A1RM front pads

hey,

just thought i would post a quick comment in regards to a set of a1rm front pads that i put on an mps3 recently

firstly, gslrallysport are really good to deal with, and the pads were received shortly after via courier

installation was pretty straight forward and quick

couldn't be bothered machining the discs, and just took the car out to bed them in after bleeding the brakes.

impressions after bedding:
- pads do not have as much initial bite as the oem pads, and require an extended bedding in process, which may be due to me not machining the discs. recommend finding a freeway to bed them in, at night, and late
- pedals feel kind of spongey and requires a bit of effort to stop the vehicle
- no noise, but they smell good
- no noticeable dust on the rim unless you touch it with your fingers

anyway, i decided that i would take them for a bit of a drive the next day to run them in a bit:
- initial bite not as good as oem when cold, so require some warming up
- pads will require more pedal pressure than oem to slow the car down when cold
- initial bite when warm still not as good as oem, but the stopping ability is really starting to pick up now and the pedal is actually starting to feel solid
- can easily lock up the fronts
- no noise yet, and the smell is gone
- a fine layer of dust, but definitely less then stock

now, after 2 weeks of daily commuting to and from work in peak hour traffic:
- pads warm up quickly during peak hour driving
- still nothing too flash when cold and requires a bit of motivation
- very nice feel in the pedal when warm, and good stopping power
- can easily trigger the abs without too much effort
- squeaks at low speeds under minimal pedal pressure when warm (although a different car with the same pads only gets the squeak when cold, while another gets no squeak at all)
- sqeak can be heard inside the cabin, with windows up, no music on
- barely any more dust compared to the last check, so i think the majority of it was due to the bedding

so far, i will say that the pads are quite good, but i can see how they are not for everbody. for a start, i am sure some people will be put off by the noise, and as i mentioned, i know two people with different cars and same pads who either get no squeak, or a sqeuak when the pads are cold.

because they are meant to be a street and track pad, they definitely do not stop as well when dead cold compared to the oem pads, but will have similar and possibly better stopping ability when warm. i havent driven them that hard yet to comment on their limits, but i do know that they stop very well at higher speeds, possibly better than the oems.

they do not require much effort to heat up either, and about 4 stops from 50km/hr (or less) is pretty much enough to get them up to operating temperature for me, though this will vary for different people and conditions.

i dont want to make it seem like the pads are crap, when in fact they are a good pad in my opinion.
- the fact that they require a bit of warming up is not an issue for me, nor is the squeak
- the low dust is good (after 2 weeks of daily commuting, i have less dust than about 4 days of commuting on the oem pads)
- similar stopping ability to oem (possibly better), though pedal feel is different
- cheaper than oem

would i recommend these pads? yes i would, but they are not for everyon

i will update this again with more feedback once i bleed the brakes and do something besides peak hour driving

Good write up. I have a full set, just waiting for the OEM pads to get down a bit more (probably another 5-10k) Then i will "whack 'em in".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tigamica350

Good write up. I have a full set, just waiting for the OEM pads to get down a bit more (probably another 5-10k) Then i will "whack 'em in".

---

they're a good set of pads, especially considering the price

i was almost down to the indicators on the fronts when i changed to the a1rms, but the rears still had about 6mm above the indicators for the oem pads, so i left them in there

though now that i think about it, i should have swapped them both out at the same time

let me know how you go with then on

Awesome write up! Probably look at getting these instead of OEMs next time

have spoken to greg at gslrallysport in regards to a small characteristic of the pads, they no longer need any grinding to fit

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kagerou

have spoken to greg at gslrallysport in regards to a small characteristic of the pads, they no longer need any grinding to fit

---

Was this due to the knob at the back of the pad? I spoke to greg about this too and said he was going to fix any more orders up which was great!

I rate these pads too. Definitely a good alternative.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jmac

Was this due to the knob at the back of the pad? I spoke to greg about this too and said he was going to fix any more orders up which was great!

I rate these pads too. Definitely a good alternative.

---

yeah it was about that little knob on the back

i just removed the line from my first post about having to angle grind it

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kagerou

yeah it was about that little knob on the back

i just removed the line from my first post about having to angle grind it

---

haha! I did the same thing..

Everyone else from now will be sorted. Good on you GSL!

more info here..
http://www.ozmpsclub.com/forum/gsl-r...ck-pads-2.html

anyway, bled the brakes took the car for a bit of a drive

straight away, i could feel that the stopping ability when cold was better than i had originally said, not much more as they were not that bad originally, but noticably better. it still requires a bit more pressure on the pedal compared to the oem pads when cold, but not much more, and i find that more than acceptable

just before bleeding the brakes, i had done about 4 hard stops, without actually stopping the car, and that appeared to have solved the issue of the brake squeeking at very low speeds with minimal braking force - i think i was too soft on the pads so they had glazed, unfortunately i am not an expert so cannot say for sure

anyway, the drive... the a1rms could easily keep up with and possibly even better the oem pads when pushed hard. when the car was stopped, the pads be could smelled from outside, but from inside, the pedal gave no indication that the brakes were cooked or struggling to stop the car, so they could easily handle as much punishment as the oem pads

i would say that they appeared to fare better than the oem pads as they tend to have a slightly longer amount of pedal travel near the end of the drive, while the a1rms were faily consistent, and i have always used the same brake fluid which is changed before each proper drive. initial bite when warm is very similar to oem, and braking ability is very close too, and possibly even better, though the pedal resistance is definitely different and may put some people off - not exactly more solid or spongey, just different

maybe its just me, but i prefer the feel that the a1rm provide through the pedal compared to the oems, as i get the impression that i can feel the pads grabbing onto the metal disc, while the oems dont really feel like they provide anything besides resistance in the pedal. unfortunately i cannot really explain it.

anyway, returned the way i came to make sure that pads were able to do it all over again, and they did, with no noticable difference stopping ability

summary:
- still require some warming up, but braking ability when cold is similar to oem pads, just requires a bit more pressure
- initial bite similar to oem when warm
- braking ability at speed, similar if not better
- better pedal feel
- very consistent and can take a lot of hard stops without any degradation in performance
- no more squeeking noise at low speed after several hard stops
- can smell after hard driving
- less dust compared to oem

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kagerou

- the fact that they require a bit of warming up is not an issue for me, nor is the squeak

---

Going down to the HPX (which is a Bendix Ultimate equivalent) will fix both these issue, and have far less dust also.

The hard thing to remember, is because the QFM's are so cheap, people tend to jump into the A1RM when it's not really necessary.

I'd be more happy comparing HPX with OEM, than A1RM. If you were going to do a write up on A1RM, you'd need to compare to EBC Red, Ferodo DS2500, Hawk, Pagid etc.

The other issue with running A1RM in a road car, is that because the pads have a higher hot friction co-ef than standard, they'll boil the fluid quicker for the same amount of work than something like OEM, or HPX. So when hot, may actually feel worse than HPX or OEM, but its actually the fluid starting to give up the ghost earlier that it otherwise would.

To really get the best of them, you need to upgrade fluid to something with a dry boiling point over 300 degrees (like TRW GP600), and do track work. Otherwise I'd just stick to HPX.

Otherwise, great feedback none the less!

Cheers,
Greg

And yep, pads will be sold minus the Volvo specific knob from now on! ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gslrallysport

I'd be more happy comparing HPX with OEM, than A1RM.

---

hey greg,

thanks for the input.

i know it may seem like an unfair comparision, and to be honest, i wasn't really saying which is the better pad, i was trying to let people know what they would be getting if they were to purchase the a1rms, albeit it being what i personally thought about the pads

because as you said, people would more likely purchase the a1rms due to the price compared to the hpx, or they may feel that the hpx wouldnt be good enough for them especially since the a1rms are the top pad (personally, i felt that the hpx probably wouldnt be sufficient for my needs despite having never used them, so i sort jumped to conclusions there)

i dont want you to think that i am consider them a bad pad, because really i think they are good, and i wouldnt hesitate to buy another set once these are finished

its mainly due to the fact that when people put up a review or an opinion of a set of pads, all they pretty much fit the whole experience in under 30 words, and that doesnt really tell people what they are getting themselves into. thats why i decided to do such a detailed write up.

i just dont want someone to jump in and buy a set of a1rms and be upset with them because they dont perform as good as, or better than what they expected them to, whether it be when cold or warm, and starting ragging them out on a forum or to someone else because i have had a good experience with these pads, and so have a few friends

oh, and i havent used the trw gp600 before, but i have always used motul rbf600, which i am sure has a similar dry boiling point

Yeah no dramas mate, I appreciate the honest feedback, and certainly are grateful for the time put in to write it. Pads can often be one of those things where less is more...

Just out of curiosity does anybody know what the OEM pads are?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gslrallysport

Just out of curiosity does anybody know what the OEM pads are?

---

from the people i have spoke to, the factory pads are meant to be made by ferodo, and very similar to the ts2000 range in terms of characteristics

LOL, I was going to ask if they're TS2000s... was the obvious choice for a Jap manufacturer sourcing euro calipers... TS2000 are the DS2000 now made in Thailand.

Found an interesting thread:
Brake Pads - 2007 [Archive] - MRT Community Forums
Steve from DBA, apart from saying he runs HPX on his car personally, goes onto compare TS2000 with HPX in depth... there's alot of crap there, but the guts of it:

Quote:

---

- TS and HPX have very similar properties for what you need.
- TS is backed by Ferodo's reputation with slightly higher friction performance.
- HPX produces less dust and friction/temp performance is adequate.

---

That's before you even take into consideration the price difference...

hahaha

steve gavin, i havent spoken to him since he left dba a few years ago and opened up the store vsport