The Best Brake Pad Thread

[racerx]

Ok, so I just bought drilled rotors. I want to get a decent set of pads to go with it, but I'm sure what's really the best option here.

The guy at the parts store, who usually knows what he's talking about, says that ceramic pads are nothing more than a glorified organic pad that's quieter and lasts longer. Fair enough, but he also said that they stay cooler.

One would think that was good, but I'm not going to be stopping from 150mph very often, and besides that I have drilled rotors to assist the cooling.

He said the best braking option for stopping power would be semi-metallics.

So what do you guys think? And what about this ceramic-kevlar mix?

[89accordex4dr]

semi-metallics sound good,how much did the drilled roters set ya back?

[racerx]

145/shipped. i painted the lips and center part with G2 caliper paint too (silver) so they won't rust and get all ugly. *shudders*

I'll be painting the calipers white tomorrow. pics too.

[89accordex4dr]

That's a good deal and look good painted too,what sort of paint you gonna use?

[A18A]

is it rear to see a 3g accord with disk brakes for all 4 wheels?

[2drSE-i]

no its not rare, there are many on here with se-i disk conversions, and a few of us with se-is

[rjudgey]

Depends how long you want youdisks to last and if your doing any track days, i use Ferrodo DS3000 but they'll eat your disks alive after a few hundred miles, Hawk are the same.
Maybe if you can get some FErrodo DS2500 just about to try some of those not sure if you can get Ferrod pads for the 3G caliper tho? I know the TEG caliper you can as they were more popular for racing.
Performance friction or Mintex but check for application again so much easier when you have a racing caliper you can choose any compound you want i've pretty much had everything from Mintex to Pagid but allwasy stayed away from EBC fine for normal road use but thats about it.

[Accordtheory]

I want to know more about the ebc pads, aren't they supposed to keep your wheels cleaner? I know they come in several different formulations too, "green", "red", etc.

p.s I have performance friction pads on my accord and I've had them on several other cars. I don't like how you have to get them hot to get stopping power. I actually rear ended someone (barely) in my caddy with PF pads when they were cold even though I was standing on the brakes, fuck that.

[Oldblueaccord]

I want to know more about the ebc pads, aren't they supposed to keep your wheels cleaner? I know they come in several different formulations too, "green", "red", etc.
p.s I have performance friction pads on my accord and I've had them on several other cars. I don't like how you have to get them hot to get stopping power. I actually rear ended someone (barely) in my caddy with PF pads when they were cold even though I was standing on the brakes, fuck that.

EBC greens hardly dust at all and are not cold blooded. The first gen set where pretty cold blooded with slotted rotors. I like them over all but im in the market to try something else if you guys want I dont mind testing them out. Try to keep it under $100 a set.

I was looking at carbotech the in NC. There here close and advertise in GRM all the time. I think the early intergra calipers bolt up as well as there rotors too so that may help with availablity.


wp

[Oldblueaccord]

Depends how long you want youdisks to last and if your doing any track days, i use Ferrodo DS3000 but they'll eat your disks alive after a few hundred miles, Hawk are the same.
Maybe if you can get some FErrodo DS2500 just about to try some of those not sure if you can get Ferrod pads for the 3G caliper tho? I know the TEG caliper you can as they were more popular for racing.
Performance friction or Mintex but check for application again so much easier when you have a racing caliper you can choose any compound you want i've pretty much had everything from Mintex to Pagid but allwasy stayed away from EBC fine for normal road use but thats about it.

which hawks do you run?

I had the base model from tire rack and they were the worst pad I ever had on any car ever.

I junked them within a month.

wp

[ACE_14]

I use Repco/Axxis Metal Masters brake pads with my drilled rotors(Powerstop). They do create a lot of dust, but I love the braking power. Not a lot of fade at all, but I've got SS brake lines too.

[rjudgey]

They would be the racing ones they do but i didn't try them the company that does my brakes have tried them and they said that they ate disks alive as well. I liked the original Mintex 1155 but they changed the compound and they're rubbish they only last one track day or about 1000 miles on road use!! Old ones use to last 5-6 track days and 15-20k miles.
The performance friction 01's i have don't have a problem when cold? But then maybe because the Disks and calipers i use get them hotter quicker maybe? not really noticed but i've only ever used race pads so i wouldn't know any different to be honest, when you have 300mm disks and 4 pot calipers with 41mm pistons i think even if you had solid metal pads it would still stop!!

[bocker]

I think Hawk HPS are great.

[miss_accord]

The glue on shims failed & resuliting in the shims to slid towards my rotor hub, poor manufacturing, will never, use the Hawk HPS brake pads. Instead, I replace it with Wagner Thermoquiet Ceramic pads with the integrated shim design.

[racerx]

I find that ceramic brakes make a LOT more noise than semi-metallics.

semi metallics just brake. no noise. (unless they're worn down, then they squeek, but so do ceramics. they all have that tattle tail thing)

ceramics make this SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH noise whenever I brake.

but that could also be partly due to the drilled rotors I have now too.

[racerx]

so why do they always push the "quiet" bullshit? is that to say it's not as EXTREMELY loud as it could be?

[Deadhead]

it's all in how you break in your pads....

Did you guys do a 30 30 30?

Note: for those of you that DON'T know what that is.......

30 stops
from 30 mph
30 seconds inbetween each stop.
EACH STOP MUST BE A SLOW STOP, GO VERY EASY ON THE BRAKES!

If you don't do that, you will be 3289423 times more likely to have excessive brake dust and brake noise.

After you do the brake in, you can harp on them all you want.... well, there is a point where you'll start to glaze pads and warp rotors, so i guess you can't go THAT hard on them.

Good luck.... and btw, if you want quiet, clean brake pads.... go ceramic.

If you want really really good stopping power, go semi-metallic. The guy at the parts store is correct when he was telling you that. The key is proper break in.

[Deadhead]

I find that ceramic brakes make a LOT more noise than semi-metallics.
semi metallics just brake. no noise. (unless they're worn down, then they squeek, but so do ceramics. they all have that tattle tail thing)
ceramics make this SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH noise whenever I brake.
but that could also be partly due to the drilled rotors I have now too.

Racerx, are you sure that you have ceramic pads? I know at our last meet you had all that build up of brake dust on your rims.... ceramics don't do that.

I know semi-met pads are noisy unless you have the pad edge's angle out on each side, but even then they can be terrible depending on the quality. They also leave a nice amount of brake dust....

[racerx]

no, i just replaced the pads when I did the rotors. I went with semi metallics in front again, and ceramics in back.

reason for that is front's are vented so semi's would be the better option, and the rear rotors are solid so ceramics will help keep it cooler. (they're all drilled though)

anyway, yeah i was real gentle with them for the first 200 or so miles, mostly due to the engine breaking in. now, the front pads are totally quiet, but the rear's make all sorts of noise! (this was told to me by a few different people driving next to me)

my friend just put ceramics on his car and it makes the same weird noise. ceramics suck.