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What are the best brake pads?


geofff

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Most people don't tend to use their brakes as hard as they reckon. Confidence comes with the correct compound & that when you'll be able to go for heavy & late braking & shave seconds off your times. Personally i think EBC greens or Mintex 1144 compounds are only really fit for the bin on a competition car. They are OK for moderate use yes & on the road I guess, but when you get to lean on them more the mu value goes out of the window in favour of higher mu that PAGId 14's or 15's give. Expensive pads yes, but you'll only need to buy them once for the westy & the discs won't suffer either.
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I have to agree with Windy here.

Originaly I was running Hawk blues in the front and cheap pads in the rear. This gave very little cold braking at the front  but were reasonable when hot on track. Rear was useless and gave naff all braking.

I then moved to hawk HB+  (or is it HP+) pads in the front. A bit better cold but very little feel.

I then moved to Pagid RS15 front with Green stuff rear. Pagids good from cold and even better with some heat in them. Had bias wound fully rearward and still did not get enough rear brake to balance the front.

I then fitted Pagid RS14's rear and as they bedded in the rears were locking first so I wound the bais forward a bit.

So with RS15 front and RS14 rear the brakes are awesome. In a perfect word I would probably go down a size on the master cylinders and wold trade a bit of hard pedal for a little less pressure needed.

Hope this helps.

Bazzer

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  • 4 months later...

Ferodo DS2500 for me, I have tried RedDot and bog standard pads from Halfords. I found that the pedal force required was a bit high, they didn't work very well from cold and suffered from fade even on the road.  I bought some 1144 pads with the intention of changing them but because of a thread on here that I can't find decided to go for the Freodo DS2500 pads front and rear and will probably never want to change them. DS2500 pads are very very good.

I drive as hard on the road as one would want but am not the 'last of the late brakers' on the track although I do use them fairly hard.

Car spec:  :zzz:

vented front discs

M16 calipers on the front,

solid read disks

XR4x4 calipers on the rear

AP racing master cylinder

15" A048 tyres

DS2500 pads front and rear

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Seems like 1144's or DS2500 are the candidates...

I guess it is wise to match FR and RR pads.  Currently I think my Red Dot pads are a bit crappy, so will change all pads.

What pads are used for Rear?  IRS.  I recall escort "something"...

Simon

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  • 2 years later...
Has there been any progress on brake pads or in the general feeling still the same on these??? Looking to change mine over winter so very interested to here if there has been any better options to consider.
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Nope still use DS3000 with a deal of success ;) DS2500 if road and track DS3000 for sprint/track only

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EBC Yellow for racing - shhhhhh!  ;):D
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I changed my standard road pads to ebc greenstuff and was very unhappy then i read the bedding in instructions on their website that said to allow 300 miles or so.

All bedded in now after 500 miles and performance is up to the job on my crossflow se in road use.

Just my opinion but don't expect miracles straight out of the box.

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Don't think you have to bother doing much bedding-in on the mintex 1144 pads as their organic compounds are oven cooked to minimise/ eliminate gassing (that would occur with brake fade). Obviously they are only intended to run up-to their specified temperature, otherwise they will be :arse: Once scuffed in mine worked fine.

For this reason some discussion has been made over drilled grooved disks being a waste of time/money on these compounds (as the drilled bits are to release gas), and you are effectively reducing contact area.

Despite this I'm running mintex on vented disks with grooves (for delamination purposes), possibly money wasted but they look good.

Note that 1144's and similar compounds are ideally meant to run on new disks (particularly if abbrasive metallic pads have been used prior) as they are soft and bead poorly, often resulting in chronic wear.

Hope this is of some help.

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I'm going to do a bit of testing later on in the year to try and find out in a more scientific way which is the best, but using the same car ,same day and just changing the pads. Will let you know the results.
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For this reason some discussion has been made over drilled grooved disks being a waste of time/money on these compounds (as the drilled bits are to release gas), and you are effectively reducing contact area.

Despite this I'm running mintex on vented disks with grooves (for delamination purposes), possibly money wasted but they look good.

Fact: contact area bears no relation to friction generated ;)

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MMM, Very Scientific.

Why do brake manufacturers push top of the line caliper/pad combinations with increased pad area?

Just thought you would have to push very hard to stop the car with your finger (small contact patch).

I note your comment is true but it does not take account of all things being equal. (i.e. pedal pressures).

Am I being an  :arse:  or a smart  :arse:

Option 3 is both of the above.

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Nope still use DS3000 with a deal of success ;) DS2500 if road and track DS3000 for sprint/track only

Hi Matt,

assuming you use the DS3000 for sprinting mostly - i assume they are ok to get up to temps quickly  ?? is there much difference between DS2500 and the DS3000 for cold performance, getting up to temp and maintaining temps etc ??

Interested more for circuit racing, odd sprint/hill but no road.

anyone used the Poly 'E' Pads ??

Mark.

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MMM, Very Scientific.

Why do brake manufacturers push top of the line caliper/pad combinations with increased pad area?

Just thought you would have to push very hard to stop the car with your finger (small contact patch).

I note your comment is true but it does not take account of all things being equal. (i.e. pedal pressures).

Am I being an  :arse:  or a smart  :arse:

Option 3 is both of the above.

I'll let you use all of your fingers - bet you still don't stop your car! :D

Surface area doesnt affect friction, because for a given pressure applied, a single 'finger' would be pressed far harder into the car than if the same pressure was applied over five fingers - if you get my drift... :t-up:

But what increaesd surafce area does do is help dissipate heat (which is what the is created by slowing the car), and also allow more material (both disc and pad) which controls wear rate - more to wear out in the first place! ;)

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