Brake pads

[Fluffsri]

I know, I know its a well visited subject and ive just spent an hour going through lots of posta and different websites but I wondering what people would recommend.
I have a Vectra B 3.2 that I use on track and on the road. Ive used Green and Red stuff pads and have found them ok, Greens used to fade the Reds dont. Im now fitting brembo 4 pots on 322mm discs and need some new pads, Ive looked at Reds again but have seen a lot of comments for DS2500's, Mintex 1144/1155, Pagids and a couple more ie Tarox and Black diamond. Not interested in the Tarox or Black diamonds.

Anyone know anything else? Any serious thoughts welcomed.

Thanks!

[wackojacko]

I run Yellow stuff all-round on my Coupe but the Vectra is aobviously a much heavier car so Redstuff of DS2500's would be your best bet in my opinion.

I have also heard good commentd about the pagid Blue pads although they're slightly more expensive they're meant to be worth it.

[mmm-five]

wackojacko said:

I run Yellow stuff all-round on my Coupe but the Vectra is aobviously a much heavier car so Redstuff of DS2500's would be your best bet in my opinion.

I have also heard good commentd about the pagid Blue pads although they're slightly more expensive they're meant to be worth it.

Yellowstuff are a grade higher than Redstuff, so if the Yellowstuff are not up to it you'd have to go for the EBC Bluestuff / Mintex / Pagids (all missing the R90 stamp for road legal use).

EBC range is Ultimax->Greenstuff->Redstuff->Yellowstuff->Bluestuff

[wackojacko]

mmm-five said:

wackojacko said:

I run Yellow stuff all-round on my Coupe but the Vectra is aobviously a much heavier car so Redstuff of DS2500's would be your best bet in my opinion.

I have also heard good commentd about the pagid Blue pads although they're slightly more expensive they're meant to be worth it.

Yellowstuff are a grade higher than Redstuff, so if the Yellowstuff are not up to it you'd have to go for the EBC Bluestuff / Mintex / Pagids (all missing the R90 stamp for road legal use).

EBC range is Ultimax->Greenstuff->Redstuff->Yellowstuff->Bluestuff

Sorry yes a miss understanding , I thought (for some unknown reason) that the Redstuff's were Track only lacking the r90 hallmark.

[PhillipM]

Carbotech XP8's, Performance Friction 01's, Carbon Lorraine RC6's

[16v_paddy]

PhillipM said:

Carbotech XP8's, Performance Friction 01's, Carbon Lorraine RC6's

All of the above are awesome from what I've heard from other people, from my own experience I'd say redstuff are utter ste (utterly ste that they wont get within 100 yards of my car or any other car I go in) compared to the yellowstuff and they're utter ste compared to the DS2500's which I'm currently using, but not been out on track with them yet

[PhillipM]

The new Bluestuff NDX is fairly good too, but I would say biased more to road than track.

[GreigM]

I've tried a lot of different pads and would have to say the DS2500s are the best all-rounders....worked well on both light and heavy cars and don't squeal or over-fade.

[Fluffsri]

I had Performance Friction on my Monaro and yes they were very good. I think Ill go for the DS2500's. Many thanks fellas!!

[5paul5]

PhillipM said:

The new Bluestuff NDX is fairly good too, but I would say biased more to road than track.

More the other way round i would have thought considering they are not street legal pads.

[PhillipM]

Whether they're street legal or not, they're a pretty good road pad, but probably not aimed as extreme for track use as those I listed above.

So exactly the way around I said

Edited by PhillipM on Tuesday 15th February 18:38

[5paul5]

Cant see how a pad designed and sold for track use can be more road biased myself. But there you go takes all sorts.

[PhillipM]

Lets see, it's perfectly silent, low dust, has plenty of cold braking power, but I would say fades earlier than any of the above.
Great for a road car that gets took on a few trackdays, but for pure track use I'd go XP8/10/12's for the extra power and fade resistance, although they can be noisy and could occasionally need a re-bedding session if never used in anger on the road.

So, Bluestuff is more road-biased than the above pads imo. Bugger the marketing.

[bob'5]

The EBC Bluestuff NDX is superb on track, has received very favourable reviews from Time Attack Pro cars. Hot performance up there with the best (if not better) PF 01 Race Compound etc.

The bonus with the pad is as Phillip says, every bit as good on the road also.

You would be forgiven if you thought there must be a compromise somewhere as all other pad compounds have had a downside - I've not found one yet in several months of use (both road and track)!

[PhillipM]

Certainly impressive for a pad that can be comfortably use around town, from stone cold, without even thinking about it.

Edited by PhillipM on Tuesday 15th February 18:39

[jamest]

bob'5 said:

The EBC Bluestuff NDX is superb on track, has received very favourable reviews from Time Attack Pro cars. Hot performance up there with the best (if not better) PF 01 Race Compound etc.

The bonus with the pad is as Phillip says, every bit as good on the road also.

You would be forgiven if you thought there must be a compromise somewhere as all other pad compounds have had a downside - I've not found one yet in several months of use (both road and track)!

You should probably declare that your company is one of the few partners appointed by EBC to stock these, therefore your view is not completely unbiased. Happy to be put right if this is unfair.

I am interested in EBC Bluestuff as an alternative to PF's and Pagids but am yet to see a truly unbiased track review, anyone seen one?

[bob'5]

Correct, it is no secret (Aztec Performance).

We also stock PF, Pagid, Mintex, so have no bias towards EBC.

Guess what pads we use on our 911 Turbo? That speaks volumes, we could use any pad available...

There are so many reviews around, just have a search, everything from standard EVOs to Time Attack Pro cars.

[bob'5]

]I'm owner/driver of a two door impreza that runs in Time Attack Club Pro Class. I won the last round of Time Attack Club pro class at Cadwell Park 4 weeks ago.[/SIZE said:

[SIZE=2]Over the last 12 to 18 months I've used Performance Friction PF01, Ferrodo DS2500 & DS3000, Carbone Lorraine & Yellowstuff R compounds.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]I had just removed a set of spent Performance Friction 01 pads from my car and needed to fit a set of pads when I saw this thread last week, I emailed Andy and the EBC production team delivered a set of new generation Bluestuff pads within a few days.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]My set-up is:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]Front: Alcon monoblock 6 piston calipers, 365mm Alcon fully floating discs, new generation EBC Bluestuff pads[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]Rear: Compbrake 4 pot competition callipers, 330mm Compbrake discs, Performance Friction 01 pads.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]Castrol SRF fluid. No servo assist. Full Michelin R18/240 slicks all-round.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]I fitted the pads last Friday and headed off for testing at Donnington Saturday lunchtime, I had a friend of mine with me for the day, Time Attack Pro driver Gav Renshaw. We unloaded, set-up the car and was out for our first session at about 2pm.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]There is no easy way to bed race car pads in, I did about 7 laps nice and easy and cycled the pads about 40 or 50 times, no dramas with the brakes but obviously we weren't pushing them....... I hate the smell of burning fresh pads!!![/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]We let the car and the brakes cool down and then Gav headed out in the car for a full pace test; warm-up lap, all good, still a bit of a funny smell from the pads (to be expected)...second lap now full pace, 3rd corner, complete loss of power....Gav dumped the car on the grass and I took a quick look under the bonnet to the marshalls clear displeasure!!.....snapped throttle cable!!! at first I thought that would be our day over but...After a tow back to the pits and a good look at the broken throttle cable I set about making a repair, managed to get a good repair to hold by modifying and fitting a couple of bits and bobs I had packed in our race support vehicle.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]By now we only had an hour of tracktime left and had only just run the pads in.....Gav went back out in the car with me riding passenger.....[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]3 easy laps, cold bite on the pads now good, bite at full temperature not quite there yet, but still breaking in, pedal starting to get nice and firm though under heavy braking (there are 4 heavy braking areas at Donnington, in my car on low boost its typically from 130mph+ down to 40-50mph). Once Gav had full confidence in the pads (I.e. no burning clutch smell and nice firm pedal) then he let rip with a few very quick laps, he is a very smooth driver....the brakes performed flawlessly, no fade, no judder, no fluid boil, no deposits on the disc, fantastic stopping power with the good progressive feel to the brake and an ability to modulate/control the applied braking forces.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]I took to the car for the final session of the day, by now the brakes were fully bedded in an were improved again over Gav's session. I have good in car footage from the session and the braking forces are up at 1.3G, bearing in mind the pads had only had around a dozen or so laps at this point I thought this was a solid performance. I done around 8 laps and again experienced no fade or loss of performance. At no point did the tyres lock up so with further testing over the next month and with the new generation Bluestuff compound fitted to the rear of the car we should be able to find the limit of this pad compound/tyre combination. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]I raced at AAA saloons at Castle Combe on Bank holiday Monday, however an electrical gremlin caused early retirement in the first race and cost me a podium finish in the second race, nevertheless the braking performance for the entire 13 lap 2nd race was predicable, reliable with a nice firm pedal repeatedly braking heavy from 135+mph and again comparable to the performance of the top spec racing pads I've previously used. I managed a number of overtaking manoeuvres by out braking competitors into corners. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]From my experience to date I can say that these new generation Bluestuff pads offer excellent value for money and a performance that is comparable when compared to other top spec race pads out there on the market. I am intending on using these pads for the final round of Time Attack at Snetterton 10th October.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]I should also say that I have no affiliations to EBC whatsoever and the above report is an unbiased assessment soley based on the performance of the EBC pads supplied.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]See links to the video footage from testing at Donnington last weekend.[/SIZE]

[U][FONT=Courier New][COLOR=#0000ff] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieF4vLhjQ6U[/COLOR][/FONT][/U]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOUbZzJrmes

[jamest]

Thanks for posting, they do sound like a very cost effective alternative so I think I will give them a try.

[bob'5]

What car you got?