Mintex pads and discs

[Alec Dawe]

Looking through PFV's site I see that a set of rear Mintex Pads for my 1997 960 ( With IRS and self levelling) estate are about half the price of the genuine Volvo bits from local stealer.
PFV don't seem to stock the genuine Volvo pads.
Has anyone had any experience of Mintex pads in use:-:good or bad.
I was looking at the cost of rear discs themselves as well, my nearside disc is a little scored, smooth scoring, and not even mentioned at the last MOT, but I was wondering about replacing discs and pads (and once getting that far, the handbrake shoes as well).
960 discs seema little expensive compared with the 940 discs, mintex are £103 a pair, but are they decent quality, having heard some horror stories about GFS discs cracking? Anyone with any experiences?

[John_C]

Mintex are a very well respected aftermarket brand, they are certainly a big cut above "generic" any-brand parts. I have used them in the past with no problems and would have no qualms about fitting Mintex to replace OEM equipment.

Cheers,
John

[4 forty]

like alec, i was contemplating getting mintex discs/pads, i found a cheap source for them on ebay.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/H-A-S-Autom...QQftidZ2QQtZkm

paul

[timway]

I fitted Mintex discs and Pads all round last April (the OEM replacement ones) from PFS to my S40, I thought they where reasonable, and pads are certainly no worse than the Volvo ones in terms of performance. My front discs have been warped since March of this year, but don't seem to be getting any worse (my brakes get quite a bit of abuse )

The Front pads lasted until March this year and I replaced them with EBC Redstuff ceramic pads, these performed a bit better but not hugely, biggest difference is they are much less dusty than the mintex ones. The wear rate is probably pretty similar.

All the discs and the rear pads have done about 30,000 miles now and will probably need replacing within a couple of months. Front pads lasted about 15000 miles.

I think next time I'll go for the Mintex "C-Tech" performance pads from PFS,
not sure about discs yet I see they also offer Scantech ones even cheaper than the mintex ones (£25 each for a phase 2 S40).

[Glen Morangie]

I used Mintex pads with new discs on my 240 after around 75,000 miles. I had previously always used genuine Volvo pads, which have a 'conditioning' abrasive layer on them.

When the discs were renewed the old ones where heavily scored, but on the third set of mintex pads the replacement discs remained smooth and new looking.

Then my local dealer had a 'special' on Volvo pads, so I used another genuine set - after which the discs became heavily scored and now need replacing again.

Your chioce.

Originally Posted by Alec Dawe

having heard some horror stories about GFS discs cracking? Anyone with any experiences?

I got the (latest) replacement discs from Eurocarparts, and they are Allied Signal (who make Brembo's)

[Alec Dawe]

Originally Posted by Glen Morangie

I used Mintex pads with new discs on my 240 after around 75,000 miles. I had previously always used genuine Volvo pads, which have a 'conditioning' abrasive layer on them.

When the discs were renewed the old ones where heavily scored, but on the third set of mintex pads the replacement discs remained smooth and new looking.

Then my local dealer had a 'special' on Volvo pads, so I used another genuine set - after which the discs became heavily scored and now need replacing again.

Your chioce.



I got the (latest) replacement discs from Eurocarparts, and they are Allied Signal (who make Brembo's)

Thanks. Food for thought. Deep Thought!

[Glen Morangie]

Originally Posted by Alec Dawe

Thanks. Food for thought. Deep Thought!

I should add - to be fair, none of the replacement discs I used were genuine Volvo. I can understand the usefulness of the conditioning layer, as it is necessary to 'break the glaze' on a disc when fitting new pads - but this can be done with emery paper.

I think the idea is that any slight runout on the disc will be corrected during the 'wearing in' of new (abrasive) pads - and there quite often are differences in the thickness of a disc measured with a micrometer around the whole circumference.

It may be that genuine discs have a more durable surface (certainly the original Volvo ones had normal looking wear for 75,000 miles), but I was amazed how much difference one set of Volvo pads made to the replacement discs.

Volvo discs also come complete with caliper mounting bolts!