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Brake pad question - replacement time?

airguy

airguy

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Recently I had a caliper O-ring go bad and leak out, so I replaced both of them (225 hours TT). In the process I managed to get the pads a little wet with brake fluid, and now braking action is poor. Is this something that will "cook off" with continued brake application, or can I get rid of it with a brake-cleaner spray, or do I need to replace the pads?
 
Greg,

There is no "acceptable level" of contamination on the pad. If I were you, I would run them if they were adequate. In all liklihood, they will improve with time. It's not like you typically need rotor smoldering stopping power anyways.

In the future watch your pads for wear (obviously) and Cleveland says that the minimum thickness is 0.063".

Hope this helps.

;) CJ
 
airguy said:
Recently I had a caliper O-ring go bad and leak out, so I replaced both of them (225 hours TT). In the process I managed to get the pads a little wet with brake fluid, and now braking action is poor. Is this something that will "cook off" with continued brake application, or can I get rid of it with a brake-cleaner spray, or do I need to replace the pads?
Click to expand...

Replace them, once contaminated they're done.
 
In automotive applications, I have been able to salvage pads with baking. Clean agressively with laquer thinner and bake in the oven at 400* for 30 minutes. Most of the carbon will bake out and collect on the surface. Clean again with LT.

For my plane, I would just buy new pads. They are pretty cheap.

Larry
 
Replace once contaminated, for the old farm truck maybe ok to clean and reuse, but in high performance applications, 80,000 LB truck coming down the grape vine, race car, airplane, the high temps will cause the contaminates to off gas and from the pad and cause a gas boundary between the two, holding the pad off the rotor, this is brake fade, and in sever cases cause chunks of lining to blow off and separate.
 
I'd order linings through Matco, and get a set of linings already riveted to the backing plates. This way, when you wear out one set, you have another set ready to go.

Have you got the "Avery tool" for setting brake rivets? It works great!
 
Thanks for all the comments - replacement pads and a rivet set tool were ordered this morning, I'll put them on this coming weekend.
 
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