Rear Disk brakes only

[fletcherson]

I found a new respect for pad and shoe compounds last summer. That can really make a difference!
I was locking fronts on grass or loose surfaces the first year I had her.
Finally added a front Proportioning Valve to limit the fronts slightly. (My rear wheel cylinders were already max sized.) Worked great with just a slight adjustment from wide open.

Anyway...my front pads were squeeling a little so I bought new pads at the end of the season.
Semi-metallic high quality ones.
Brakes were much harder and not effective last summer! I opened the PV fully to allow full pressure to the fronts again. STILL not a brake I felt good about.
I continued to drive it till summer was over and then I sanded and reused the old pads this past winter.

Brakes now work great again...and I had to slightly limit front pressure with the PV just like before.
I believe the GOOD pads are actually old school organic compound.
Seems like the semi-metallic pads might actually be designed for long wear and not short stops!

Good brakes make for a much bigger smile out on the road and I like long runs.

I always believed metallic were better, but I recently redone the brakes on an old boom wrecker that I own. I bought all parts from rock auto because it was cheap. They sent me old stock parts and there were full organic pads and shoes. That truck will put you through the windshield if you hit the brakes too hard. The organic are definitely better than the semi metallics that were replaced in this example. They don't fade either, not even when pulling a heavy load. I'm not a compounds expert, but I've put a lot of brakes on... still learning, lol!