Glowing rotors are good? Only in Oz

[C M Smith <cmsmith@domain.elided>]

I use factory brake parts as a general practice. However, if non factory 
parts are easier to obtain or cheaper then non factory rotors are more 
likely to be OK than pads as they are all basically iron discs. Brake pads 
are another matter, as the precise formulation makes a big difference to 
the way the brakes operate. Luckily, Oz has a very good brake pad 
manufacturer in Repco so presumably aftermarket pads and rotors should be 
readily obtainable in Australia which should equal or surpass factory parts.

Right now I'm using Brembo discs and some aftermarket pad made in Spain 
that my mechanic favours. The pad is a harder material which raises the 
pedal pressure required especially on the first stop of the day, but the 
overall feel of the brakes is improved from the factory feel. These pads 
feel silky (dumb description, but accurate) compared to the somewhat grabby 
factory pad. My theory is that Alfa specs the same pad for manual and 
automatic transmission cars in North America and it is a bit soft for hard 
street driving. They grip fine and grip great from dead cold but they are a 
bit on the grabby side, what i would refer to as snatch in that the purely 
factory brakes are not smoothly progressive, especially when they get a 
little warm. The factory pads require much higher pedal pressure for a hard 
stop than these aftermarket pads.

As for objective testing the closest I've seen to a true brake component 
test was in european car a few months back when they tested a Wildwood set 
up from some Canadian outfit on a VW product, maybe an Audi. No surprise 
there as VW/Audi use way soft pads on their factory cars sold in NA.

Cheers

Michael

PS I always use total factory pads and rotors on my SAABs, as they make 
some of the best stock brakes on any vehicle sold to the mass market (if 
"mass" can be considered accurate in connection with sales of SAABs) 
Interestingly the newest SAABs have slotted rotors which makes me wonder if 
they really do work, SAAB is not known for following a fad, especially in 
their brakes, they more often lead than follow in respect of innovations.
Michael Smith
Calgary, Alberta,Canada
91 Alfa 164L

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