Brake pad compounds - which to use?

[Yelcamino]

So after my first outing on a road course - Road America - I concluded that the pads that came with my Baer calipers aren't up to the task. After about the second turn I got a little nervous because my brakes were pretty much used up! Being the smart person that I am, I held back and didn't push it... save it for another day I thought!

With that said, I've been eyeballing the EBC and Hawk catalogs.

If you had to choose between these two companies, which compound would you go with for street driving/road course/autocross use?

EBC Blue Stuff (http://www.ebcbrakes.com/automotive/ebc_disc_pads_for_racing/index.shtml) Or Hawk Blue 9012 (http://www.hawkperformance.com/motorsports/compounds/blue9012.php)

I'm not overly concerned about brake dust or noise because I can always put the street pads in if I want to go cruising.

If there are other pad companies/compounds that you've had good luck with, please chime in!

Thanks!

[6'9"Witha69]

Porterfield.
http://porterfield-brakes.com/categories/Brake+Pads/Racing+Brake+Pads.html

[Yelcamino]

Thanks Nick. Matt (Bow Tie 67) mentioned that brand to me last weekend but I kept thinking Porter-Cable and couldn't find brake pads on their web page! :doh:

Anyway, unless I'm looking at the wrong compound, Porterfield is very proud of their pads... The R4-1 compound is $199.95 for the front and $169.95 for the rear. :seizure:

[a67]

Thanks Nick. Matt (Bow Tie 67) mentioned that brand to me last weekend but I kept thinking Porter-Cable and couldn't find brake pads on their web page! :doh:

Anyway, unless I'm looking at the wrong compound, Porterfield is very proud of their pads... The R4-1 compound is $199.95 for the front and $169.95 for the rear. :seizure:

Yes, I am finding the same thing about good pads. I have a recent thread regarding pad selection. Link:

https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68255

Looking at 2 to 3 Franklins for pads... Almost 4 if using CarboTech XP10 pads.

I am still up in the air on which ones to use. Although have some time to decide.

Bob.

[senor_camaro]

Hawk makes really good pads for the price.

[Payton King]

AX6 on all 4 corners for street and autocross and going with XP10's on the front and leave the AX6 on the rear for track days using street tires. If I go to an R compound I would go to an XP12's in front and XP8's in rear.

My car has never felt better in the brake department. Also using Brembo low compression fluid.

[Jim Nilsen]

Jeff Schwartz told me to make sure my brake were bedded in well before I went up to Road America and I went out and did repeated stops that were as agressive as possible. Was I glad he gave me that advice. He said that more than once he had been in cars with brakes he thought were bedded in good and they weren't.

When I got to turn 5 the first time I was going easy and was glad I was because the brakes were just getting warmed up real good and the fade almost started to worry me, by the time I had a few laps down they were getting predictable. They weren't like I would have liked them to be but they held up to 50 laps or so and still feel good on the street. I have semi metallic pads and they are definately not the right pads for a coarse that big with speeds over 100mph.

I was very glad I had the high temp Wilwood fluid in the system, I think I would have had no brakes at all if it had been dot3.

I know the limits of what I have thanks to going to RA and it will take a bunch of $$$ to ever have the brakes needed to make it so I can go deeper in the corner before braking. The instructor didn't seem to have a problem with how they worked but it made me nervous for the first few laps.

I really wish I had waited and gone to the Optima event instead of the f body one. You guys had a lot more fun all around and got to get magazine coverage. There was noone there like you would have thought, I was a bit disappointed about that but I wanted to test the car and be prepared.

After seeing what happened to a few cars, the brake pad cost is immaterial when you hit a barrier.

So for anyone who thinks they have their brakes bedded in from driving on the street, BEWARE it probably isn't enough unless you have been stopping from 100 mph a whole bunch of times. You will know when you get there because the brakes will finally have a better all around feel and smell a lot less from my experience.

[66SuperSport]

Herb

I was using a brand new set of Hawk pads during the Face Off event. HP Plus in the front and & DTC-30 in the rear. This is the set up Hawk recommended for the Wilwood calipers I had. They would have had me use the HP Plus pads all of the way around, but did not offer them for the rear of my car. I ran hard at the event and never felt the brakes give up one bit. I have also been driving around quite a bit on the street and did a SCCA autocross on Sunday. They sqeak a little when braking lightly, but work well. I ended finishing 4th in the Speed Stop Challenge which surprised me probably more than anyone.

By the way, I forgot to ask you something. Do you have LED tail lights in your Chevelle?
If so, where did you get them?

Chris

[Jim Nilsen]

AX6 on all 4 corners for street and autocross and going with XP10's on the front and leave the AX6 on the rear for track days using street tires. If I go to an R compound I would go to an XP12's in front and XP8's in rear.

My car has never felt better in the brake department. Also using Brembo low compression fluid.

It will be good to see how they work at Gingerman. Getting the right pad for the way you drive is sooooo important.

What is the temp range on the Brembo fuid?

Can't wait to see you there !!

[NOT A TA]

Getting the right pad for the way you drive is sooooo important.


I've been using a dedicated setup for the track and a different one for street. Track pads are a combination of Porterfields and Raybestos recommended by Porterfield for my application. Track pads make a lot of dust! I think thats why you see so many track cars with black wheels.

My recommendation would be to talk to the folks at Porterfield. I've been very happy with their recommendations and service. They sell many companies products not just their own brand.

[Yelcamino]

Guys, thanks for you input, I appreciate your insights!

After researching the various offerings with your suggestions, I think I'm going to go with the EBC Blue Stuff pads. In the past I've used EBC on my street bikes and was always satisfied with their performance (I ran my RSV 1000 at VIR with EBC pads).

I should have the new pads in for the Motor State event so I can give a full report on how they work.

[Yelcamino]

By the way, I forgot to ask you something. Do you have LED tail lights in your Chevelle?
If so, where did you get them?

Chris

Hey Chris, unfortunately I can't remember where I got the LEDs from. I thought it was Spaghetti Engineering (http://www.spaghettiengineering.com/comersus/store/comersus_listItems.asp?idCategory=35) but after looking at their web page they only offer front turn signals (I have them on both cars), which is probably why I was thinking I got the rears from them as well.

Dakota Digital (http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=524/category_id=332/home_id=59/mode=prod/prd524.htm) makes them for a '66, so you might check them out.

Herb

[realsquash]

FWIW I am running and recommend Hawk HP+ pads if you're racing a street car... If you want to run real race pads you can run them on the street but you need to be careful because when they are cold or wet (!) you're going to run into someone driving home if you aren't very cautious. I was at the same Road America event and did pretty well with them. Going around the road course I never lost confidence, and I was really pushing it (not knowing how to drive meant a lot more brake action, too).

Andy

[Yelcamino]

To follow up...

I got a chance to test my new EBC Blue Stuff pads driving around town and boy what a difference! It almost feels as if I installed a completely new brake system! Stopping power is incredible! I can't comment on dusting, but noise is minimal, a slight squeel at lower speeds, but not annoying.

Next week will be the track test.