Follow up brake question: Which front pads for fast street / occasional track?

[pjvenda]

Hi all,

This is a follow up to my earlier brake disc question - whether or not two piece floating (steel) discs were worth the investment. SPOILER: they aren't.

Nonetheless I'll need to replace front discs and pads so I was wondering if anyone could chip in with recommendations for pads? Whilst I don't have an issue in principle with the OEM pads they seem to need warming up to bite properly and provide confidence in braking (becoming quite good in my limited experience, both on the street and on the circuit). This also means that unless I'm *on it* a bit they never warm up well enough, hence their performance is below standard most of the time (when driving sensibly).

I may be asking the impossible as these things are always a compromise -- good high temperature friction, low fade, etc. vs cold temperature performance, low noise, etc. But perhaps newer materials have become available that lessen the compromise slightly? Any suggestions would be very welcome.

Looking at the various options on an online shop provides no information as to how the various pads actually behave comparatively.

Cheers,
Pedro.

 

[Contraband]

I've just fitted EBC yellow stuff pads to my Cayman. They bite instantly from cold and so far no noticeable fade. They are a vast improvement to my old pads. Best £200 I've spent on the car.

 

[tscaptain]

Pagid RS14s - on mine...[]

 

[Lancerlot]

Yep, RS14's are the way to go! []

 

[pjvenda]

This is great, thanks a lot for the info! Out of curiosity will this type of pad wear the discs faster?

I'm looking at a few online shops for RS14s like ppcgb and demon-tweeks - any other good places to buy these?

 

[STiG911]

Design911 have got them on a special right now.
If you do upwards of two or three track days a year I'd recommend changing to a better, silicon-based brake fluid too and change it yearly, rather than the stock two years.

 

[tscaptain]

This is great, thanks a lot for the info! Out of curiosity will this type of pad wear the discs faster?

I'm looking at a few online shops for RS14s like ppcgb and demon-tweeks - any other good places to buy these?

On the basis that you rarely get something for nothing then yes, these will wear the discs slightly quicker - but I got 40k miles out of them before they were down to minimum thickness. As far as buying you could also look at
http://www.k300performance.co.uk/pagid-brake-pads.php
Very helpful people and got my last set there.

 

[pjvenda]

On the basis that you rarely get something for nothing then yes, these will wear the discs slightly quicker

As expected, but 40k sounds quite reasonable.

Thanks all again for your recommendations. I've done a bit more research and will give the RS14s a try on OEM steel discs.

 

[pjvenda]

Hi all, just a follow-up, I've tried these pads and first impressions were really positive, however they squeal - quite a bit - at very low speeds (despite the bedding in procedure and with the anti-vibration shims).

Braking feel is much better at cold and when warmed, braking power is much improved too, these pads yield a lot more confidence, exactly what I was looking for as an improvement from stock.

I may be downgrading though while the discs are new to something milder with less tendency to squeal. It's a shame because these feel great!

Any suggestions to reduce the squealing?

 

[tscaptain]

Mine squeal a bit a low speed occasionally. Doesn't seem to be any particular rhyme or reason - I just live with it as they are so good the rest of the time.

 

[spyderman]

If you do upwards of two or three track days a year I'd recommend changing to a better, silicon-based brake fluid too...

Where do ideas like this come from? NO! Silicon-based fluid is not compatible with conventional fluids. Use proper race fluid like Castrol React SRF, Motul RBF600, ATF 200 or Performance Friction which are all actually rated DOT4

Chris.

 

[angusc]

I've just fitted EBC yellow stuff pads to my Cayman. They bite instantly from cold and so far no noticeable fade. They are a vast improvement to my old pads. Best £200 I've spent on the car.

Yep, RS14's are the way to go!

Do any of these pads offer "reduced" brake dust deposits over the original Porsche pads? I cant get away from the amount of dust that covers my front wheels and Im not a particularly hard driver not brake that hard IMHO......... Just wondering if changing the front pds might improve the time between wheel cleaning....

Thanx & Regards
Chris.

 

[pjvenda]

Do any of these pads offer "reduced" brake dust deposits over the original Porsche pads? I cant get away from the amount of dust that covers my front wheels and Im not a particularly hard driver not brake that hard IMHO......... Just wondering if changing the front pds might improve the time between wheel cleaning....

I would not think so. All of the discussed options would be slightly more aggressive than original, hence in a level playing field would wear quicker and for the same amount of time produce more dust. However the pad materials are not the same so perhaps this is not a fair comparison. The RS14s are known to dust a bit (I may find out soon if this is the case).

 

[tscaptain]

I don't know about the amount of dust - the wheels get dirty anyway - but the holes in the disks seem less prone to being blocked up with brake dust than with the OEM. Btw, if you don't have them, get some Wheel Woolies - great for getting to parts other brushes can't reach!

 

[domswinfield]

I agree with the Pagid RS14 all round but they do squeak like mad and kick off a lot of brake dust. They are good but actually you don't always feel the benefits under normal road usage. Been running mine for about 5 months and they do offer great stopping power along with regular fluid changes. All the best!