Dropped a brake pad in a vat of oil

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: gfh77665
If ONE pad doesn't work, the car is unstoppable? I don't think so.

I don't want to find out if 1 pad failed the remaining pads will be able to stop the car or not.

Too much risk for too little saving.

 

[bigt61]

It'll be fine. Go out and do a few test stops in a safe area after the install. If it's going to fail, it will do so right away, not later. If the pad sat in oil overnight, that might be a different story. Brake pads aren't instant sponges.

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: nthach
I'll stop by Toyota and get a new set. Better safe than sorry.

Also for rotors, I can get OEM Advics for $65 or Chinese-made Bosch QuietCasts for $50 with a lifetime warranty from O'Reilly. How are Bosch rotors?

PM me and I can get you a really good price, locally, on the OE pads.

I have a connection at the local Toyota dealer

The car stops fine, I'm in the process of tracking down a shimmy during freeway speed stopping - at low speeds there's no steering wheel shake. I suspect the rotors - but they've been turned once. I'll just get new pads.

 

[gfh77665]

Brake pads are designed to operate in THE most inhospitable environment ever. Intense vibrations, sand particles, salt residue, dust, mud, grease, oily grime, and repetitive INTENSE heat, all on a daily cycle for the life of the product.

Exposure to little bit of hydrocarbon for just a moment, then thoroughly cleaned, should have essentially zero effect on this one single pad. There will be no catastrophic failure, and in fact, likely no discernible difference at all. The alarmism is borne of overthinking.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: nthach
I'll stop by Toyota and get a new set. Better safe than sorry.

Also for rotors, I can get OEM Advics for $65 or Chinese-made Bosch QuietCasts for $50 with a lifetime warranty from O'Reilly. How are Bosch rotors?


I've got the Bosch solid disc on the Civic in my signature, and they have been perfect so far.

I would use the pads. I don't really understanding why everyone wants you to waste money on new pads.

 

[DuckRyder]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool
...I don't really understanding why everyone wants you to waste money on new pads.


Because he took a welding torch to it maybe?

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted By: DuckRyder
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
...I don't really understanding why everyone wants you to waste money on new pads.


Because he took a welding torch to it maybe?

It's not a welding torch, just a plain-jane blow torch. I waved the torch on the friction surface to burn off any oil that might be on the surface.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: nthach
Originally Posted By: DuckRyder
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
...I don't really understanding why everyone wants you to waste money on new pads.


Because he took a welding torch to it maybe?

It's not a welding torch, just a plain-jane blow torch. I waved the torch on the friction surface to burn off any oil that might be on the surface.


Brazing is welding, so it technically is a welding torch.

You also CAN leave the torch on the pad and heat it well beyond what it was designed for.

I should have asked instead of assuming, but I figured the OP did what might be considered reasonable, to quickly light the offending material to ensure the pads won't catch fire following install.

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Originally Posted By: gfh77665
If ONE pad doesn't work, the car is unstoppable? I don't think so.

I don't want to find out if 1 pad failed the remaining pads will be able to stop the car or not.

Too much risk for too little saving.


The other 7 pads would stop the car just fine.

What I would do is do a few hard stops in a safe location and one with hands off the wheel to check for side to side pull. If it's good you should be good to go. As others have said - lots of overthinking.

Up to you.

 

[Gasbuggy]

I would run that pad, they are exposed to contamination in the wild. If the car pulled one direction during braking then I would consider replacing it.

 

[Ducked]

How would I know?

TEST IT if you're keen.

Somewhere far, far away and long, long ago I've seen the suggestion to soak the pad or shoe for a long time in solvent (probably petrol or perhaps acetone) and then take it out, (blot it?), and set fire to it.

I think the rationale was that the solvent wicks to the surface as it burns off and takes the absorbed oil with it. The context was probably a long-term oil leak rather than the quick dip described here.

These would be old-style, and probably more absorbant asbestos material which might itself put me off trying it.

So I havn't, and dunno if it works.

 

[DuckRyder]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool
....
You also CAN leave the torch on the pad and heat it well beyond what it was designed for.


Yes, Mapp gas can get quite hot.

Originally Posted By: gathermewool
I should have asked instead of assuming, but I figured the OP did what might be considered reasonable, to quickly light the offending material to ensure the pads won't catch fire following install.


But that is not really what he said.

Soaking them with brake cleaner followed by a close inspection would probably have been sufficient.

Anyway, guess the OP decided to get new ones, which insight of the new rotors is probably the safest course of action.

 

[eljefino]

Get an infared heat gun, go for a drive, and see if your rotors are the same temp. If so, they're getting the same braking power.

 

[Lubener]

It's wasted, I wouldn't use it.

 

[HTSS_TR]

It isn't only part cost which is not much more than $30-40 a set of good pad. The labor to install questionable pad, and replace with another set after a test drive and found that it isn't safe.

 

[Silverado12]

I would worry more about heating with mapp gas than getting oil on them. Brake cleaner, maybe running it in a dishwasher cycle (don't tell your wife) should clean it good enough.