Which Track Day Front Brake Pads..?

[RatBoy M3CS]

After the last track day and roasting the stock OEM pads, my replacements are going in tomorrow along with some fresh AP fluid..

My initial research showed the Ferodo DS2500 fronts to be a popular track choice, and half the cost of the Pagid equivelants.. the AP site recommends them too, however these look and feel really abrasive, now i notice the 0.50 friction rating and not the 0.29 friction rating that the AP site said they were...! they are listed in the road / track recomendations..

Does anyone have experience of these off the track..? are they ok from cold for normal or wet road work, on the track, are they likely to destroy the front discs being that abrasive..?

RatBoyM3CS...

[Oilchange]

DS2500 are very good, I use them (as well as DS3000 which are excellent) not toooooo abrasive either.

[RatBoy M3CS]

Cheers Mr oilchange...

I decided on these as the Pagis RS421's were double the price..!

After reading the specs on the Ferodo site.. ( which i should have done to start with ..! ) i wasn't sure if these were a bit toooo track focused and maybe poor on the road from cold..

Not sure if they will cure my steering vibration going into Stowe, but i'm hopeful...! and about to find out on the 19th after i've had a week to bed them in...

[philevo6]

I had ds2500 on my evo,for a couple of trackdays,they were ok,but then switched to carbotech xp8...and absolutely amazing,hence never going back to ds2500.

Castrol srf fluid and braided lines helps too.

[Birdthom]

DS2500 have been fine on my poxy clio, good on track and road but can be slighty irritating for everyday use - if you hammer them regularly they seem fine but if you just pootle around for a week or two they start to squeal like a no.10 bus. They're a pretty good compromise though. I might try the pagids next time just to see how they are, but I've been perfectly happy with the 2500s.

HTH.

[Sean Edwards]

Do Performance Friction do pads for CSL's? If so, go for them...

[thetrash]

I dont rate the 2500s they feck your disks and just crumble away. I tried some carbotech xp10s a few weeks ago and after one trackday they were down to the metal.

[fergus]

if you do go for performance friction, do not go for PF97 compound, as they are utter sh1te. The clio cup cars used to go through a set every race and then needed to bin them. I use ferrodo DS1.11s now in the Clio. Or pagid Greys (RS15)in my caterham. Both over £180/axle set though.

you pays yer money and all that....

edited to add: depends how much heat you can get rid off. PF97 are probably OK if you can get enough of the heat away from the face of the disk. If you fit ducting, make sure you fit it to flow air to the centre of the disk, not at the face....

Edited by fergus on Wednesday 6th February 22:46

[instructormike]

We have run quite a few sets of pads though our instruction M3s on track, but we use AP caliper setups. DS2500 don't have the bite and fade resistance for hard track use - good for road though. DS3000 offer much more resistance to fade and better, more consistent bite but the higher rubber content (I am reliably told this is the reason) can be a little hard on your discs, especially if you have drilled discs instead of grooved ones. Never really got on with various Pagid options. Currently we are running Mintex F2Rs front (and DS3000 rear)which are fantastic race pads but not suited to road use, as they coat the wheels with difficult-to-remove residue and hate salt, leaving rust streaks everywhere on your wheels. Fantastic feel and really do the job on track but you'd get good at changing pads before and after every trackday!
Hope this is of some use.
MC

[DanH]

Pagid RS29s.

DS2500s were nothing but trouble when I had a noble and imprinted all over the disk.

[System-G]

I have cooked a set of DS2500 within a single session on track in my not very powerfull MK1 MR2.

I now use EBC Yellowstuff or Carbotech XP8's

Edited to add:

Make sure the rear pads are also suitably matched. You don't want the rears bitting at temps too much cooler than the fronts or fading due to overheating sooner than the fronts.

Edited by System-G on Thursday 7th February 13:57

[Birdthom]

I'm obviously not driving hard enough

[Oilchange]

I currently have worn discs from DS3000, they are very abrasive and if not used properly will squeel like buggers. In other words, they aren't hot enough, difficult to do in normal street driving.

I have used my Esprit at a few tracks like Silverstone which are fairly fast and once heated up they bite very well, in fact I have never known a car could stop like that let alone my little Lotus which has uprated AP calipers and discs and braided hoses and was running Dunlop D01J on the front. I literaly was hanging out of my seat belt.

I can't live with the high pitched screach though,so I am refitting DS2500 on the weekend.

[RatBoy M3CS]

Well after 25 miles on my new DS2500 fronts... which turned out to be about 1.5mm deeper top and bottom to the OEM front pads, i have next to zero pad footprint, and brakes that are only one step up from useless... on account of the ridges at the inner and outer edges of the disc contact area... another 25 miles of gentle bedding in and i hope to be able to report on the results... i will try getting them up to temp then and see what the bite is like.. i did get through a litre of AP fluid tho' pulling the lines through and refilling the reservoir..

Thanks for your input guys...

[Oilchange]

I wonder, are your discs grooved, drilled or flat?

Mine are grooved and I would say they bedded in quite quickly, probably for that very reason. If yours are flat I suspect they will take time to bed in and as such aren't contacting 100% so wont bite fully.

Give them time and wait for the entire pad to contact the disc, give them a good run, get them up to temperature with a few hard brakes from 70 to 20 then see if they make any difference.

It doesn't help that they are slightly too big though, I am surprised that AP couldn't supply an exact fitting pad for a BMW which I would think is a big market for them...

Edited by Oilchange on Friday 8th February 16:45

[breezy]

Surprised you didn't go for Pagid RS29s - the BMW guys rate them very highly.

DS2500 is a good pad but you may find that an M3 is a little too heavy for them. I'd expect them to wilt if pushed hard enough. Having said that, DS2500 is probably easier to live with on the road.

[bigburd]

I did a track day with OEM discs and EBC Red Stuff - these suited my driving style. Had the EBC and new discs fitted about 2wks before and they did not bed in very well at all - local specialist said give them a hard time and they would warranty them afterwards but after 3 sessions at Castle Coombe they seem to bed in really well...18mths and a set or two of pads later and am in need of some new discs.