Brake pads moving in cradle?

[andy b]

Recently I had to change brake rotors and pads in my MPS6 as the rotors wore out, and I bought Mintex pads. Basically since I put them in, when driving at low speeds (say parking) it makes a clicking sound.

I had the car checked out by a local brake place today who showed me that the pads are too small to fit the cradle properly. If you stop, and then reverse and brake again it clicks, then if you move forward again, same thing. You could see there were a few millimeters of play in there and the pad would obviously move around.

Anyway, has anyone else experienced this issue? It is not ideal because I have been told it could damage the cradle in the long run, plus it doesn't sound great.

Does anyone have any particular recommendations for pads that fit and work well?

[Doug_MPS6]

Yep. My OEM pads do it. Only occasionally. I don't worry about it.

[rogwick]

Haven't noticed to be honest, however I think I'm still on stock brakes

[gslrallysport]

[Just sent to your email also... Everyone else, I'm answering questions here, so may not make sense what I've said! Thought I'd post for the benefit of all]
Hi Andrew,

I haven't specifically heard about it happening to Mixtex pads, but it is a fairly common thing to happen to the MPS's because people match up pads to suit out of a catalog, and there's ALOT of pads that look very similar, with very similar dimensions. Particularly Audi/VW pads, so you may have been supplied something that was 'close enough'. Very few manufacturers actually make pads to suit the MPS's, so often people will try and use existing pads in their preferred brake pad range. We deal with about 15 different brands of pads, only a handful do the MPS ones.

The Remsas I can assure you will fit perfectly, and are for that exact application. Remsa is a subsidiary of TRW, who make the vast majority of OEM and aftermarket braking components for European cars, and given the MPS front calipers are from the Volvo parts bin, they'll do the job as good as any. EBC Green are a pretty dull pad in terms of performance, and even EBC's own website says they're only a performance pad on vehicles up to 750kg. Price wise they're $219 for the set. As much as I'd prefer to talk you into the more expensive pad, if it was me, I'd go the Remsa's any day...

Regards,
Greg

{edit} If anyone's lost, $219 is for the EBC Green. Remsa are $139.

[Grajy]

I bought EBC reds for $240. Awesome pad. Love 'em...

[MPS 250 PLUS]

I had the exact same issue with the first set of EBC RedStuff pads I had in my GenI. Essentially the dealer had sourced the wrong pads and they had a little play in them which sounded terrible when you were braking (harsh clicking sound).

I revisited them the next day and they were certain they were the right pads and told me that as I had gone aftermarket, I'd just have to put up with it.

I grabbed the part number from them, called the EBC distributor with it and they told me the dealer had put SP23 pads in my car.

Needless to say, the next visit to the dealer brought me an aplology and the correct pads fitted.

[andy b]

Well I still haven't heard back from the brake place which is frustrating, especially after they put the pressure on (free brake inspection "only condition is you have to come back to us") anyway I'm just going to take a bit of time and think about options. The problem might not be as immediate as they made out. It's been more than 10,000km anyway...