Carl Beck, what do you know about Akebono brake pads?

When I bought my Apr/70 240Z, it had fewer than 3,000 miles on it. At my first brake change I noticed it had come with Akebono brake shoes. I went to Honolulu Datsun and tried to buy some new ones.

I was told these were only sold in Japan and I would have to buy a replacement brand, which I did. I had never before heard of Akebono so it seemed reasonable that they were not an American-known company. I assumed that they had been original equipment on the Z and that was the only time I would be likely to see a set.

For all the succeeding brake changes on my Z, I never could get another pair of Akebonos.

Last fall, while I was helping Rick Morgan get #13 up onto the trailer to come to its unveiling at our 2nd Annual Z Car Show, the R/R wheel started dragging. Rather than fight with it up onto the trailer, I pulled the wheel and brake drum and, Lo and Behold! it was wearing a set of well-worn Akebonos!

Today I see that Ake has a plant here in the USA and they make brakes for a lot of different cars. So finding a set of Akebonos now would not be a big deal.

But #13 had been in storage for more than 30 years before I pulled the drum. Rick didn't recall ever having to change the rear brakes while he was driving it, only the fronts.

Now, #13 was stored just at 100,000 miles, so the brakes which were on it that day were the ones on it back in 1977 or so. They were well-worn when I looked but still had a 1/4" of life left on them.

We know the car had been damaged and spent some time being repaired, during which it wouldn't have been driven and the brakes wouldn't have been used. And Rick drove the car sparingly and carefully because he didn't want bad things happening to it.

But do you suppose it is reasonable to think that these Alkebonos (which would not have been available in the US in 1970s) could actually be the ORGINAL brake shoes from 1969??? The car had 100,000 miles on it, altho carefully driven ones.

Frank

Hi Frank:
Interesting observation.

To tell you the truth - I never noticed what brand the original brake shoes were. I put about 68K on my first 240Z and never touched the brakes. I only have about 80K miles on my 72 and I've never had to change the rear shoes. Since about 75 I've ran only silicon brake fluid {DOT 5} in my Blue 72, so I've never hand to change the rear wheel cylinders either.

The rear brakes only do about 20% of the stopping... and if the car was mostly driven "highway miles" I can see the rear shoes lasting 100K miles. Most of the 240Z's that I've seen with rear brake shoes that needed to be changed - were due to rear wheel cylinders leaking brake fluid on the shoes...


FWIW,
Carl B.

Not to answer your question, but I run Akebono pads on my Subaru WRX. They were purchased through "The Tire Rack". The particular ones I run, Euro Ceramic Pads, make almost ZERO brake dust. Their initial bite is a little soft but they work well, modulate well, and best of all, I have clean wheels all the time.

_________________
-Dave
76Z Turbo'd
72 In Progress---DONE!

Well, I'm wondering if those might actually be the original shoes.

We know the car spent its early days in the flatlands of Tidewater Virginia and Eastern Carolina (picture long flat trips with few stops), and then its most-recent 30 years sleeping. So I guess it's *possible* that that was the first set of brake shoes it ever wore. It might be interesting to Akebono if they were original ~ 40 years on one set of brake shoes might make a good advertiZement.

Dave, your ceramic pads are supposed to survive harsh treatment and high heat. Were they horribly expensive, compared to 'common' pads?

Not sure, I have this problem with my memory where I forget all the money I've ever wasted. 40 years on front pads, in a light car, that is not beat on, is not that far fetched at all. Call Akebono's marketing department.

_________________
-Dave
76Z Turbo'd
72 In Progress---DONE!

They were actually the rear drums. Rick had changed the front pads.

I wonder if Ake would be interested in hearing about that? (And it would give #13 some more exposure )