Brake Pads - Track, AX, and street?
 

All,
I've spent the last hour reading through just about every brake pad related post on this forum (at least what I can find with the limited search capabilities!).

I have Hawk HPS performance street pads now, and HATE them. No initial bite, they don't seem to get better with temp, and give me zero confidence on the track.

What I'm looking for is a pad that will perform well for my AX (6/year) and track days (4/year), and be tolerable on the street. This is a semi-dedicated race car (2000 S) that I do drive on weekends in nice weather now and again. I also have to drive it to and from the tracks.

Cost is mostly not a factor, don't care about dust, but I'd prefer something that isn't overly noisy. The key is that they have to perform well cold (AX) as well as hot (track).

Is this a reasonable request? The reading I have done seems to point to a few solutions:

- EBC Blue or Yellow (Probably not Red)
- Pagid Yellow or Orange
- Akemono?

I'd appreciate your input on this!! My first AX of the season is on 3/28...

I used to drive to and from the track with pagid yellows and they worked fine on the street, just keep in mind they don't have as much bite when ice cold. They could get pretty noisy, however. Beveling the leading edge might help a bit.

As easy as the pads are to change on our cars, I used 2 sets of pads (stock & yellow) and just changed them before heading to the track. I usually bleed my brakes before each track event, so the wheels were already off the car anyway. I consider this the best approach because I have not heard of a single pad that will handle both track and street well.

I've used a variety of pads on track over the years - but never AutoX. One notable pad that had very good initial bite and good longevity and heat management was the Raybestos ST-47. The 43 is good as well but has a slightly lower heat range. Easy on rotors and last pretty damn long.

I used Ferodo DS2500's in my Subaru's in the past and they did quit well on the track and street. Might want to look into those.

I am using EBC Red for street, Autocross, and HPDE in the Boxster and my son is using EBC Yellow for the same, and his Miata is a DD. He got the pads for free so he has been running them. They are dusty as !##$%^. The EBC Reds do generate some dust after a Track day or an Autocross but they do not seem to require a heating up process before they are effective. Please note that I have never driven any other high perf brake pads so I don't have a good comparison point, but I do like them a lot better than the stock pads that were in there before. I will also note that the stock pads did not give me any trouble at Roebling, Road Atlanta, or any autocrosses. but the last time I ran them at RRR I used up about half the fronts in one weekend.

Steve

You can go the Hawk HP Plus, which is a step up from the HPS in terms of bite... and they still are ok cold for autox. Get ready for a little noise though.

Thanks all for your input, appreciate it!!

I'd suggest EBC Yellow. This is what I run on my street driven to/from the track Spec Boxster. Excellent initial bite (cold or hot), good track performance, and generally cheaper than Pagid's.

If you had a full-time race car, I'd say go with Pagid's for the last 10% improvement in performance regardless of the cost.

I ran these also for track days on my 500 HP Legacy GT and they kept up fine for the street and occasional autox

+1 on the HP Plus pads. Initial bite is so good it is alarming. with R-comps it feels like the car is doing an endo. They do make a lot of racket on the street when they are cold.

EBC Yellow I have run these continuously for the last 3 years on and off the street. I also tried the EBC Blue. I didn't see any real difference in the blues over the yellows and I'm back on yellows. Good price but high dust. I get no brake noise even after running hard on the track.

I put on PowerStop ceramic pads a few weeks ago and just got back from a weekend on the track.
They make no noise, seem to be fine even cold. I did a club back road tour the week after I installed them and they worked great, also almost no dust.

I also found them to work well at the track last weekend. I did not experience any fade, even when they were really hot. Had a bunch of corners where I went from 4th to 2nd. On of them was a hairpin, around 90 mph to 25 for the corner.

Bought them on Amazon and they were $60 for both axles, although I think they were priced wrong as one set was $10. Probably should have been around $45

I was looking at RedStuff as well, but figured as these were 1/4 the cost i would try them.

One thing to watch with street pads is that the wear may not be linear, as the pad gets thinner it may not disperse heat well and the rate of wear can go up dramatically, I think that may be what happened with my street pads.

Another +1 on the EBC yellowstuff. Good on the street, MUCH better than stock pads on the track, and relatively inexpensive.

Carbotech pads are also well liked for AX and DE.

There seems to be a lot of consensus around EBC Yellow. I think I will try those. If, for some reason I don't completely love them, there are quite a few other great suggestions. Thanks again for all the input!!

Consider your tire grip and heat when choosing your pads. All are a tradeoff but finding the best for you will be heavily influenced by tire grip. If you run street tires you generate a lot less heat than R-comps.

I run Raybestos ST-43 all the time street/track. The are fine for most street driving although sometimes sound like grinding when stone cold and sometimes a bit of squeal. They have a very high heat range to 1200F so they will never mush out on the track and are really in their element in continuous lapping with R-Comp tires. The fronts are also good for a full year including 20 track days and a few AX. Nothing holds up like these do. They are expensive similar to Pagid Yellow but I think far superior pads for regular track work on sticky tires.

This is an excellent resource for brake products. They know their business well and offer expert advice. They will also custom-cut pads for your car on request:
http://porterfield-brakes.com/images/raycomp2008_11_06_03_19_04.pdf

Any video or trip report? How was it?