Longer lasting brake pads?
 

A fellow 3rd gen RX-7 racer recommended EBC pads, but I only got about 2.5 hrs out of the Reds I bought (although the pedal feel was great!) Can anyone recommend a longer lasting track pad that will last multiple events? Don't care about streetability, but I would prefer that it didn't eat my rotors...

Thanks!

Are you looking for a track only pad? street/track pad? Autox/street ?

For track only, I love my Carbotech Panther Plus pads.. Dusty though. No way can you use these on the street, they gotta get some heat in them.

PaulC

I had the same problem w/ my EBC greens used 80% of the of the pad in 4 20min sessions at the Streets of Willow Springs - Havn't been back to the track yet but have some HAWK HP+ to try out and have heard that PORTERFIELD R4E and or R4S are very durable track capable pads

Only performance I care about is on the track...

Re: Longer lasting brake pads?
 

if you liked the pads in general but what longer lasting maybe you should try the next grade (temp range) in that model pad.... mayby your brakes are worrking to hot for the reds, next in line would be yellow.

maybe drop EBC a email and say hey your pads work great but how about ones that work the same (or close too) that last a little longer..

just a thought

for track only try the Hawk blues or PFC 80's. I have been using the Wilwood Polymatrix B on my car(wilwood superlite 6 calipers) but I don't know if they make them for OEM calipers applications. these pads are incredibly durable and have tremendous stopping power with no noticable fade, seem to be a little hard on rotors though.

I ran through a set of Porterfield R4S's in one track day at Gingermann here in MI.

I switched to Hawk HP+'s and I love them, two days so far with 3/4 pad left. Pedal feel is great when hot. They aren't a bad street pad but the do give you that "race car" squeal at stop lights and lots of dust. Best compromise I've experienced, though.

Alex

Performance Friction - hope you wallet can handle the price tag.


-Ted

just want to add that I installed a set of EBC greens about 15k ago and they're already 80% worn just from street driving. Otherwise I think they're terrific.

Here's a tip: Stay away from EBCs.

Hawks, Porterfield, carbotech. All good choices. Just don't get EBC...most racers will agree.

Porterfield R4Es...

call brake warehouse (ad's in the back of car and driver). Tell them what you do, they will recomend a pad. They say their best street pad is the Rotex kevlar pad. I have this and it seems pretty good. just took it it Blackhawk farms race track and they did good.

http://www.brakewarehouse.net/

Hawk Blues
 

Hawk Blues work well and wear well. Don't use them on the street, they need a good bit of heat to work well.

Here's a tip: Stay away from EBCs
Hey Martini, specifics? I ran the reds on my race car this weekend. They lasted seven 20 minute sessionsin the front of my TII turning 2:00 laps at Sears. I talked to Ebc about the life, and they said to expect around 1-1/2 hours of hard track use on a TII. As to the yellows, they are designed for cars over 3000lbs, not recommended by EBC for our cars. As to all the other pads, I saw around ten or so different compounds at the track this weekend and everyone you or anyone else has mentioned was very hard on the rotors, with tremendous wear and hot spots. In contrast my rotors had NO disearnable wear. I'll take a slightly shorter lived pad and perfect rotors any time. This is to say, for casual racers like myself , I'd rather not replace my rotors every other weekend as many of the other pads will require following hard racing. As alway this is IMHO. Carl Byck

The caveat in that logic is the price. If you would rather replace brake pads that cost $140 each event instead of changing out rotors at $110/pr., then you are spending more money than you need to. :)

Well, I can say this much, my Panthers now have 5 full track days on them, still ~40% pad life left, no heat checking, no heat bluing, absolutely 0 fade on track, no matter how hard I pushed the brakes.

PaulC

what compound? How about rotor wear?4 piston calipers? What kind of speeds are you hitting between 10 and 11? between 11 and 1? I'm pushing 115 at both of those places. My better lap times were around 2:02-2:03 this may have to do with the life you are seeing. Carl

The fastest I ran was 2:05, and multiple 2:06s. Watching my video, going into turn 11 I'm maxing around 6000RPM in 4th, which puts me around 100mph, going into turn 1 around 6100 (102mph)

Panther plus compound, rotor wear hasn't been measured, but visually not a problem, no grooves or other obvious wearing, 4 piston calipers.

PaulC

Thanks, sounds like a pad to try. Best regards, Carl

update; I called Carbotech, their race pad is the Carbotech VP. These are what I ordered. I'll let you all know, I'll be at Sears on nov. 10th. Carl

VP? that's a new one.. Sure it's not the XP? Not sure on rotor wear on those, but based on their website description, it should be an excellent pad as well.. I'll have to try them next, but at this rate, it won't be until January's events, these things are pretty good on wear.

I'll be at Sears on the 10th too, Al wants me to do my ride along, hopefully will get my license that weekend :)

PaulC

XP, acoording to Carbotech wear is similar to panther plus, but they work better in the higher temp ranges.