jjwalker

So here we are, brakes, the most neglected piece of equipment on most cars. RX7 owners seem to care more about them, but in my line of work, I see more people wanting frills and **** installed, but their brakes are all jacked.

This short article is based off my own personal experience, plus some research...

Brake pads, there are so many options out there. Do I get the cheap autozone/chain brand brake pads? Organic vs. Semi-metallic vs. ceramic?. What about my rotors?!

Hopefully, I can answer all of those questions in this thread.

Pros and Cons.

Organic Pads.
Pros: Very smooth braking, very minimal rotor wear, Little dust (read further though)
Cons: Don't last long, can be rebranded as organic but they are really semi-metallic which eats rotors alive. Prone to brake fade under high temperature if they are true organic pads.

Semi-metallic.
Pros: Absorbs heat VERY well, lower chance of brake fade to the heat dissipation, increases disc braking power. They are super CHEAP.
Cons: VERY high dust, this isn't dust from your pad, it's dust from your rotor. SM pads will eat your rotors alive. This is why cheapo SM pads from the local whatever brand store has a lifetime warranty. They know once you buy the pads, you'll need new rotors before the pads wear down. They will squeel a bit under initial bite, but very low noise.

SM pads are great in racing applications due to their ability to absorb heat. You obviously need racing grade SM or full metallic pads for racing, but in this application, rotor wear and pad life aren't that much of a concern. Some may argue, but we are just talking streetable pads, not autocross worthy stuff.

So, for the last type, Ceramic.

Ceramic:
Pros: No noise, great stopping power when warm, doesn't destroy your rotors like a T-Rex, no dust, no brake fade at high temperature, but the rotors might not be too happy.
Cons: Need to warm up, expensive in comparison with other types, Can be damaged by getting too hot (ceramic rejects heat). Overheated ceramic pads will damage a steel brake rotor. On the street, you are never going to see this happen, but on the track you might.

Here are my thoughts on the different braking materials available...

Go with ceramic, with some serious rotors if you are racing. For street cars, go with ceramic with stock rotors or even slotted rotors. I do not like Ceramic brakes on cross drilled rotors due to the heat issues and the possibility of disc cracking. Full metal pads are great for extreme speeds, but not suitable for most our needs (is your RX7 formula 1)?

I mean for this to be an informative article for any RX enthusiast, and please, I welcome discussion and opinions from your own experience in this thread.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

nice write up, as a total aside most real race pads nowadays are made from all kinds of odd materials, but usually marketed as some kind of carbon.

we run performance friction, and they are simply amazing, they last forever, are very easy on the rotors, and have great modulation. i think the newer hawks are in this area too, although i've got no first hand experience with them

eage8

iTrader: (9)

Most people who race either use the cheapest rotors they can find

... unless they have fancy 2 piece rotors...

Jonathan Jara

This was very helpful, indeed

Primos003

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the write up, I was just looking at rotors and pads and had no clue what to get.