Asbestos in Brakes

[barnfind]

Whilst surfing for spares, I've noticed quite a few people selling NOS brake shoes and linings for all sorts of classic cars right back to prewar types, particularly on Ebay. It occurs to me that anyone buying these, particularly for a very old car, needs to remember that brake linings did contain quite a lot of asbestos until legislation finally killed it off and if these are ex stock that was contemporary with the car they are manufactured for, then they may well have a lot of asbestos in them.
What did surpise me when I looked into this a little more was that it appears that UK legislation was only finalised in 2005 to prevent the use of asbestos in brakes, although many manufacturers had abandoned its use since the mid eighties.
Since January 2005, the fitting and supply for fitting in the United Kingdom of asbestos based materials is prohibited. Older (pre 1973) vehicles were given a five year exemption before being obliged to use non-asbestos brake linings when replacing. The exemption, on grounds of safety, has allowed time to assess the suitability of available materials and manufacturers have overcome teething problems and developed new lining materials during this period.

So your barn find car (and mine) could conceivably have quite a lot of asbestos dust hanging around in the brake drums and by buying up that bargain set of NOS shoes, you could be perpetuating the problem and possibly breaking the law as well!

Anyway, the reason for the post is just to say, buyer beware, and the same applies to clutch plates as well, incidentally.
Does anyone know when Renault stopped using asbestos in brake and clutch linings?

 

[Steve I]

Don't panic

Vehicle brake shoes/pads used to contain chrysotile asbestos, though modern replacements do not. The dust which accumulated as a result of wear could therefore contain some asbestos fibres, although the heat generated when the brakes are used is so great it would destroy much of the fibre present. Occasional exposures to the residues are extremely unlikely to result in asbestos-related diseases. Some professional mechanics have contracted such diseases but their exposure was much more intense than that of an experienced amateur and some of these mechanics were additionally exposed by shaping and fitting new linings to old shoes, an operation not performed by the amateur.

if you have been exposed there's not a lot you can do about it. and as said buyer beware. What ever "DO NOT" use an air line to blow of the dust.

 

[DaveP]

As a long time Mk1 Ford Escort driver, the old asbestos pads were quite sought after, they work better, fade less and last longer as well as reducing the wear on your disks. Now we all know it's dangerous, and dust masks are around the risk is minimal. Asbestos is a bona fide miracle material, if it is handled properly.

 

[DaveP]

Asbestos was at one time used in cigarette filters, which must really have been a double whammy

 

[iMacThere4iAm]

I have been working on nuclear power stations all summer, and finding asbestos-free gaskets that are as good as the asbestos ones originally fitted is turning out to be impossible. It's a shame about the health risk because it really is brilliant at what it does.