and came into prominance after asbestos was banned (asbestos worked GREAT) they give great stopping power warm ,, and are usually good when cold although on a festy with aspire rotors you may need to tromp on them to get them up to temp...I have no personal experience with ceramic pads... they are often sold on the basis of being quieter and with less dust...

If you want really good pads check out an issue of Grassroots Motorsports and find some of their advertisers...

[Safety Guy]

Thanks Gomer.

Part of the reason I wanted to try ceramic pads was to reduce dust.

Karl

[mattswabb]

Don't wast the money on good rear shoes unless you have the rear weighted down. Under heavy braking my car's rear unweights and the rear lock up. So if I had better shoes they would lock up more ofter.