Brake Shoe Lining Materials

[Matt_Harnden]

Hi,

I want to maximise the braking on my 7 special for normal road use. One of the items I want to improve and replace are the brake shoe linings.

What experiences have people had with different lining materials?

I’m torn between changing the linings myself (which I have done before) or having them replaced by a company such as Saftek.

Other posts have suggested that the Saftek ‘Green Gripper’ is the way to go - has anyone any experience of this material? Is it worth the small additional cost?

Thanks.

Matt

[Steve Jones]

All my Sevens, road and competition, are shod with 'Green Gripper'. It is soft and does wear but that means it stops you. Wouldn't use anything else.

Steve

[Ian Dunford]

I have used the soft grey material on all my sevens for over 40 years.ln those days the only alternative was the hard woven stuff.The hard woven stuff lasted for ever but had no really noticeable retardation qualities.I have always relined the shoes myself but have no objection to someone else doing it for me.

[JonE]

Ian - have you driven any cars with the softer more recent woven stuff i.e. any sort of different feel?

What I've found, Matt, in asking the question before is that different people are either very happy with Green Gripper, v. happy with the light blue/grey composite that A7Workshop sell, or v.happy with the soft woven linings that David Cochrane sells... but that there doesn't seem to be independent testing or review material i.e. someone setting up their own comparison. It would be great to do that sort of thing for different sorts of cars and drums to save buying three sets and trying oneself.

[Chris KC]

Ian - have you driven any cars with the softer more recent woven stuff i.e. any sort of different feel?

What I've found, Matt, in asking the question before is that different people are either very happy with Green Gripper, v. happy with the light blue/grey composite that A7Workshop sell, or v.happy with the soft woven linings that David Cochrane sells... but that there doesn't seem to be independent testing or review material i.e. someone setting up their own comparison. It would be great to do that sort of thing for different sorts of cars and drums to save buying three sets and trying oneself.

Objectivity!! Wow. I quite agree Jon...

Such an experiment would require quite a bit of control though.

[Ian Dunford]

No JonE.
Not as far as I know .
I didn’t actually know that there was a modern softer woven type.
The huge improvement I experienced 40:years ago was enough yo keep me happy.
However of course an independent technical comparison would be interesting and possibly enlightening.

[Steve Jones]

...but that there doesn't seem to be independent testing or review material i.e. someone setting up their own comparison. It would be great to do that sort of thing for different sorts of cars and drums to save buying three sets and trying oneself.

So, lets get this right. What you're after is 'someone' to carry out an independent test of brake materials. Off the top of my head that's standard 1" and  standard 1.25",  with soft grey material, hard grey material, soft woven material, hard woven material, green gripper, kevlar base and anything else anybody can come up with. Repeat for semi Girling, full Girling, hydraulic with early drums, hydraulic with semi Girling drums, hydraulic with full Girling drums, coupled brakes, uncoupled brakes, fully compensated brakes etc. etc etc. Perhaps when that's been done another 'someone' could do the same to decide what oil to use.

Sorry mate, these are Austin Sevens, not Formula 1 cars.

Steve

[Chris KC]

...but that there doesn't seem to be independent testing or review material i.e. someone setting up their own comparison. It would be great to do that sort of thing for different sorts of cars and drums to save buying three sets and trying oneself.

So, lets get this right. What you're after is 'someone' to carry out an independent test of brake materials. Off the top of my head that's standard 1" and  standard 1.25",  with soft grey material, hard grey material, soft woven material, hard woven material, green gripper, kevlar base and anything else anybody can come up with. Repeat for semi Girling, full Girling, hydraulic with early drums, hydraulic with semi Girling drums, hydraulic with full Girling drums, coupled brakes, uncoupled brakes, fully compensated brakes etc. etc etc. Perhaps when that's been done another 'someone' could do the same to decide what oil to use.

Sorry mate, these are Austin Sevens, not Formula 1 cars.

Steve

Surely not necessary Steve. A back-to-back test with a single representative set-up would enable simple comparisons.
It would however need to eliminate the influence of application geometry (i.e. use hydraulics) and the materials would require adequate bedding; enough to make it quite a challenge for most of us.

[jansens]

Put one type on one side of the car, another type on the other side of the car, get up to speed, brake hard and see which way it pulls

Simon

[Matt_Harnden]

Looks like this is another thread that’s going off topic!