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MG MGA - Front brake pads

Hi All.
I would like recomendations for front brake pads for my 1960 Mga coupe. The car is only used on the road.
Many thanks.
s page

Hi S
I have a 1960 roadster (fitted with a 140 bhp engine) with std front discs and rear drums (non servo). The brakes are fantastic, certainly plenty good enough to cope with the up-rated engine.
The only concession to higher performance was to fit a set of Mintex 1144 front brake pads, although people say that they are a competition pad, I have have found them to be superb for road use.

They have amazing "feel" and an instant "bite" even from cold but what I especially like about them is that they have a sort of progressive action.
By this I mean that the braking action seems to increase even though you are not increasing the pedal pressure.
This may be due to the pads warming up but it certainly gives you lots of confidence when you brake hard.

I did try a set of Greenstuff pads for a while but they were the exact opposite to the Mintex 1144. They needed much more pedal pressure to make them work but they had no "bite" and no "feel", almost as if they were "fading" even though they were not overheating.
They were on the car when we did a tour of the Mont Blanc mountain range in the Alps back in 2012 and they certainly didn't inspire confidence on the long Alpine descents.

So I changed back to Mintex 1144 as soon as I returned from that trip and I have used them ever since.

I have recently fitted a set of Mintex 1144 rear shoes just to make sure that the braking is properly balanced. To be honest this hasn't made any noticeable difference to the braking and so I think that only fitting a set of front pads is fine.

I find the 1144 pads have a tendency to squeal a little and so I have just fitted a set of anti-squeal shims to the back of the pads, which seems to have worked.
I didn't fit the shims when I first fitted the pads because there wasn't really enough space to get them in. I have waited until the pad material has worn down enough to give space to fit them.

They seem to be last well too, these pads have done an 1800 mile tour of the Austrian and Italian Alps (including the Gros Glockner) 2017, a 1500 mile tour up to the Outer Hebrides and and a 1500 mile trip to tour the Pyrenees, both in 2018.
They are maybe 1/3rd worn and so there is plenty of life left in them.

If you do decide to go Mintex let me know and I can send you the "bedding-in instructions" for the pads which is another story altogether.

Cheers
Colyn

PS Bob West is I think the only source of 1144 pads for the MGA (AFAIK)
Colyn Firth

I've had Mintex 1144 on my year-round-use midget a good number of years and agree with Colyn but I've not had trouble with squeal. I know others also like Mintex 1144 front pads.

On classics, especially those used for low annual mileage or months of laid-up, it's often forgotten that tyres regardless of tread left on them can go hard with lack of use and age and greatly effect the feel and actual braking of the car.

The tyres also effect the road holding, handling, suspension, ride and noise.

Also braking and pedal feel can be effect by, as required, changing brake fluid and adjusting up the rear brakes.
Nigel Atkins

Colyn,
I've only ever done the standard general bedding-in so I'd be interested to see any further advice if you're able to post them here or email them to me please.

My first and last name joined together at bt internet dot com.
Nigel Atkins

Hello S

We also have a 1960 MGA, a roadster. In 2012 I built an 1840cc 18V for it and also fitted a T9 box, because it is used primarily for continental trips. Since then my wife and i have driven it to Italy and back five times and driven the Route des Grandes Alpes twice.

In 2013 I rebuilt the calipers and fitted EBC green stuff pads, retaining these pads in 2014 when I converted the system to silicone fluid and fitted new calipers (and master and rear cylinders). We have done 25 Alpine passes, with the EBC pads, and both my wife and I find they work well in mountains and at speed on an Autostrada. No complaints about the Greenstuff pads.

However, Colyn, encouraged by your praise of the Mintex 1144 compared to Greenstuff in earlier threads, I ordered a set of the Mintex pads from Bob West last week and am waiting with interest for them to arrive. I am hoping that I’ll find that I like them as much as you do.

Mike

Photo taken May 2018, Splugenstrasse, Switzerland to Italy. Everything in the boot, nothing on the boot-rack!




M D Card

Hi All.
Many thanks for your help. I have just emailed Bob West regarding pads. I will contact you Colyn regarding the bedding in process soon.
Regards. Simon
s page

Hi Colyn,
I fitted Mintex 1144 pads to my 1950 Mga fitted with MGB calipers on MGB uprights and found they squealed as have all the other pads I have fitted.I have tried copper grease to no avail can you tell me where you got the anti squeal shims

Regards

David
D M SPEAK

Hi Mike,
I hope you find the Mintex 1144 pads as good as I do, I know that Bob West also rates them as the best pads he has found for the MGA.

I could have been that the EBC Greenstuff pads I had were faulty or something, but I can say that both sets of 1144 pads I have used have been really excellent.

For Nigel and Simon.

Here is the bedding procedure that was recommended to me for the Mintex 1144 pads.

Mintex recommend that from cold you need to get up to 70 mph and then brake steadily down to 30 mph.
Then repeat up to 7 times in total.
After this you need to let the brakes cool down completely and not use again until the brakes are cold. I then drove the car home very carefully, just using engine braking and left the car in the garage for a few hours.

I took my car on a local motorway in the early hours to do this, when there was no-one on the road but me.

Not possible to do if the roads are busy and, even if the roads are quiet, you may still attract the attention of the local traffic police, but hopefully, you should be able to explain what you are doing.

But well worth the effort.

Simon, Bob West is well known for not being very quick to reply to his emails, if you don't get a reply, I would give him a call
01977 703828.

Mike, it seems like we enjoy doing the same things with our MGA. I did a write up for MAMGAR of a trip that we did with Stuart and Irene Mumby in 2017 to tour the Austrian Alps, Italian Dolomites, Lake Garda and Verona.
Email me if you would like me to send you a copy of it.

(I have uploaded a pic of us following Stuart through the Dolomites)


Cheers
Colyn



Colyn Firth

David,
I used these
http://www.partsforsaabs.com/product_info.php?products_id=3930

You just cut them to fit.

There are lots of similar products available on ebay from as little as £4.00

My shims came with a special grease but I was reluctant to put this anywhere near my brakes and so I haven't used it.

Cheers
Colyn
Colyn Firth

Thanks Colyn, that's a bit more restrictive if the instructions are taken literally than I was taught but similar/same principle.

EBC are a local firm to me, set up by a local family my mate knows but as at one time I had another mate at Padgid Performance Braking he put me off them and I've never tried them. I'm happy with the Mintex 1144 anyway.

I did have my current set smoking a little when they were newish as I went for a run over Long Mynd to test the full braking system before touring over the Welsh mountain passes for 5 days.
Nigel Atkins

I have never had any success with the anti squeal shims that you cut out and stick on the back of the pads, yes they work for a little while but I found the pistons soon cut through them, and they start squealing again, After trying a lot of different methods, I finally came up with these Peugeot 806/Expert shims,
I have had these in my car since 2012,and have been on 6 Alpine tours in them covering more than 20,000 miles, and I have never had a sound from the brakes since fitting them.


Andy Tilney

Simon

Bob West tells me this morning that he will have my Mintex pads with him next week, so he has new stock arriving.

Colyn

I agree that we have a common interest in Alpine driving. have sent you an email.

Best regards
Mike
M D Card

Andy
I agree that the stick-on type shims do wear down after a while, but on my car they usually stay effective for around a couple of years or so.

I will look into fitting some of those spring type shims though.
From the picture I couldn't quite make out how they stayed in place behind the pad.

Also worth mentioning,
when I last fitted new pads over a year ago I noticed that the pads spring clips were quite loose. When I checked them I realised that they had lost much of their springiness. So I replaced them and when I compared it was scary just how soft the old ones had become.
The spring clips are tho only thing that holds the pad pins and pads in place and so it is well worth checking them each time you look at the pads.

Cheers
Colyn Firth

Colyn if you look at the shims you will see it has 3 legs, these are springy, and these 3 legs push inside the calliper piston and are kept in place by the spring loaded legs, and of course the pads
Andy Tilney

My Mintex work very well. Only issue I've had was a bit of vibration on one side at low speed, cured by scuffing up the disc.
Art Pearse

Anyone tried Mintex on front of a drum brake car?

Paul
Paul Dean

Andy,
I have tried to source these shim at my local Peugeot dealers but they need more information as to what year and model they were fitted to, I presume that they were fitted to the front calipers on the Peugeot. Any more info would be very useful

Regards
David
D M SPEAK

David These shims were from a Peugeot expert MY 2007-2012 and if I remember correctly it was the 2.0Ltr engine,i will try and find the part number later
Andy Tilney

David I have just spoken to the storeman at the Peugeot garage where I got my shims from, and he told me these are no longer available to buy separately, and can only be had with a new set of pads,
Andy Tilney

This thread was discussed between 07/02/2019 and 12/02/2019

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