Best brake pad?

[mmm-five]

Yellowstuff. No problems at Nordschleife, Oulton, Cadwell, Anglesey, Rockingham, Spa. Also fine on the road.

The reason I went for Red rather than Yellow were reviews like this:

https://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthr ... ?t=1189244

That's why I say the choice of pads (and tyres) depends much more on your driving style than price.

If a 1700kg e34 M5 (that came with no DSC) or a 1500kg Z4MC can make a set of front pads last 10,000 miles and 3 track days (double that for the rears), then I can't see why a lighter, better balanced car should wear them out faster.

I find it strange that his front & rear pads wore out at the same rate, so maybe a 'last of the late brakers' style of driver who likes having his face torn off every time he braks, keeps his foot on the brakes until the very last minute, relies heavily on DSC to keep him out of trouble (DSC will eat pads if left on on track) and ends up overheating his pads. Or maybe he's simply doing more short, stop-start trips than me - as I'd average about 1800 motorway miles between trackdays, so time for discs & pads & tyres to get cleaned up.

Maybe I'm just riving slower in my middle age

I'm going to have to go through another set of pad trials now that I've got Porsche Brembo calipers on front & back - currently running Orangestuff, but want to try some of the newer Pagid Endurance pads (RSL1) or Performance Friction .11 pads - until I realised that the pads for the Porsche calipers are twice the price of the standard pads

Pity the Z4 has been retired from daily duties as I can't compare it like-for-like to how it used to be used. Maybe I'll try RS29s on the Alfa Diesel

===============

Yellowstuff are dusty...much more than the Bluestuff or Orangestuff...but I wouldn't recommend the Blue/Orange for a weekend car for normal-with-a-bit-of-fast road use.

[hopz121]

I’ve decided to go with stoptech street performance pads. The car is a weekend toy and I’m no track expert anyway. So can’t see my self going mad. These seems to tick all the box’s for a pad above oem

Total U-Turn then haha

Let us know how you find them, I haven't read any reviews of these before.

[ph001]

Found them on eBay for £50 delivered

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2537826846

Just been reading up on these pads. Big pro points seem to be:

Great initial bite and superb cold operating.
Nicely modulated, low dust.
Quiet operation.

Most reviews said they do fade on moderate track work but for a fast street pad they are superb. Given their cost, it looks like a great compromise for 95% of the driving most of us do. Good find.

Oh - and yes they will fit same as E46 M3 by the way, to answer your previous question.

[BMWZ4MC]

My preference is for tight, technical tracks and I am very much the last of the late brakers which demands of the brakes and leaves little time for cooling between corners. I switched to EBC Yellowstuff on mmm-five’s recommendation in about 2010. I found they worked well from cold and continued to do so after lots of abuse, with no fade or squeal and produced no more dust than any other pads I’ve tried. However, I have managed to get them smoking on a track day leaving the friction surface showing evidence of overheating (although they continued to work normally). I also had a single pad where the friction material delaminated from the backplate. EBC acknowledge this was due to a failure in their production methods.
I switched to Bluestuff about 30,000 miles ago and I’ve seen no further evidence of overheating no matter how hard I’ve driven and I’ve encountered no other manufacturing failures.
My ///M has covered as many miles on the track as it has on the road over the last nine years. Despite this, I managed to get 40,000 miles out of a set a discs using a mix of Yellow and Blue stuff exclusively.

[Rickster93]

Cheers for all the help and advice guys. Will let you know how I get on when everything’s all fitted and running. Soon find out if I stack it at the ring due to brake failure

[Gazza51]

Are the rear discs of the z4mc the same as the e46 m3. On the hunt for the best place to buy some rear discs

Yes, for OEM Cotswold BMW do them for £250 on offer (see eBay)

I’ve seen others on eBay for £125, unbranded.

[Gazza51]

My rear discs are shocking, I don’t think the pads are working at all.

[mmm-five]

My rear discs are shocking, I don’t think the pads are working at all.

Mine too - they should be much worse after 6 months

Rear discs

IMG_1885.JPG (196.66 KiB) Viewed 2806 times

[Gazza51]

At least you are getting even wear

[ph001]

My rear discs are shocking, I don’t think the pads are working at all.

Looks like you need a caliper refurb, maybe get the discs skimmed and some new pads. Will be as good as new.

[Philjwb]

Cheers for all the help and advice guys. Will let you know how I get on when everything’s all fitted and running. Soon find out if I stack it at the ring due to brake failure

How are you getting on with your new stoptech street performance brake pads? I'm probably going to need new pads soon and so have been following this thread with interest..

[Argenta]

I swapped to a new set of Carbotech XP8 all around before the last trackday. After bedin process they were totaly ace..
Highly recommended.

[Rickster93]

I ended up going for PBR ceramic pads. After bedding them In properly. More than impressed

[Felix79]

On my old Subaru Impreza P1 , which had 330mm 2 section discs and Prodrive Alcon calipers, I use to use EBC Blue Stuff Pads. I used a company called Godspeed Brakes, who make custom discs, that these were a track focused pad. I did a lot of hooning on country B-Roads (never did track days etc) and these pads never suffered for heat fade.

I just used the EBC profiler to see what I should get on my MR and it's only showing EBC Red Stuff pads. When it is time to replace my pads, is this the only option I can go for pad wise? (With EBC).

[mmm-five]

I’m probably going to go back to Bluestuff (if I stay with EBC) as the OrangeStuff don’t suit my braking style...i.e. they require you to be much harsher on the brakes, or be on a track with much more frequent braking (e.g. not the Ring).

It’s either that or go back to the guaranteed performance of the expensive Pagid RS29, or try something from one of the newer brands (PF, Carbotech, etc.).