What pads for heavy car?
Discussion
I've used Carbotech XP10 and 12 and they're excellent on a heavy car; they do wear quite quickly though. I'm now using XP20 and they're significantly better than the other 2 compounds and seem to be lasting a lot longer too. If you're planning to use them on the road be wary of potential brake squeal (if that's the sort of thing you find annoying). I currently use Carbotech 1521 (Bobcat) pads for road use and switch to the XP20s on track.
Unfortunately to get decent braking on heavy cars you have to spend decent money.
I'd say bite the bullet and buy the Pagid RS29's.
I had them on my M3 with AP Racing BBK. They were fantastic. Yes, the price is high but then it has been said they don't wear down as quickly as some other (cheaper) pads.
Swap them out after each track day so you're not wasting them on the road. (That's what I did)
To be honest, the wear rate and cost of brakes and tyres was the reason I traded my M3 in for the Lotus.
I wanted to do more track days and as you mention, things like £75+ a day for brake wear alone gets a bit much. (unless you're loaded)
I'd say bite the bullet and buy the Pagid RS29's.
I had them on my M3 with AP Racing BBK. They were fantastic. Yes, the price is high but then it has been said they don't wear down as quickly as some other (cheaper) pads.
Swap them out after each track day so you're not wasting them on the road. (That's what I did)
To be honest, the wear rate and cost of brakes and tyres was the reason I traded my M3 in for the Lotus.
I wanted to do more track days and as you mention, things like £75+ a day for brake wear alone gets a bit much. (unless you're loaded)
You might want to look at some Performance Friction 06 compound pads as well, guessing they must do them for an E46 M3. I had 1mm of wear out of a total of 13mm pad material on my last track day with a BBK on an S2000, as opposed to two track days max from cheaper 'performance' pads before upgrading to the big brake kit and pads to these.
I use Ferodo DS2500 front and rear on Black Diamond grooved front and OEM rear discs (BMW E30 M3)...Fluid is either ATE Super Blue or AP 551 with braided lines and a E38 master cylinder...
Never had any issue with brake fade or performance and the pads last well, are OK for road use and are fairly low-dusting.
I've tried EBC Green stuff (albeit on a Nissan S13) and Red Stuff and neither is as good or as hard wearing as the DS2500 and they are awfully bad in the dust department...
Mintex 1155 are pretty good, too, but I've only used them on a light (720Kg) saloon car...
Never had any issue with brake fade or performance and the pads last well, are OK for road use and are fairly low-dusting.
I've tried EBC Green stuff (albeit on a Nissan S13) and Red Stuff and neither is as good or as hard wearing as the DS2500 and they are awfully bad in the dust department...
Mintex 1155 are pretty good, too, but I've only used them on a light (720Kg) saloon car...
fushion julz said:
I've tried EBC Green stuff (albeit on a Nissan S13) and Red Stuff and neither is as good or as hard wearing as the DS2500 and they are awfully bad in the dust department.
The EBC Greenstuff & Redstuff are road legal normal use pads, so can't really be compared with a (non road legal) track compound like the DS2500. Same statement refers to the whole Pagid RS range, and probably most of the other 'track/race' pads mentioned here.Although I wouldn't get too hung up on the road legal bit though as most of the listed track/race pads are better than their OEM/road legal counterparts, and just haven't been ECE R90 certified (which can be a costly business).
A better comparison (not saying it's a better pad) would be the EBC Bluestuff NDX (track/race) or Orangestuff (race). Although if you want to stay road legal then EBC's top pad is the Yellowstuff.
If you're going to swap between track & road pads then there's no issue with ECE R90.
My E36 328 runs RS29's and they really do not wear quickly. I've done a few thousand miles on them and they look maybe 15% worn?
weight is about 1250kg's + driver, stopping power is immense with porsche 911 4 pots.
I've heard a pair RS29's will go though 2 pairs of disc's, which is scary when the E46M3 disc's i use are something like £350 a pair!
weight is about 1250kg's + driver, stopping power is immense with porsche 911 4 pots.
I've heard a pair RS29's will go though 2 pairs of disc's, which is scary when the E46M3 disc's i use are something like £350 a pair!
bulldog5046 said:
I've heard a pair RS29's will go though 2 pairs of disc's, which is scary when the E46M3 disc's i use are something like £350 a pair!
Hmm - that would require disks made by the McVitties chocolate biscuit factory. On Porsches you will go through many sets of RS29s before you need to bin the disks (even on OE disks).Bladez said:
gruffalo said:
RS14's seem to work well for me or try Carbon Lorraine pads, Brummie on here is the importer of them.
+1 for Carbon Lorraine. I use RS6 compound in my Mazda RX7 road/track car (1200kg) and they are excellent.DiscoColin said:
Hmm - that would require disks made by the McVitties chocolate biscuit factory. On Porsches you will go through many sets of RS29s before you need to bin the disks (even on OE disks).
Only repeating what i've heard 
I've not got enough miles on mine yet to see what wears first.
mmm-five said:
The EBC Greenstuff & Redstuff are road legal normal use pads, so can't really be compared with a (non road legal) track compound like the DS2500. Same statement refers to the whole Pagid RS range, and probably most of the other 'track/race' pads mentioned here.
Although I wouldn't get too hung up on the road legal bit though as most of the listed track/race pads are better than their OEM/road legal counterparts, and just haven't been ECE R90 certified (which can be a costly business).
A better comparison (not saying it's a better pad) would be the EBC Bluestuff NDX (track/race) or Orangestuff (race). Although if you want to stay road legal then EBC's top pad is the Yellowstuff.
If you're going to swap between track & road pads then there's no issue with ECE R90.
I use the DS2500s on the road too...Ferodo do say they are OK for road use and, whilst a bit wooden until warm, they do stop the car well with any squeal or grab...The only issue is that they don't accept the anti-rattle pins/clips so they do rattle a bit...not that that bothers me at all...Although I wouldn't get too hung up on the road legal bit though as most of the listed track/race pads are better than their OEM/road legal counterparts, and just haven't been ECE R90 certified (which can be a costly business).
A better comparison (not saying it's a better pad) would be the EBC Bluestuff NDX (track/race) or Orangestuff (race). Although if you want to stay road legal then EBC's top pad is the Yellowstuff.
If you're going to swap between track & road pads then there's no issue with ECE R90.
The car has passed several MoTs with them fitted, too....
I was only passing on my experiences with various pads on my saloon cars...
To me, DS2500s are a known quantity..Given the not insignificant cost of pads for my M3, I can't justify trying various compounds in the hope that one may offer a small improvement over the DS2500s which are easy to obtain and (relatively) reasonably priced and hard wearing.
I do have a set of OEM Textars, too...They fade quite quickly on track and wear way too fast, but they are good enough for (fast) road use, although they do make the pedal feel softer and "longer"...I used to swap the pads over after every trackday...but can't be bothered anymore.
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