Tech Support

Mintex Pads on our VW Passat 1.8T

Just thought I'd give an update on the Mintex Red Box Brakes on our Passat 1.8T 5 speed. A while back we installed the Mintex pads in conjunction with stock Brembo rotors to do an "apples to apples" comparison with the stock VW pads.

Currently with 20K miles on them, the Mintex are as quiet and easy to modulate as stock, have increased initial bite and are about half as dusty as the OEM pads. The dust is also a lighter, less noticeable color than the VW OEM pads, which is nice in extending the wheel cleaning intervals. If anything, the rotors are experiencing more wear than with the OEM set up with a shallow lip starting to form on the outer edge of the rotors. Based on the current wear, we're expecting 60K miles from the rear pads and rotors and 80K from the fronts.

For comparison sake, our Passat sees quite a bit of long distance freeway driving mixed with spirited mountain driving. When working them out in the mountains, they have good fade resistance even though they seem to run a little hotter than stock. Of course, your mileage may vary based on driving conditions but the Mintex Red Box pads work well as a replacement for OEM. The bonus is that they are also a good high performance, autocross pad as well.