Asbestos In Brake Pads

SydneyRoverP6B

SydneyRoverP6B

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Asbestos was used in brake pad manufacture, but for health reasons has since been phased out. The pads that I am using and have been using for some 20 years does not contain asbestos, but does anyone still have pads unused that contain asbestos? Are you going to use them at some point? Are you in fact using pads that contain asbestos right now? I do have some new sets, both front and rear that contain asbestos, but I'll likely never use them.

Ron.
 
I find it very strange that you wouldn't use them. I'm aware the health risks are well known, and were 40 years ago when I first got into the motor trade (Even though a lot of people ignored the hazards back then) but fitting a set of pads is unlikely to cause problems if you're sensible. I would say that over the course of a 20 year period I fitted at least one set of asbestos pads per day, on some days 3 or 4, and if I found NOS asbestos pads now I'd use them without any qualms at all. Shame you're not a bit closer.......
 
Hi,

There is no way I’d use them, asbestos is really really nasty stuff. It’s not just your health, while fitting them that is place in danger but all those that then come in contact with your car, for example tyre fitters. There can always be an argument based on now much of a bad thing is too much but I’d have to take the position that if exposure to something as toxic as asbestos can be avoid then it should be. You might even find disposing of them correctly difficult.

Tim
 
Hello Harvey,

Pads containing asbestos disappeared from shelves in Sydney over 20 years ago, so my experience in using them,..by that I mean in a stopping sense, pad longevity etc, would be very limited indeed. I have used pads in Girlock and Unipart packaging, in fact my rear pads at present are Unipart, but no mention was made about asbestos on the box. I had heard from other Rover owners that pads containing asbestos were excellent in terms of performance. Does that agree with your experience compared to those pads without?

Tis a pity indeed that we live so far away, would be excellent to call by and talk Rovers with you.. :D If ever you decide on a holiday to Australia,..please do let me know...

Ron.
 
I'd say there are plenty of reasons not to run an old motor at all if you are looking for them but here we all are :LOL:
I'd run 'em in my car without hesitation :wink:
 
I'm surprised it was that long ago that they stopped being sold since asbestos was only outlawed for brake components in Australia at the end of 2003, and i thought they had been in reasonably common use up until then.

There was no legal requirement to mark brakes that contained asbestos as doing so even right up to the end I don't think, but some were marked as being asbestos free as a benefit.

The type of asbestos used in brakes has an infinitesimally small risk to health unless you were for example working in a workshop and blowing dust out of brake drums with compressed air day in day out sending the asbestos dust airborne, the only type with real high significant risk from any contact is loose "friable" blue asbestos used commonly in blown in insulation etc. Non-friable types are very low risk unless you go properly nuts grinding/cutting/smashing it up in fiberboard for example or roofing materials. In brakes it is so tightly bound in the pad compound that your chances of breathing in enough fibers of significant enough size to be any health risk is incredibly small. Yes theoretically 1 could kill you but in the same way as 1 breath of passive smoking could too.

I did a fair bit of research on the subject when we found that all the plasterboard lining under the floor and walls of our kitchen/bathrooms/utility room in our late 1960s house when renovating was fiberboard containing asbestos.. Found it very interesting the actual provable rates of health issues being able to be attributed to exposure and the types of exposure needed to significantly increase your risk. As such I decided not to worry too much about the asbestos and just not go smashing at any walls with a sledgehammer until after we had had the nice chaps in the moonsuits in to remove it all.. :)

As such I wouldn't worry too much about it in your brakes but be careful if you live in a house built between about 1950 and 1980 as you'll almost certainly have a worse kind of asbestos than what you'd get in brake dust in there somewhere.

Cheers,

Al
 
Plus they used asbestos in artex until about 1980, I think
Quite safe until you scrape it off or try to sand it down
 
DaveHerns said:
Plus they used asbestos in artex until about 1980, I think
Quite safe until you scrape it off or try to sand it down
Click to expand...

There was certainly plenty of that stuff about :LOL:
 
tvr_v8 wrote,...
I'm surprised it was that long ago that they stopped being sold since asbestos was only outlawed for brake components in Australia at the end of 2003, and i thought they had been in reasonably common use up until then.
Click to expand...

Hello Al,

Given what you have said, it is very likely then that pads containing asbestos still abounded, just that I didn't see them. I can recall back in the late 80s people bemoaning the fact that asbestos was going to be removed from brake pads, and those that were asbestos free didn't last as long. I can also recall the packaging that you mention with words like "asbestos free" being used.

I'll have a look at the pads that I have in the garage later and take some pics.

Ron.
 
Once upon a time I was asbestos safety officer on the railway in our part of the woeld, so know a lot about this. (railway trains, as well as buildings, used to be insulated with blue asbestos).

There are three types of asbestos, Blue, Brown and White.

Blue asbestos is hyper dangerous - one sniff of loose stuff and you are at risk of a lung cancer. This is because the fibre size, particularely length, is just right to upset the lung.

Brown asbestos isn't far behind, but you have to be unlucky.

White asbestos is only harmful in volume. The mechanism for damage to the lungs is the same as coal dust or other airborn particles.

How do you tell the difference? The clue's in the name! Blue looks like shredded blue paper workshop paper towel. Brown similar (but brown!).

So with white asbestos the hazard is to people involved in the production process, not to those coming across it on an ad hoc basis. It's just possible that if all you ever did for 20 years was blow out brake dust you'd have a problem, but in our exposure, dealing with our own hobby car, not an issue.

Ron is right - asbestos pads are generally much better than the modern equivalents. At least in part, this is because the modern materials tend to gas under load and "float" the pads off the disc. By far the best is EBC "Green Stuff". But only if you use grooved discs to let the gas out from under the pad.

Chris
 
Clutch plates used to contain asbestos also.

I suspect that the heat shield underneath the carbs on a 2000 model contain asbestos as well.

I would avoid metalmaster or metal king pads, as they wear out the discs quickly. Go with modern ceramic if you can get them, the last longer and quieter.

Remember it is the dose that makes the poison. Water can be a poison if you drink too much of it. Google "water intoxication" for more information on this. I will keep on drinking water, just like I will keep on using asbestos brake pads as the exposure for both will be below toxic levels.

James.
 
These are the NOS pads that I have, some state that they contain asbestos while those made by Capco, Ferodo and Girling don't specify, but I will assume that they do until proven otherwise. The other pads that I have which are not shown are all made in Australia, and all are free of any asbestos.

P4080062.jpg


P4080063.jpg


Ron.
 
When brake pads started to come into use ,in the late '70's IIRC discs started to wear. I don't think I fitted replacement discs before that.
discs then were a "main dealer only" part,and so, expensive. They soon appeared on the aftermerket lists. I remember regularly fitting discs and pads to Mk 3 Cortinas. I had a standing order at the local aaccesory shop at £30 a set. Any dust is dangerous, not only asbestos, thats the reason for brake cleaner.
 
Geordie Jim said:
When brake pads started to come into use ,in the late '70's IIRC discs started to wear.
Click to expand...

I assume you mean asbestos free pads, not disc brakes because thay were about long before that, but it is only since the introduction of asbestos free pads that disc wear has really become a problem.
 
I have them on the rear, and purchased them from the above site.
Will be fitting TRW ceramic to the front though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top