In Defense of Marc Ingegno Brakes

[FastEddieB]

I know the Marc Ingegno brakes on my Sky Arrow have a bad rap. Many upgrade their CT’s or whatever to Matcos, both for power and durability and cheaper replacement parts, especially brake pads. I also know new Sky Arrows come with Beringer brakes, which have a good reputation.

I’ll admit my brakes could be stronger, but part of that might be the finger brakes in my plane allowing for less force to be applied than toe brakes. But they suffice. And they’ve only needed one minor repair when some moisture got into one of the wheel cylinders early on and I had to polish out some light corrosion.

Anyway, I was still on my original brake pads after 13 years and 600 hours. My Inspection Checklist calls for brake pad replacement after 600 hours, so I thought I’d go ahead and replace them. Good news is a while back Andy Walker had given me the Marc Ingegno brake parts he had removed from his CT when installing Matcos including his old brake pads and they definitely had less wear than mine, so why not?
Anyway, here’s what I came up with after the fact after taking some rough measurements:

Here’s how much pad was left on my originals:

And Andy’s - with what he thinks was about 300 hours:

Disregard the 20mm - I was having a brain fart and the total width of the pad plus backing plate was .2” instead. 

If these last another 600 hours and 13 years I may never have to spring for the rather expensive  replacement pads. I also found some riveted linings that match the shape of my pads nearly perfectly, and may experiment with those some time in the future.

[GrassStripFlyBoy]

I'm sticking with Marc brakes from perspective I rarely use them on my grass strip, once I set and then release following the run up, I rarely touch them again until a tiny stop & setting parking brake for shut down in front of hanger.  Flying into paved airports I find I use them for taxi speed control more than anything.  I think the main downside is when running the smaller tires the speed of tread wear due to poor alignment, which seems to be the reason many CT owners have swapped.  Not so much the pads & costs, but the combination of also chewing tires up.  It's not been horrific but I did rotate the tires recently, and would swag about 300 hours as life of small tires in my circumstance.  Going to 600-6 can solve that issue, but I'm still on the hunt for tundra pants.

[Roger Lee]

The reason many got away from Marc's is they aren't very good. The Italian's in their wisdom make the disc float and the calipers solid. backwards from most autos especially in the US. The pads fade bad with heat, the springs in the calipers push the pads away from the disc causing you to pump the handle, parts are expensive, master cylinder pressure is weak and lacks volume. The wheels change size with tire pressure causing some binding on the disc and the pins on the disc corrode. When I needed my Marc brakes and had to stop in a short distance they failed me and others plus having to pump them.

Matco's have almost twice the pressure and volume. The calipers float and the disc solid, the pads don't fade out with heat, parts are a lot cheaper and they will hold your plane under full throttle. I have a CT coming in 2 weeks that are switching out.

[Jim Meade]

I"m with you, Darrell.  My CTSW has almost 700 hours on it and one I know  has 1000 and the Marc brakes are working fine.  If I ever need to change them of course I'll consider Matco as well as Marc, but in the meantime, the one's I have work and they're paid for.

[FastEddieB]

Well, floating rotors are simply an engineering choice. They’re used rather often on motorcycles and get the job done. On my plane I do clean and lightly lube the rotor pins in place every few months or as needed.

I don’t think I’ve ever had my brakes fade.

For my grass strip I would like slightly larger main wheels, but tire wear has been a non-issue - the Desser Monster retreads spent most of their lives on paved runways and seem to be wearing like iron.

I’ll stipulate there are better brakes out there. My point was really that, at least for me, Marc Ingegnos are not that bad! If I don’t defend them, who will???

[Tip]

I had very good service out of the Marc brakes. 950 hours with minimal maintenance. The Matcos are definitely dirtier.

[FastEddieB]

If these pads go 13 more years that’ll make me 84, so replacing them may never come up. But it may.

I already bought these RAPCO items that may work. 

They might be a tad too thick, but that shouldn’t be too hard to deal with.

[Tom Baker]

Those Rapco pads will not last anything like the Marcs did. They are a completely different material.

[FastEddieB]

2 hours ago, Tom Baker said:

Those Rapco pads will not last anything like the Marcs did. They are a completely different material.

Good to know. The originals certainly wore like iron!

You think n exchange the RAPCO’s may be “grippier”?

[Tom Baker]

I don't think they will be grippier.