Has anyone used kevlar brake shoes?

[ludey]

I am asking because I have kevlar (caliper style)brake pads in the front. Need to change out the shoes on the back. Anyone know a place that sell these? Also, anyone use these and what are the pros and cons. Did you notice any noticeable difference?

 

[MinusPrevious]

My .02

Both kevlar & ceramic have been known to reduce brake dusting & noise. From what I heard they do require some heat soaking before they work well (cold stopping braking distance reduced)

Pick a good brand & Im sure they will work as advertised

 

[bigjl]

Kevlar brake pads were very popular in the early ninties on motorbikes in the UK.

I noticed that they had decent bite, especially when hot.

But they didn't wear as well.

I was working as Motorcycle courier at the time with a company bike. One summer I wore out a set of kevlar pads(ebc I think) in two weeks. Or just over 2k miles. I will.admit I was pretty hard on them.

And as they were rather new then as most pads were asbestos based I would think that the longevity issues are now sorted.

 

[mechtech2]

I believe my old partner tried them on the Wheelstander.
Rotors and pads get red hot in 1/4 mile.
But you are not one out of twenty, so you need a street pad.

You do not need Kevlar - there are many other fine options. Get the best pad that you can afford.
Note the rating on the side of the pad - EE, EF, FF, GG, etc. These are warm and hot braking coefficients. E less then F, F less then G, etc. A GG is pretty good. FF is common. Motorcycles can use HH .

 

[ludey]

MinusPrevious: Yes, I use to experience the same thing with full metallic pads. Warming up for the metallics took awhile before taking it them out on the street or track. The Kevlars need only a 1/4th time to warm up from my experience. It is a mixed compound.

bigjl: I never heard of kevlars in the 90's not on cars at least. It is hard to believe they wore out that fast on your bike. I know the newer brake pads use only a small portion of kevlar than probably before in the past.

mechtech2: I am trying other options for not just street but on the track. I am just weighing my options for now. I have found two sources such as Carbontech and Porterfields. Carbontech have a ceramic mix and cost more than the kevlars. Porterfields are kevlar and cheaper than Carbontech by a 1/3rd.

I have checked other sources but no applications and have limited applications by vehicle.It is hard to find kevlar brake shoes. Pads are easy to find.

I have also noticed having the kevlar pads are damaging the paint on my wheels that I have not seen before at least not this fast. It is literally taking off the paint off the wheels. It is okay b/c they are stock wheels. Full on metallics use to damage the wheels somewhat but not this fast. I get black brake dusting fairly easy within a day.

If anyone else knows where I can get kevlar or other materials brake shoes. Let me know.

 

[ludey]

Originally Posted By: bigjl
Kevlar brake pads were very popular in the early ninties on motorbikes in the UK.

I noticed that they had decent bite, especially when hot.

But they didn't wear as well.

I was working as Motorcycle courier at the time with a company bike. One summer I wore out a set of kevlar pads(ebc I think) in two weeks. Or just over 2k miles. I will.admit I was pretty hard on them.

And as they were rather new then as most pads were asbestos based I would think that the longevity issues are now sorted.



Wow! you know I just remembered one or two conversations about kevlar pads back then. It was just one of those things that seemed so inaccesible back then. People would say that professional race teams would use pads made out the same stuff as bulletproof vests. It was expensive and customized from what I remembered. It was inaccessible for everyday people like me. I always thought it was one of those urban myths. You know one of those conversations that you would like to hear but so far away. You would just reply by saying, "yeah,yeah" or "what?" Who knew?
Here in the USA. There were none that I ever hear that were produced for cars back in the day.