Genuine brake spares

THE following has been received from Girling Ltd.:

“Remember ‘Dirling’—the unknown maker of disc brake pads in boxes bearing more than a passing resemblance to genuine Girling packs? Having seen only the box, Girling declined to comment on the possible quality of the product. Now a set of ‘Dirling’ pads has been obtained from the same source and tested. The results were:

1. The sled backing plates were “reclaimed” odd ones from which the original friction material had been roughly ground by hand. Deep gauges show where the operator was not too careful.
2. The edges of both friction material and backing plates had been ground to too small a size, so that the plates would rattle in use.
3. Instead of being positively located in holes in the backing plate, and permanently bonded to it, the friction material had been attached with an adhesive. Four centre punch indentations had been made, in a random pattern, presumably to provide some sort of key.
4. Two pads tested to destruction failed under a shear load of 1,000 lb. and 1,600 lb. respectively. The minimum shear figure for a comparable Girling pad is 3,900 lb.—nearly for times that or the weaker of the two imitations.

As a result of Girling representations, the ‘Dirling’ box has been taken off the market. But there is no law to stop the sale of the pads under another name.“