[nicolaus]

Hi,

My 1996 9000 had new disks and pads fitted about 300 miles ago by my Saab garage. Although are getting a bit better, they are still very poor compared to my weekend car - a range rover. On the Range Rover the break pedal, when pressed seems to press against your foot instantly, no effort is required to stop the car quickly. If I wanted to stop the Saab quickly I'd have to go to the gym first. Maybe 300 miles are not enough to bed in new brakes, but the bit I don't like is that I have to press the pedal quite a bit further and quite hard to get any braking performance.
Any Ideas?

Nico

 

[mark e]

Hi Nico and welcome to Saabscene

The 9000 is a fairly hefty car to stop and many folk report that the brakes require more effort than other comparable marques.

How do the brakes compare to before they were replaced? If you are concerned about them you coudl always as your garage to carry out an efficiency test.

 

[kprm77]

I have always found that Saabs in general seem to take a good push on the brakes to get them to stop.

I thought exactly the same thing on my old 9000 CS LPT - though give them a good thump, and it stopped very well.

My 2001 VW Passat brakes with little pressure on the pedal, so always have to adjust when driving the better half's 9-3.

 

[mikeloadsasaabs]

My 1996 9000 had new disks and pads fitted about 300 miles ago by my Saab garage[/b]

Were they fitted by a Saab dealer - not clear from your original post. I bought a 9000 turbo some years ago which had, when I bought it, recently been fitted with new pads. It had a really hard brake pedal, with very limited stopping power, which verged on the frightening. As a first attempt to fix it, I fitted genuine Saab pads as I knew that those just fitted were from a quickfit outfit. This totally resolved the problem.

 

[nicolaus]

They were fitted by a Saab Dealer, and they are better compared to what they were like. I expected to see more of a difference. - Is there a way of adjusting the distance you have to press down onto the pedal before the brakes start to work - or would this mean the brakes would then brake all the time?
Thanks

Nico

 

[Paul Harrison]

If Saab pads were installed they probably take a long time to bed in. The front pad friction material is heavily chamfered so maybe a third of the pad area is not used until many miles and use of the brakes. As they bed in more and the pads wear flat, hopefully they will improve.

I have done a lot of work on my brakes to get them to work as easily as other cars (firm pedal with little travel) but in the end once I was satisfied everything was in order and the car passed an MOT I gave up and accepted they are different.

 

[robjgc1969]

I've had various company cars and they are all had better brakes than the 9000. I've also had 3 9000's so I've had a chance to compare more than one.
On my current 9000 I have had fitted new Saab disks and pads at the back, Ferrodo DS2500 pads on the front and Brembo disks on the front and stainless steel hoses all round. Hoses and labour came to about £120 at a Saab Specialist. The disks and pads works out about £120-£140 if you know where to go - from your local dealer double that.
The diference is fab. A lot less intial pressure and a lot more bite. Only downside is they squeal slightly in reverse and crawling in traffic - turn the stereo up!
This is the cheapest way to get decent brakes otherwise you are looking at bigger disks and wheels and 4 pot calipers - an awful lot of money and for the road not really needed.
If you want to do this send me a personal message and I'll dig out the invoice with the address and part numbers.

 

[AlanG]

At the last service I was told that my discs were worn and needed replacing. We disagreed about the rears which were only 'stained' (from parking?) but the fronts were a bit ploughed. Following discussions in this forum I bought Brembo discs and Pagid standard pads (from GSF). WOW what a difference - no brakes!

After a few hundred miles they seemed to get better but squeal horribly. They have now done around 1000 mile and the stopping is OK but the noise is awful (and the rims get black with dust very quickly). There is also a very slight vibe and faint noise like rubbing a washboard as it goes through 20-15 mph. Have I got a duff set of discs?

 

[mark e]

Originally posted by AlanG:
[qb]I bought Brembo discs and Pagid standard pads (from GSF[/qb][/b]

AFAIK Brembo only make one model of disc, and no one else has reported problems, but it's always possible I suppose.

I think most of the recommendations that have been made here for Pagid pads are for their Fast Road series. I can't comment on the performance of the standard ones, maybe others can. Personally I would suspect a problem with the pads before the discs.

 

[gassy]

Nico asks about brake pedal travel, and I wonder if this - and therefore the basic problem - might be due to brake fluid issues rather then the brakes themselves. Maybe they weren't bled properly after the work was carried out?

 

[ant9000turbo]

Anyone used EBC Greenstuff or Red Stuff for there saabs.. I have used these on previous cars, and the red stuff is excellent. May try them next for my Saab.

 

[greenphotos]

Originally posted by Ant9000turbo:
[qb]Anyone used EBC Greenstuff or Red Stuff for there saabs.. I have used these on previous cars, and the red stuff is excellent. May try them next for my Saab. [/qb][/b]

Speaking to my local Saab Specialist, he recommended the red stuff pads for my 9000 Aero.

Do drilled/vented disks have a huge advantage over normal ones, and should I consider them for my car?

Mark

 

[ant9000turbo]

Yeah, definatly red stuff. Greens are good but not really for big cars over 200BHP (EBC recommendation). My Mate has reds on his impreza and they are very impressive compaired to the greens that he had before.

 

[Mark B]

Originally posted by AlanG:
[qb]Following discussions in this forum I bought Brembo discs and Pagid standard pads (from GSF).   WOW what a difference - no brakes!  

    [/qb][/b]

I have tried Pagid standard pads as I could not get the Fast Road pads at the time. The standard pads were awful. I then tried the Greenstuff pads - a slight improvement initially, then they got worse. Now I use Mintex C-Tech 1144 (as recommended by many on this board) and I no longer worry about running into the car in front.

 

[mark e]

Originally posted by greenphotos:
[qb]Do drilled/vented disks have a huge advantage over normal ones, and should I consider them for my car?

       [/qb][/b]

The 9000 front discs are already vented. Cross drilling can help in some applications, especially if you have gassy pads. They are probably OK for normal road use, and look nice. However they are not recommended for track use as you have to be very careful about warming them up and cooling them down properly as the cross drilling weakens the discs and makes it more likely that they will crack.

Grooved discs give much the same benefit without the weakness of cross drilling, but are generally noisier under heavy braking.

Lastly concerning Greenstuff, IMO (and others on this board) it's Brownstuff an any 9000. It's not the hp that gives it problems but the weight I reckon.