Pads ?

[Avalon]

Garage just serviced the Rav and pointed out that the pads will be due in circa 3k and quoted me the wrong side of a ton for supply/fit and £50+VAT for supply only. Now I don't mind doing the job myself as it's not exactly hard to strip down the calliper and put new pads in but i'm not sure if it's worth going for the likes of EBC Green stuff or the standard EBC pads or even the OE's ? Any advice ?

[dave.m]

Hi Avalon,

My Rav is still running on original pads, when they need changing I'll be going with the Toyota OEM's

again. The reason being this is the cleanest set of alloy wheels I've had on any car, never put alloy

wheel cleaner near them (and you know how much of a pain cleaning alloys is). Worth every in

my opinion.

Cheers,

Dave.

[bothwell_buyer]

On my older RAV, I switched to green stuff pads. I'm switching to much upgraded discs and calipers now as the OEM stuff is well past its sell by date and the calipers are naff. Choice of Pads are probably down to how you drive. However to change them its a simple matter of removing the wheel and then swivelling the caliper unless the newer RAVs are different. A 20 minute job and not worth £50 unless you like giving money away B)

[anchorman]

Hi Avalon,

My Rav is still running on original pads, when they need changing I'll be going with the Toyota OEM's

again. The reason being this is the cleanest set of alloy wheels I've had on any car, never put alloy

wheel cleaner near them (and you know how much of a pain cleaning alloys is). Worth every in

my opinion.

Cheers,

Dave.

I worked for 17 years in research and development for a major manufacturer of disc brake pads. We used to try and copy japanese pads in order that we could sell them back to them.

We could never even come close to matching the performance or dimensional consistency of those pads so my advice is to try and negotiate some discount at the dealer and go for Toyota OE.

I don't know what you mean by green stuff pads unless you are talking about Asbestos Free. Let me assure you that there are no asbestos based pads for sale legally in Europe nor has there been for at least 10 years.

There was some talk of low lead/low antimony (heavy metals) for truck pads. Have they made their way to car pads?

Regards

PS. We did sell to Toyota for vehicles manufactured in Europe and USA. However, RAVs are built in Japan and use Jap pads.

[bothwell_buyer]

For info, green stuff pads are a trademark I believe of EBC who manufacture brake components, discs and pads and things. I use them with rotordiscs for fast road use and they are more efficient at stopping the RAV than the original stuff. To be honest, in 160,000 of driving my RAV, I found the OEM pads turned my alloys black. The later change made seem to have reduced the muck problem.

[Uncle Bob]

Garage just serviced the Rav and pointed out that the pads will be due in circa 3k and quoted me the wrong side of a ton for supply/fit and £50+VAT for supply only. Now I don't mind doing the job myself as it's not exactly hard to strip down the calliper and put new pads in but i'm not sure if it's worth going for the likes of EBC Green stuff or the standard EBC pads or even the OE's ? Any advice ?

You may well find the dealer is just trying it on and the pads will go on much longer, if you get time to take off a wheel ,have a look at the pads, they start off in life with 8-10 mm of lining, lower limit is around 2mm .

[Avalon]

Green Stuff was a reference to EBC Green Stuff pads as opposed to the standard EBC pads or the Red/Yellow Stuff they also market. The OE's do produce a fair bit of dust for me (ran a jet wash over the wheels on Friday then on Sunday and both times the result was black.

I'm avoiding the dealers now wherever possible as it's out of warranty - they couldn't solve a simple Head Unit warranty issue for 8 months untill I took a mechanic out to show him the problem personally, 5 minutes later he agrees a new HU is required (this is after they've sent it away 3 times for repair and swapped the dash/odo out and a Toyota UK mechanic came out to investigate/approve the dash swap).

I'm planning on having a look at the pads next weekend as i'll have done 1k since service and they advised 3kish left on them - last thing I want to do is score the discs from running them right down, I'll be doing a brake overhaul on the bike at the same time. Guess i'll give the Green Stuff a go ... that doesn't sound right some how ?!

Thanks for all the advice :)

[bothwell_buyer]

The Toyo dealers made a mint from me by advising change of discs more frequently than I'm sure they were due. Eventually I caught them out after they charged me for parts that were never fitted. My own RAV discs are about 18mm thick and I changed them for EBS discs with green stuff pads; having already had another new set of discs fitted by our local Toyo dealer. However, following problems with the original right caliper sticking, and disintegration of the inner dust shield (disappointed as the MOT garage never picked up that the dust shield was so bad), the offside disc was deemed too scored. It actually wasn't but I've taken that up with the MOT garage. I fitted rotordiscs last November using green stuff pads and the brakes were sooooo much better. However with the increased stopping power, it might be that the additional heat wasn't enjoyed by the OE calipers and the offside one now jams/drags after some use.

I'm moving onto 6 pot calipers from KAD in Kent, with new discs again as the offside rotordisc has warped. Unfortunately no-one will sell you a single disc so if anyone ever needs a nearside rotordisc or EBS disc, then ahm yer man!! Both nearside discs have only less than 1000 miles on them!

The new front calipers and set up hopefully will boost the stopping altho it will open up problems on balance with the rear brakes but we'll tackle that soon. Offsetting the balance is the weight from 8 large Cibies hung at the front! This weeks challenge is to fit the turbo 3SGTE engine into the RAV compartment !! After that we can play around with the new calipers....... :)

[dave.m]

Bothwell Buyer,

Sounds like you are going to use your rav for motorsport (would love to see it in that case).

Back to the pads, my own rav is now 20 months old, 21 K miles, discs all round, origional pads

NEVER used alloy wheel cleaner. Wheels are spotless ? If you look at gallery on top menu you will

see photo mine is first photo to come up.

Cheers.

Dave.