brake pad different front to rear

[h20hamelan]

I had pulled out, what seemed to be ground down front pads. In the rear of my S4.
As I can't easily turn up rears, or they aren't available locally. The fronts seem a good option?

any comments please

[Bill]

Hamish

sue Miller stocks them - rears differ from the fronts.

Bill

[h20hamelan]

I do have new ebc rears, and yes. One of the cars has the Lotus rear tapered friction material. So I have a few different ones around these days.

The cost is about 4x higher, mainly because of my remote location.

Is there any real reason not to cut the ears off the front pad, as the lack of taper probably only gives more braking. This may be too much at the rear, so bias.

[patrics]

Hi
Standard / original pads from 1960’s the rear mu was lower than the front and would have been stable during the stop (constant friction) whereas modern materials have build-up. So using a modern front material could / would be problematic with early rear wheel lock and so make the vehicle unstable.
Having said that I have done just that with my race car and then controlled the rear pressure to prevent lock-up.
Classically the friction is not influenced by the area of the pad so a larger or smaller area will give the same friction.

Regards
Steve

[h20hamelan]

Very interesting
Thank You

[h20hamelan]

I suppose please Steve, you comment states front pads on rear. Any suspicion the rear pads (Gold Gate Lotus club - rear pads from Volvo 240.) would be of less “build-up”? Or does anyone suspect material differences between front and rear?
My guess is your comment refers to all modern material. So I suspect a multi material ( with Metallic ) would be the choice?

Kind Regards