Any benefit to galvanized brake pad backing plate

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I watched the video from the one vendor that hawks their galvanized brake pad backing plate. Is there any real benefit? Or just in theory? Are OEMs galvanized and then painted? Any other brands?

I feel Akebono to be high quality brake pads and could not see on their literature stating anything about the backing plate.

For those changing a lot of brake pads in rust belt, how many have the pad material come off the backing plate?

Solution looking for a problem?
 
Is it a drum brake backing plate or a disc brake dust shield? Backing plates aren't that common anymore since few modern cars have drum brakes in the rear.
 
Ohh, well that is the correct term, sorry I was not thinking about the brake pad itself even though you said that. My mistake.

I have seen mine be rusted after the life of the pad is exhausted but I haven't seen it interfere with the proper operation of the brakes. All the ones I've installed are painted, but galvanized wouldn't hurt I suppose. Do they cost a lot more than the "regular" ones?

I definitely live in the rust belt but the issues I see are rusting on the pad carrier which will cause the pads to get stuck, or rusting in the caliper pin bore (between the boot and the metal) which can cause the pins to seize. I haven't seen a big issue with pad backing plate rusting.
 
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Would the galvanized pad backing plates not swell up? The issue I have with the caliper bracket style brakes , opposed to the style on my Jeep where the caliper bolts directly to the knuckle is the pad ears rust/corrode and swell up and end up causing the brakes to drag. Because the bad is jammed into the anti rattle clips. In my truck, I just don't use the clips and that helped a bunch.
 
I live in Canada with lots of salt on the road in the winter and it has never been a problem to have painted steel back plate.

I think it's purely marketing.
 
I think the Raybestos EHT are stainless. I saw a set of carquest premiums that had some kind of rubber coating.

My Ford Oem brakes on my Fusion fell apart in my hands when i checked them.. with only 40K miles.

I have seen GM oem brakes on 1500 and 2500 series with 150K miles that looked less than half worn and in great shape as a comparison.
 
I believe that the quality of the plain steel can influence the amount of salt corrosion that occurs. Some mfg. might use high quality steel that endures salt corrosion better. But, how would we know which brands are better?

Below are some pictures of my Patriot's OEM Akebono pads after 6 salty winters and about 84,000 miles. The best brakes I have ever owned (longevity and non problematic). Shameful, but I never once took these brakes apart to clean and lube them and there was never any binding problems with either the pad ears or pins. Remarkable. Note that these Akebono OEM's are different than their aftermarket replacements. I could have gotten another 5,000 miles out of these, but elected to replace the pads and rotors before winter.
[Linked Image]
[Linked Image]


Note that the pad ears are relatively clean and not swelled with rust. In this case, galvanized backing plates would not have made any difference. I attribute it to high quality steel - my hypothesis, because the paint coating was deteriorated, providing diminished protection.

Those galvanized pads are listed at over $100 per set according to one poster here.
 
Yes the galvanized are over $100.

Of course you cannot look at any literature and determine what quality of metal the backing plate was made with. Unless it was stainless.
 
Originally Posted by doitmyself
I believe that the quality of the plain steel can influence the amount of salt corrosion that occurs. Some mfg. might use high quality steel that endures salt corrosion better.

"Quality" of steel has nothing to do with corrosion resistance, unless you start talking about stainless steel. Corrosion resistance comes from the coatings, i.e., whether they be paint, galvanized, epoxy, or UV cure paint.
 
For my Honda, name brand aftermarket pads ( Raybestos EHT for example ) are about $ 30.00 - 40.00 a set. The galvanized pads are $ 160.00 ...

Not sure that's worth it, given that my brake pads friction material only seems to last about 4 years.
 
Originally Posted by Kestas
Originally Posted by doitmyself
I believe that the quality of the plain steel can influence the amount of salt corrosion that occurs. Some mfg. might use high quality steel that endures salt corrosion better.

"Quality" of steel has nothing to do with corrosion resistance, unless you start talking about stainless steel. Corrosion resistance comes from the coatings, i.e., whether they be paint, galvanized, epoxy, or UV cure paint.


Shades of gray, you can vary the alloys with corresponding property changes in corrosion resistance and other properties while not necessarily reaching a %/ratio that qualifies as stainless. Granted if you cook up a boutique formulation it may cost as much to produce for the purpose as a more popular commodity steel.
 
+1
You can lead a brake eating car to Akebono but you cannot make them buy um. Those backing plate on those OEM's looks more like the Akebono Street Performance pads (yellow and black box) then the standard Pro Act's, which is a good thing. They are great pads for the price.
 
Originally Posted by GZRider
+1
You can lead a brake eating car to Akebono but you cannot make them buy um. Those backing plate on those OEM's looks more like the Akebono Street Performance pads (yellow and black box) then the standard Pro Act's, which is a good thing. They are great pads for the price.

Here's the Akebono ASP866 aftermarket pad vs. the OEM Akebono above. The ACT's look the same. The Critic has pointed out that OEM and Aftermarket Akebono are often different beasts.
[Linked Image from carid.com]
 
Originally Posted by Donald
I watched the video from the one vendor that hawks their galvanized brake pad backing plate. Is there any real benefit? Or just in theory? Are OEMs galvanized and then painted? Any other brands?

I feel Akebono to be high quality brake pads and could not see on their literature stating anything about the backing plate.

For those changing a lot of brake pads in rust belt, how many have the pad material come off the backing plate?

Solution looking for a problem?


Every time I have to replace the front pads or rest shoes in my cars (especially my winter beater) the material is separating from the backing. Unfortunately I never kept track of what brand I put on long enough to know years later when they were falling apart. I've started buying higher quality pads and hopefully that will help. Corrosion is definitely a problem here.

Engineering explained recently made a video on YouTube showing different testing of pads sponsored by some company called NRS which let him use their testing facility to make the video. They did a salt spray corrosion test which I believe only the OEM and NRS pads passed.
 
Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Engineering explained recently made a video on YouTube showing different testing of pads sponsored by some company called NRS which let him use their testing facility to make the video. They did a salt spray corrosion test which I believe only the OEM and NRS pads passed.


We had a good discussion thread about that video test. The test was conclusive about THE particular pads used for the comparison only. We have NO idea what pads they tested. We cannot really conclude anything about budget pads vs. OEM vs. the NRS, except that NRS does do well in the corrosion test vs. certain other unknown brand/quality pads. It's possible that some budget pad brands may do excellent in the test and that some OEM pad brands might perform poorly.

It was a very fascinating video.
 
Originally Posted by Dave9
Originally Posted by Kestas
Originally Posted by doitmyself
I believe that the quality of the plain steel can influence the amount of salt corrosion that occurs. Some mfg. might use high quality steel that endures salt corrosion better.

"Quality" of steel has nothing to do with corrosion resistance, unless you start talking about stainless steel. Corrosion resistance comes from the coatings, i.e., whether they be paint, galvanized, epoxy, or UV cure paint.


Shades of gray, you can vary the alloys with corresponding property changes in corrosion resistance and other properties while not necessarily reaching a %/ratio that qualifies as stainless. Granted if you cook up a boutique formulation it may cost as much to produce for the purpose as a more popular commodity steel.

Nobody will use anything but plain carbon steel as a backing plate. We're talking about quality of steel, not steel alloy.
 
Originally Posted by Kestas
Nobody will use anything but plain carbon steel as a backing plate. We're talking about quality of steel, not steel alloy.

I did a short Google search of carbon steel grades and corrosion without much success. My opinion/hypothesis is based on observing huge differences of corrosion on different uncoated hubs, rotors, etc. I assumed the difference was in the metallurgy and these observations might carry over to metals in things like backing plates. Not true?

Is it not possible that backing plates made of low quality recycled carbon steel might corrode more than ones made of "higher quality" carbon steel?

Interested to learn and be corrected of my assumptions.
 
Much of steel produced nowadays is made from scrap. This is called secondary steel. Barring esoteric discussion, it has few practical differences from primary steel. It is the number one oldest, and most recycled material in the world. Most popular plain carbon steel grades corrode about the same.
 
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