Standard or uprated pads sprinting

[Duke Caboom]

I have an ep3 type R which I use for sprinting and occasional hill climbing. It is used in the road from time to time. Standard class so standard disks and calipers.

Front pads need replacing. Usual answer in my experience would be Ferodo 2500s but I'm wondering if ability to perform 100% from cold is more important. Maybe good quality standards would be better? Longevity or ability to resit fade not important.

Also my experience is old, maybe 2500 no longer the go-to?

[mmm-five]

I'd say you're not braking hard enough, long enough, often enough for a proper track pad to be of benefit, so I'd go for either a road pad or a soft track pad.

I have tried other pads over the last 20 years, but keep coming back to Pagid RS29. Others seem to fail in one area or another (great cold bite but poor modulation/consistency; poor bite from cold but great on a UK track, not so much on the Ring; great cold bite, good hot performance, but eats discs).

I use them for road and track in my Z4MC as I like the initial bite from cold and the consistent feel throughout. They seem to work in all conditions for me: commuting, weekend hoons in the Dales, Moors, Lake District, Wales, Scotland, for UK trackdays and 'Ring trips.

[df76]

Had my biggest hillclimb moment after I fitted performance pads to the Civic.. it didn’t fancy stopping. But I now have PBS ProRace pads on the front and they’ve been great / work from stone cold, as long as you can cope with the dust.

[Trev450]

I have sprinted a number of new cars in recent years and never bothered to upgrade the pads. Cars that I have modified then yes they have been uprated, but for roadgoing classes standard works well.

[bergclimber34]

I would doubt you are ever going to go long enough in a speed event to bother with uprated pads, especially as they will be cold for the first few bends and cause issues

[Duke Caboom]

Thanks for all the replies.
Agree - I don't think performance under pressure is an issue..
But I have won and lost by less than a tenth....
So are OEM pads as fast, over a 90 second run?

[732NM]

Hawk HP+. I've won a lot of events using these pads, they are specifically designed for the job. Used on the road daily also.
https://www.hawkperformance.com/hp-plus

Absolutely useless on a track day, or for racing, but for sprinting and road use they are outstanding.

[Galveston]

Just use OEM pads. You’ll never get them to fade at a sprint or hillclimb. Knowing that they’ll work properly at the first corner is far more important than ultimate fade resistance.

I’ve competed in Standard Car for years, in a Clio and more recently an MX-5. I hold lots of the class records. I haven’t once had brake fade, even on longer sprints.

[732NM]

Galveston said:

Just use OEM pads. You ll never get them to fade at a sprint or hillclimb. Knowing that they ll work properly at the first corner is far more important than ultimate fade resistance.

I ve competed in Standard Car for years, in a Clio and more recently an MX-5. I hold lots of the class records. I haven t once had brake fade, even on longer sprints.

OEM are garbage compared to my suggestion.

[Galveston]

732NM said:

OEM are garbage compared to my suggestion.

Fair enough, I haven’t tried HP+. What am I missing?

[stevieturbo]

732NM said:

OEM are garbage compared to my suggestion.

One opinion. OEM work perfectly for hundreds of thousands of vehicles sold when new.

Although rarely do people fit OEM pads, usually some cheap equivalent claiming to be OEM spec, or same etc. They rarely are.

But he needs to figure out what sort or speeds he will need to slow from and how often. Really if it is just a standard car, then standard good quality pads should be just fine. It's not like he's doing 10 laps of the Nürburgring.

Or a mild upgrade, even Mintex are dead on

[732NM]

stevieturbo said:

732NM said:

OEM are garbage compared to my suggestion.

One opinion. OEM work perfectly for hundreds of thousands of vehicles sold when new.

Although rarely do people fit OEM pads, usually some cheap equivalent claiming to be OEM spec, or same etc. They rarely are.

But he needs to figure out what sort or speeds he will need to slow from and how often. Really if it is just a standard car, then standard good quality pads should be just fine. It's not like he's doing 10 laps of the Nürburgring.

Or a mild upgrade, even Mintex are dead on

For competitive sprinting Stevie.

Every 1/100th counts, if you want to maximise performance then what i suggest is better.

[Galveston]

732NM said:

For competitive sprinting Stevie.

Every 1/100th counts, if you want to maximise performance then what i suggest is better.

What characteristics do they have that a good OEM pad doesn’t?

[732NM]

Galveston said:

What characteristics do they have that a good OEM pad doesn t?

Higher Mu which is consistent from cold, extremely good modulation for a high Mu pad.
They were designed for USA Autocross competitions, which is the closest they have to our sprint events.

[stevieturbo]

732NM said:

For competitive sprinting Stevie.

Every 1/100th counts, if you want to maximise performance then what i suggest is better.

I'm sure the competition really is that fierce that someone in the standard road car class wins by 1/100th every time.

[732NM]

stevieturbo said:

732NM said:

For competitive sprinting Stevie.

Every 1/100th counts, if you want to maximise performance then what i suggest is better.

I'm sure the competition really is that fierce that someone in the standard road car class wins by 1/100th every time.

Yes, it is that tight, across multiple classes, especially so in the lower classes. 1/100th can be the difference between winning a championship or not.

Two results from two sprints I did.

Event1


Event2


I'm surprised you don't understand this based on your drag racing background, where times can be equally tight because of tiny increments in equipment optimisation.

[bergclimber34]

Lol, I would think one start or missed line is going to find you far more time to be honest, it's entry level chap

[Jim Spencer]

The problem with OEM / Standard pads is that you have no idea what they're actually going to be.. what they fitted new and supply in the aftermarket can / would normally vary (speaking as somebody who used to run an Automotive manufacturers aftermarket parts dept..), it's all about what supplier is offering the best deal and that varies from factory fit to aftermarket supply too..

In our Motorsport applications you need to Know what you have.

Either make your own choice or go with a recommendation, but ensure you Know what you've got and hence have a frame of reference.

[732NM]

The OP asked for advice on what's the best option on brake pads to help improve their competitiveness, and people are suggesting it's pointless doing that, because 1/100's don't matter, in a sport where 1/100's matter enormously.
The world has gone mad.

[Jim Spencer]

732NM said:

The OP asked for advice on what's the best option on brake pads to help improve their competitiveness, and people are suggesting it's pointless doing that, because 1/100's don't matter, in a sport where 1/100's matter enormously.
The world has gone mad.

Agreed, odd isn't it, had several dead heats in 2A myself.

Pads are an odd one through, so much of it is 'feel' and that's a bugger to quantify!
Your suggestion a few post ago, I'd go with personally, but my brother (who I shared the car with) had a different preference (Hawk Black IIRC) but then he prefers the long circuit sprints and I used to be a Hills man myself, where it stopping into Hall at Loton is top of the list..