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DANGER - Volar Brake Pads

9K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  Nick Goodwin 
#1 · (Edited)
DANGER - Cheap Brake Pads

This is my Public Service Announcement for the day:

Don't go cheap on brake pads!!! You'd think that would be common sense but not always, apparently.
A friend bought a Legend and we immediately discovered that the friction material was gone from one rear pad. The opposing pad looked almost new. That's odd, we thought. Replaced the rear pads with EBCs and off we went. A couple weeks later, he said that he lost his front brakes momentarily. He said he had to pump the lever a few times and they came back, sort of. Luckily he was in slow traffic and not diving into a fast corner somewhere. Lo and behold, the friction material was missing from one of the front pads while the opposing pad looked new. Apparently the friction material just flew off.
Come to find out, the pads were marked VMFA196. A quick search revealed they are made/marketed by VOLAR and available on Amazon.

You have been warned.
 
#4 ·
Just checked the spare pads I have for the Alcons on my 900 Sprint. I bought them on ebay, really cheap. They are the same brand. Needless to say, they will never make it on to the bike. Thanks for the heads up. ...J.D.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I bought a pair last year or so for my KLR 650. I didn't have a whole lot of use on them until I got to Alaska some 5500 miles later on my cousin and I's trip. We were taking some neighborhood backroads in Fairbanks, that were wet from rain, and I came into a turn a little fast. I got on the rear brake a little and the rear wheel locked up, bike jerked left, then I countered and it jerked right and I lowsided into somebody's lawn exclaiming "aw f**k!" as the events set in motion. My cousin ahead of me heard it on the intercom and merely replies "what?". He turns around and didn't even see my bike, just me laying in the grass. I got up and we laughed and laughed, looking at the 4 foot path my footpeg dug into someone's front lawn. A day or so later, we went to get our tires changed at a dealer and the service guy returned to the counter. "Your rear tire is swapped out sir, but you don't have any back brakes". -- "What do you mean?" -- "No pads, just metal on metal!"

I then realized this is what was causing this obnoxious grindy sound in the rear that my cousin suggested was merely dirt. Nope, it was the Volar pads I bought, on the cheap, from Amazon - that shouldn't have worn out. Granted we had a lot of miles and offroad and dust by that point, but still! Don't cheap out, it's dangerous.

PS. To this day anytime we see any video of accidents, whether a kid dumping their Playskool toy car or a dirt bike or car rolling, we exclaim "aww f**k!" and chuckle
 
#12 ·
The incidents of fakes on Amazon is a real thing and a real problem for them. The issue is, if a private seller sends something in to them to be "fulfilled by Amazon", they might send that out to a regular customer (assuming its new) if the inventory location is optimal.

IE, you buy a pair of those brake pads, and someone sent in a dozen of them to the California warehouse. If you buy in CA, you might get some of that dozen... not the pallet Amazon has in their Ohio warehouse - even if you bought from Amazon, not the 3rd party seller. They just track what they owe each seller and don't worry about the physical item and keeping them separate.

I've gotten counterfeit Gillette razor blades, ray-ban sunglasses, Duracell batteries and something else I can't remember right now. Amazon is good about refunding if you recognize it and send it back.

There's also been lots of reported cases in the BMW car world with filters too.

I bought new pads for my Legend and Trophy from Triumph a while back. They were cheap enough I didn't bother looking at the aftermarket.
 
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