spiegler guy

The name SBK 5 is protected by World Superbike and Carbone Lorraine had to change it to XBK 5. There are minimal differences between the compounds. And there is nothing to worry about, as I said, we never had any issues with the street compounds and many riders (beginner/intermediate level) are using them on the track. Thank you,

I know, that sounds strange, but here is the process: When Carbone Lorraine Sintered Pads are formed, the pad puck and backing plate are heated, and a filler metal is drawn into the joint to bond them together via capillary action. This process is different from welding because the temperature is considerably lower, and the base metals being joined are not actually melted. The brazing process creates a metallurgical bond between the filler metal, the pad puck, and the backing plate. In other words, the pad and backing plate essentially become one solid piece of metal. Just like welding, the strength of the bond between the parts often exceeds that of the individual parts. Because temperatures remain relatively low during the process, the physical properties of the pad remain unaffected: distortion and warping are nominal, and stress in the joint area is minimized. That means it's almost impossible for the backing plate to separate from the pad puck (delaminate). Other pad types typically attach the pad puck to the backing plate with glue or rivets. The reality is however, that the metallurgical bond on Carbone Lorraine pads is stronger, and resists shear more than other types of attachment. You still can see pad material on the backing plate.

I think it is time for me to comment regarding this subject. My name is Matthias Schaub and I am the president of Spiegler Performance Parts. Approximately 2 weeks ago we received a phone call from a dealership that their customer, Joseph Hansen, had a brake pad failure on a race track. I asked them to send the brake pads back to us so that we can inspect them and that we would replace them. As of 03/30/10 we have yet to receive the brake pads. On Friday 03/26/10 I received a phone call from Joseph that he wanted to stop by at Spiegler on Saturday to drop off the brake pads in question, but he never showed. My impressions are solely from the photos and information given since we do not have the physical product. From what I can see from the pictures, those pads should have been replaced. You don’t run the same tires for 6 events either (even if they still look good…). The pad did not separate from the backing plate; there is still pad material left on the backing plate. When the brake pad compound wears down, the pads heat up faster and the pads get hotter because there is not enough pad material. This means the pad will wear faster, and if there is not enough material, failure might happen. There is no blame on the manufacturer Carbone Lorraine. Joseph is spending a lot of time on many forums to give the Carbone Lorraine brake pads a bad name instead of sending us the pads for exchange. I would like to send those to Paris for evaluation. I offered him new pads, but up to today I have not had further contact with him. My offer to Joseph still stands to replace those pads at no cost. One unfortunate thing with racing is that stuff breaks. We all see this on TV, at races and so on. Just last Sunday in Formula 1, the brake rotor from the leading driver (Vettel) failed. Even the most sophisticated machinery with the best engineers has to encounter failures. Tires, sprockets, con rods, crankshafts, chains and many more parts are failing. And that can have many different causes. In regards to the C44 racing brake pads; yes, I know of 3 failures which happened in 2007 and 2008. One was Robert Jensen; one half of the pad fell of when he was changing front wheels. We could not determine why this happened. Robert is extremely hard on the brakes and did not have any other issues. He goes through approximately 40-60 cards a season and uses them for 7 years now and you all know about the results. We sent the brake pads back to the factory in Paris, France for analysis. It is not easy to determine while those failures are happening as there are several factors which could cause it. Just to list a few; not replacing the pads when they should have been replaced, manufacturing mistake, improper installation, lack of maintenance, etc... One mistake made during the mounting process could be that the brake pads received a shock during installation of the calipers. Example: The calipers don’t slide easily over the brake rotors (one of the pads is cocked) and the mechanic/rider is smacking the caliper over the rotor. That might cause a hair crack in the pad material. This crack is now getting bigger and bigger during riding and finally the pad material separates. I’m not saying this was the cause, but sometimes little things that are not realized can have an effect. These failures happen from time to time and they happen to many brands of brake pads. I know of stock brake pads which fell of from street bikes (never been on the track). All C44 racing pads have been replaced with the C55 racing compound and I am not aware of any failures. Since 2000 we have sold thousands of Carbone Lorraine brake pads every year and did not have one case with a street brake pad where the material separated. Carbone Lorraine has an excellent reputation and just to list a few accomplishments: - Steeve Rapp just finished the 2010 Daytona 200 on the podium as 3rd. He also finished Fontana 3rd and seventh. He is using Carbone Lorraine C55 brake pads - 600 Supersport World Champion in 2000 and 2002 (Joerg Teuchert, Fabian Foret) - Endurance World Champion 1983, 1987, 1988, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and yes that means all those 24 hour races… - World Superbike 2006, Regis Lacconi on the factory Kawasaki and C44 brake pads! - 125 GP, Johann Zarco in 2009 - They have countless French championships - WERA National Championship 2006 C Superstock, Robert Jensen - WERA National Championship 2006 Formula 1, Robert Jensen - WERA National Championship 2007 C Superstock, Robert Jensen - WERA National Championship 2007 B Superstock, Robert Jensen - WERA National Championship 2008 B Superstock, Robert Jensen - WERA National Championship 2008 Formula 1, Robert Jensen - WERA National Championship 2008 A Superstock, Robert Jensen - Winner Red Bull Rookies Cup in 2008 - World champion in 2007 Motocross MX3 - And many more I also talked to Carbone Lorraine this morning and they offer to investigate the failure and will comment on this. We are always here to help our dealer ships and customers. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact us at 937-291-1735 or email us. Thank you,