Brake pads The Good The Bad And the Terrible

[Neal 111]

Evening everyone 

I'm planning to swap the brakes pad on the gt soon.  What do you all rate as the best around pads.  I've previously run ebc yellow stuff and mintex on other cars.

90% of the time it will be driven for fun on the road with one maybe two trackdays a year

[Kodename47 446]

I've just bought PFC Z rated fronts and Cosworth Streetmaster rears. Should work well as a dual purpose setup and is well priced.

I'm scarred by reports of EBC pads being poor, but I have heard only good things aboutthe Yellowstuff. Is pad life good?

[Neal 111]

From my experience I'd say the wear rate is average for the yellow pads.

I've never heard of pfc before.

I've just read some reviews of ferrodo pads they fantastic but at £120 just for a set of front pads isn't crazy.

[Kodename47 446]

PFC = Performance Friction. Came recommended in Honda circles but seem very popular in the Porsche community too, both of which would suggest to me that they should be good for the 86. Z rated pads are also £50-60 but they don't do rears so you should spec a suitable rear compound.

http://www.pfc.parts/motorsports/pfc-compounds/

Z-Rated .10/.11/.38 This compound has been designed for fast road / trackday applications. It gives more stopping power and increased fade resistance over the OE materials but retains the good qualities or the road pad i.e., low dusting and noise along with low wear rate.

• High performance compound, gained through competition pad developments
• Compound designed for low dusting qualities
• Several built in noise suppression technologies
• Excellent disc conditioning, giving even transfer layer on disc to reduce uneven pad deposits.

[Deacon 1357]

I'm trying the project Mu 800hc+ as soon as I get round to fitting them! 

[nerdstrike 186]

I've seen yellowstuff disintegrate under heavy use, and they're a bit hard for general road too. I'd recommend looking elsewhere. I've heard good things about Performance Friction products, and had a pleasing personal experience with Hawk HP's for limited track and sporty use.

[MikeB 79]

I run ferodo 2500 with braided houses and higher boiling point break (race) brake fluid with standard calipers. Excellent wear rate and fine on track and road but do squeak at low speed.

[AJ124 118]

I have PF Z up front and Cosworth street master rears and have no issues with 15-20 min track sessions, good on the road too with no squeal along with plenty of feel and bite I also run braided lines and Motul RBF600 brake fluid.

I have done 15K and 4 trackdays and the PF Z are about 60% worn. Can't comment on the Cosworth wear because they have only been fitted a couple of months. 

[mike-p 116]

Ferodo 2500 and Cosworth Streetmaster get my vote.

EBC yellows lasted one trackday, utterly useless they were.

[long-gone 152]

I don't track mine but have found EBC YellowStuff to be way better than OE pads. 

The originals lasted less than 25k miles and took the rotors with them; noisy and fade set in after just a couple of hard stops on fast ring-road duty.  

These are lasting much better, kinder to the rotors, no squealing and good stopping even with prolonged fast road use.

[Guest]

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[Mike 458]

Dixcel ES pads are good, I'd be running them again but they failed to ship them within a month so order got cancelled.

[un1eash 9]

13 hours ago, knightryder said:

I've just bought PFC Z rated fronts and Cosworth Streetmaster rears. Should work well as a dual purpose setup and is well priced.

I'm scarred by reports of EBC pads being poor, but I have heard only good things aboutthe Yellowstuff. Is pad life good?

Where did you purchase them from? Thinking I'll try this setup also. 

[Varelco 211]

Although not on this chassis I've used Project Mu Type NS pads and they were brilliant. If I ever manage to wear out these stock pads I will be fitting Project Mu's

[Kodename47 446]

2 minutes ago, Varelco said:

Although not on this chassis I've used Project Mu Type NS pads and they were brilliant. If I ever manage to wear out these stock pads I will be fitting Project Mu's

I had PMus on my EK9. I really rate them however they tend to be quite pricey and mine were also noisey. 

 

3 minutes ago, un1eash said:

Where did you purchase them from? Thinking I'll try this setup also. 

Any of the traders should be able to source them

[Kodename47 446]

1 hour ago, don said:

I've heard quite a few good reports on the Dixcel ES Type pads. I'll be changing to these when the time comes.

Based on the specs, the Streetmasters have a better temp range than the ES. Same with PFC Z rated. The costs are almost the same so IMO the PFC and Cosworth pads are a better combo. If I was going Dixcel I would go for the Zs as these are better but you're looking at £350+ for a complete set.

[Varelco 211]

3 hours ago, knightryder said:

I had PMus on my EK9. I really rate them however they tend to be quite pricey and mine were also noisey. 

 

Any of the traders should be able to source them

Yeah that's the only downside, they aren't cheap! Mine never made a noise though.

[Church 209]

18 hours ago, knightryder said:

I've just bought PFC Z rated fronts and Cosworth Streetmaster rears.

Generally one should use same compound pads on both ends to not fsck up brake bias.

From street oriented pads i like my current DS2500 for street use. Rarely do they squeek, actually stock ones squeeled much much worse, when they got half worn .. except i don't notice much braking difference vs stocks either.  Well, i think these as almost oem, but slightly more capable. But then again, most probably all track oriented pads with noticeable Mu increase i won't be able to properly bed when DD in legal manner. They also might get less reliable cold bite and more dusting.

[Kodename47 446]

1 hour ago, Varelco said:

Yeah that's the only downside, they aren't cheap! Mine never made a noise though.

I've had a quick look around on pads mentioned on this thread for temperature ranges, to give a mild indication of whether suitable for trackday usage or just road use.

EBC Yellowstuff: 150-950C

PMu HC800+: 0-800C

Cosworth Streetmaster: 0-650C

PFC Z-Rated (.10 Compound): 0-650C

Dixcel ES: 0-600C

Ferodo DS2500: 20-500C

PMu NS400: 0-400C

[Kodename47 446]

10 minutes ago, Church said:

Generally one should use same compound pads on both ends to not fsck up brake bias.

Go find me some PFC rears then.....

I had a good look into the 2, they make a relatively decent pairing. I'd rather have PFCs all round, but as that's not possible I went for something well matched.

[Lauren 2259]

I got 37K out of OEM pads. 

Had Stoptechs on as I got given the front set. They seem to last just as well. No squeal and are fine on trackdays and sprints. I've done a year's worth of sprinting in them, a trackday and a Euro trip and plenty of fast road driving and they seem to hold up well. 

[Gringosteve 213]

I have Dixcel ES, they have been great pads

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www.tuned.org.uk

[Rich 378]

So my rear pads are pretty low (1mm remaining), time to think about new pads. I have Cosworth Streetmasters on the front which are fine, so I'm considering getting a set to match for the back, or maybe staying OEM, but the squeal is annoying there.

Any thoughts? Also why are rear discs so much more expensive than fronts?

[nerdstrike 186]

Rear discs include a drum for the hand brake don't they? Hence a bit more complicated/expensive.

I can't say much about the streetmasters, but it usually makes sense to match compound unless you have a good reason not to (e.g. massive BBK on the front). The rears do get treated more gently even on track so temperature tolerance is less of a concern, but you probably want the friction to match so that the brake bias stays in one place.

[Neal 111]

I'm replacing all my pads at the end of the month.  I've got the choice down to 3 makes.

Ebc yellow stuff. Hawk or cosworth street master.

All of which should have a temperature range good enough for a couple of track days and spirited thrashing around the country side.

Think its going to come down to value for money. 

If anyone has run these pads around as a matching set how did they last.   All the reviews say they have great stopping power but not much about longevity?