Brake pads Zimmermann or Mintex

I recently got a pair of pretty rusty 325 calipers for £50 (mine are the smaller ones from a 316) and sandblasted them back to clean metal. Then painted with high temp paint and rebuild kit £30 (pistons, seals, guide pins, bleed valves etc). I was pretty happy with the result which cost me around £100 for the pair. I then went with mintex discs and pads and a full set of braided brake lines my mate had. Full refurb prolly cost me £300 and are significantly better than they were but I don't think they will be as good as a 4 pot setup.

I’ve always used Zimmerman rotors and Mintex pads, and have yet to find a better combo. I’ve tried Brembo, Stoptech, Bosch, but nothing has pleased me like Mintex [pedal feel, stopping power, no noise, very low dust [especially when used on drilled rotors]].

I did Redbox pads on my B5.5 Passat with 312 rotors, and I loved them. I skimped out when I first did the upgrade and went with CARQUEST pads and absolutely hated them. Maybe that's why I liked the Redbox so much....

Mintex Redbox are always on my list for Daily Driver pads on VWs. I just started into my 3rd set on my 180k wagon. In contrast, the Mintex are linear, fairly quiet, wear well, are easy on rotors, low dust and can tolerate a bit of spirited driving.

Once the mintex pads had sufficiently cleaned the rotors, the pulsing was gone. Granted, they are much dustier, but I'll take that over the constant pulsing.

MINTEX Pads All Around

I have the DBA 4000s and really like them--but I have the Mintex pads and in the cold, they squeel horribly. But, low dust and decent performance.

I've heard there was in issue with this with mintex pads for the Passat. the red boxes would just start up under high heat

mintex reds are WORSE than stock in my opinion....i bought some, and got ride of em a few months later

Driving home today, and I had to brake HARD to avoid a collision, the fade was awful - the pedal went straight to the floor - no ABS activation, NOTHING... Got home and the fronts are SMOKING, and the rears are completely toast - I mean GONE - there is almost NO friction material left, and a PILE of it on my wheels... These had seen NO track usage, and NO abuse in the last thousand miles... thanks a lot MINTEX - you've made an angry customer for life...