EBC Greenstuff brake pads for series 1 & 2

[Toyanvil]

I now have EBC Greenstuff brake pads installed on my series 2, thank you alpine 64. EBC list them for 59-64 Daimler SP250 and for some reason EBC does not show them in their catalog for series 1 and 2 Alpines but they know they fit, I have asked EBC to add them to help other Alpine owners. The best price and service I found was RCA Garage in Mundelein, IL U.S.A where Andrew was awesome to work with. Can't wait to try them. Thank you to everyone that helped with this. I hope the guys in Stock Alpine see this.

 

[daiseng]

Nice find! Good luck with them. Let us know how they work.

 

[Gary T]

I hope you have checked the caliper for alignment to center them correctly by using shims. S-l and S-ll require shims, but S-lll and later do not require shims. Looks like a good job.

 

[Bill Blue]

I hope you have checked the caliper for alignment to center them correctly by using shims. S-l and S-ll require shims, but S-lll and later do not require shims. Looks like a good job.

What?! Can't hydraulic pressure center the pistons?

 

[Barry]

What?! Can't hydraulic pressure center the pistons?

Bill,

The pistons in a fixed-mount / opposed-piston caliper can only be centered in the caliper if the caliper is centered on the rotor.

According to WSM-124, the shims in question go between the mounting ears on the caliper and the mounting ears on the stub axle carrier (aka, spindle or upright) on S-I and S-II Alpines and are required to center the caliper on the rotor within 0.025".

The following paragraph states "On Series III models onwards, machining limits made packing washers and shims unnecessary."

I would take that to mean that the manufacturing tolerances for the caliper mounting points relative to the stub axle on the S-I/II were sloppy enough that measuring and shimming was necessary to ensure that the caliper was properly aligned with the rotor and that the manufacturing tolerances on the S-3/IV/V were improved sufficiently to provide adequate caliper / rotor alignment without measuring and shimming.

I can't think of any good reason to ignore the "measure and shim" requirement for the S-I/II front brakes.

 

[Bill Blue]

So what is the magic of centered pistons? Not enough piston travel to insure that both side of the rotor are equally squeezed throughout the life of the pad?

 

[Toyanvil]

The real problem if your calipers are not centered on a series 1 & 2 is you can not get the pads in, unless your rotors are under size. My rotors are .495 thick and with the pistons pushed all the way in, I can just get the pads and anti squeal shim to go in. If my caliper is off just a little to one side or the other, I can't get one pad in. When I removed my old pads all 4 were worn out the same.

 

[Barry]

So what is the magic of centered pistons? Not enough piston travel to insure that both side of the rotor are equally squeezed throughout the life of the pad?

There is nothing magical about centering the caliper and pistons on a fixed-mount / opposed-piston caliper, just common sense and good engineering. Centering the caliper on the rotor minimizes and equalizes the required caliper piston travel which minimizes the required overall width of the caliper which is a good idea on a small car with small diameter wheels.

Preaching to the choir, but It is worth noting that single-piston floating calipers require less real estate on the "wheel side" of the rotor than fixed-mount / opposed-piston calipers. Single-piston floating calipers typically have about twice the piston travel compared to fixed-mount / opposed-piston calipers, but the "long travel" piston is on the inside of the rotor and does not typically interfere with the wheel.