I love my mutt

My trusty 2004 Pontiac Vibe that is.

After listening to the brakes groan for the first couple stops for the past week I decided it was time to stick some new pads on there as it's going to be due for new ones soon. I knew I wasn't down to tabs or rivets, but the car has close to 60k on it now so it must be due for new pads, or is it?

Now I knew the brakes on this little econocar were pretty decent, I'm yet to warp them no matter how hard I drive it or what I'm hauling. It would come right down from speed even hauling 700+ lbs of personal watercraft and gear. It wasn't until I pulled the wheel today that I realized how good they actually are for a 2,800 lb car.

At first glance they looked bigger in diameter and thicker than the ones on the Taurus I used to drive. They looked way beefier than the Miata brakes I was used to looking at too. No wonder why I can't warp these puppies, they are actually engineered to get the job done for a very long time.

I whipped out the 15 MM socket and proceeded to remove the caliper on the right side first. When I removed the shims from the pads it became very clear why, the pads said "Toyota" on them.

That's right, the Vibe is just a Corolla in disguise making me look like a good American while I get to enjoy Toyota engineering with some GM parts peppered in for good measure.

Just for kicks I looked up the rotor size on my warp o' matic 1999 Ford Tortise. 10.8 inches of squishy brake action. Turn or replace every 15,000 miles on this 3,350 lb car. Under braked and under sprung, my what an underachiever. The vibe brakes? Also 10.8", however the car weighs 550 lbs less than the Ford. A little under engineering on fords part, or does Toyota overkill? Given the rotor life on the Ford I'd say Toyota is on the proper track.

On to the pads!

Given my racing background the regular cheap parts store pads just won't cut it. They generally don't even do as well as the OEM pads do on today vehicles, though they are cheap.

To date I've pretty much tried all the performance street pads out there. EBC Gree, Carbotech SSF, Hawk HP+ and HPS, Metal Masters, PBR, KVR and more. Hawk HPS and Carbotech SSF's are definitely my favorites for stopping power, but they are indeed the most spendy. KVR's were a joke, the PBR, Metal Masters, and EBC's were in the middle.

I figured it was time to give something new a try as the brakes I wanted were available locally, but had a $90 price tag attached, ouch! Now they were on the net for $25 less, but who knows when they would get here.

I stopped by Auto Zone and they didn't have anything that struck my fancy despite the guy telling me they were great pads and would last a lifetime. "long life isn't high friction" I mentioned before walking out the door. Murray's however could order me up some Performance Friction pads that would be here by my Monday return, perfect. Performance Friction has true racing heritage and are on all kinds of race cars albeit a much different compound. I don't exactly need the CM93 compound on my daily driver. :)

The install was a breeze, all the hardware was in great shape and the job took just over an hour. initial thoughts on the pads are, well disappointing, worse than oem. But I did only put a mile on them and a few stops. They will break in tomorrow on my South Bend trip and I'll get a better idea on what they are capable of.

Overall I'm totally impressed with my little mutt. It gets a synthetic oil change every 8,000 miles and uses half a quart of oil between changes. The only operational costs so far have been the normal things. Oil changes, an air filter, tires and now brakes. Not one dime in repairs other than the covered under warranty roof leak. My only complaints are the shitty seats and the tranny seems a little off these days. Although, after learning that it has Hydromatic stamped on it, well it's par for the course.