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Date:         Fri, 5 May 95 15:38:05 PDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         David.Kao@Eng.Sun.COM (David Kao)
Subject:      Re: Best Vanaogon Brake Pads?

>>
>>So Rich Smith says:
>>> 
>>> The first time I had the brake pads replaced was at 100K (bought it at 95k).
>>> The dealer did the work and used whatever the dealer uses. Right away the
>>> pads started leaving black dust on the alloy wheels which had not happened
>>> before. For the next 37k miles, I have put up with the awful black dust on
>>> my nice allow wheels. :-(
>>
>>I've had brake dust from day one of owning my van and have never heard
>>of other pads that don't.  I really prefer OEM brakes for all of my cars
>>since they seem to work the best.  But it ain't no fun trying to keep
>>those alloys clean.  So I know what you mean.
>>
>>
>>Steven 
>>


I did all brake jobs for my vanagon since I bought it new in 84. I have tried
many times many aftermaket brake pads. So far only the OEM pads work for the
vanagon. In fact I have tried different pads on my 83 westy too. Same result!
Only the OEM pads (with audi logo on them) work. I even asked my FLAPS to 
give me the best they have and still OEM pads are far better. I really mean
FAR BETTER!!! 


In one of the brake jobs I had to replace the master cylinder in addition
to pads. I bought a set of Metal Master. They simply had no ability to stop
the vanagon as efficient as the OEM pads. I first suspected that the aftermarket
master cylinder was at fault. I almost took it off and returned it to my FLAPS.
Before doing so I decided to give it a try by taking the pads off from my 83
westy and put them on the 84 vanagon. I was really amased by the difference
they made. I returned the Metal Master and tried several other pads and same
result again and again. I finally went to the VW dealer and paid the price for
the OEM pads and they did outperform everything else.


As Steven suggested, OEM pads are the choice. In my opinion they are the
only choice for vanagons.


David Kao
david.kao@eng.sun.com
83 westy, 84 vanagon
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