Replacement brake pad suggestions
Discussion
Replaced the pads in my 06 WRX for EBC Redstuff pads when I got it a couple of years ago, thought they were great. big improvement from the ones fitted (not sure what they were), opinions seem split on EBC products though with plenty of people having problems with them but I loved them, no noise or problems at all.
Then went to Mintex cheap ones and cheap grooved discs, terrible (should have known better! Buy cheap, buy twice).
Just changed again to EBC blue stuff pads and discs, stop great, a little bit grabby and squeaking like hell on gentle town driving, but not broken in yet so hoping that will calm down, only done around 500 miles so far.
Also I probably drive 70% A/B roads with the rest town driving, very little motorway work, I prefer my brakes like an on/off switch so a bit grabby doesn't bother me so much. Especially now its harvest/cyclist time around the sunny suffolk B roads.
Then went to Mintex cheap ones and cheap grooved discs, terrible (should have known better! Buy cheap, buy twice).
Just changed again to EBC blue stuff pads and discs, stop great, a little bit grabby and squeaking like hell on gentle town driving, but not broken in yet so hoping that will calm down, only done around 500 miles so far.
Also I probably drive 70% A/B roads with the rest town driving, very little motorway work, I prefer my brakes like an on/off switch so a bit grabby doesn't bother me so much. Especially now its harvest/cyclist time around the sunny suffolk B roads.
I had ebc pads on my 2005 blob sti. They were good but only once you got plenty of heat into them, great for track days but not so much for day to day driving. Had a few scary moments on short trips round town where I literally had to jam my foot to the floor to stop the car & this was just at regular 30-40 mph speeds. Very noisy pads too. Currently got pagid pads all round & they seem great. Short trips are now worry free & the brakes have proved up to the job on some 'enthusiastic' jaunts round the countryside
Budget dependant I guess but Mintex M1155 & Ferodo DS2500 are both safe bets although PFC Z compound also seems to get rave reviews, albeit I haven't used them myself. Alyn @ AS or Ian @ Godspeed should be able to give decent advice on what's best. I'd be looking for a reasonable cold bite with reasonable high temp characteristics. I've got DS2500's in just now and find them to be perfectly good while cold and very good hot, taking a while to get to the point where they're fading on the road (in AP 330mm 4 pots). EBC Blue are reasonable but have a very precipitous cliff they fall off when they get too hot, and not outstanding cold charectaristics. But, when they're in their 'window' they do work very well, at the expense of pad life. The Orange aren't any better cold but they do have a slightly more progressive tail off at high temps than the Blue. Yellowstuff I wouldn't really bother with; still expensive but not outstanding performance and others will run rings around them like for like at the price point.
I had them on the rear of my WRX briefly (the Kevlar Plus, not the chinese ones he offers as a super cheap pad) which I think were about £50. They were better than stock (matched with Bluestuff on the front) but definitely lost their edge after some repeated hard driving as you could feel the brake balance go a little bit forward before the Blues then suffered the same fate; maybe 80% as good as the Bluestuff I replaced them with (I was donated those, hence trying them) when hot, but way better cold. My experience is as an all round pad they're good but if you're really getting the brakes super hot, either on trackdays or on hard B-road driving where you're really using them then you'll probably want more.
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