Advice On Fast Road Brake Pad Choice

[M_R_205 5 1 Cars]

hey guys,

 

Now that my standard XS front brakes have worn right out (in 6 months..) i have decided to upgrade to the 1.6 calipers with vented discs, that chose was easy enough as its very cheap, and very light. now the choice has to be made on what brake pads i am going to trust my life on, there seems to be quite alot of choice out there and im just after some recommendations. what iv been looking at at the moment are :-

 

mintex 1155`s and 1144`s,

ferodo DS2500 and DS3000,

EBC green, yellow and black stuff pads,

and finally the black diamond predictor pads,

 

Im realy after a pad that has a very good bite, low dust, and a decent life span (changing every 8-10K for instance)

 

at the moment the car is a standard road car and standard sort of weight with an mi16 in there, it also has 1.9 rear brakes on and there using green stuff pads and braided lines which seem to be working fine, (they will lock if i really hammer the brakes but the fronts never do)

 

So any recommendations or warnings would be much appreciated

Thanks

Paul.

[chocolate_o_brian 0]

I would go with the Predator pads IMHO. I've got them on the front of my 1.9 with standard discs and they perform as well as the old Autofive 283mm drilled/grooved discs and Greenstuff pads did. Under £30 for the fronts and they have instant bite from cold. Very little wear and do not feel spongy at all.

 

As soon as I've sorted the sticking rear caliper on my GTi I'm gonna get the Predators for the rears too. Very impressed for the money

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

Got Mintex 1155's in one of my 205's, amazing, and even better when you get a bit of heat into them.

[M_R_205 5 1 Cars]

Any other recommendations?

[boombang 2]

I'm a fan of 1155s here too.

 

Cheap, do the job very well.

[Rippthrough 98]

Any other recommendations?

 

Depends how much low dust is a factor, is a dusty pad that's easy to wipe off the alloys OK (as opposed to DS3000 which doesn't make much but what does come off welds itself on...)?

[Baz 421]

Any other recommendations?

 

If it's just a fast road, and even occasional track car, i'd seriously try just Ferodo Premier pads for the £13 or so quid they are from Helfrauds. I find them pretty damn good tbh and have run them in my 1.6 and Miami Mi for ages now, 2 sprint seasons, numerous trackdays, 3 'Ring trips etc. Run with 5.1 fluid and braided lines, only ever experienced a little fade at times whilst doing multiple laps in succession on pretty worn/glazed ones on the 'Ring.

 

Really good value!

[M_R_205 5 1 Cars]

Depends how much low dust is a factor, is a dusty pad that's easy to wipe off the alloys OK (as opposed to DS3000 which doesn't make much but what does come off welds itself on...)?

 

Its only a factor so that my wheels dont look minging after a week or so, i would rather have lots of "easy clean" dust than, a little baked on dust

 

 

If it's just a fast road, and even occasional track car, i'd seriously try just Ferodo Premier pads for the £13 or so quid they are from Helfrauds. I find them pretty damn good tbh and have run them in my 1.6 and Miami Mi for ages now, 2 sprint seasons, numerous trackdays, 3 'Ring trips etc. Run with 5.1 fluid and braided lines, only ever experienced a little fade at times whilst doing multiple laps in succession on pretty worn/glazed ones on the 'Ring.

 

Really good value!

 

Funny you should mention that, theres a guy selling some 1.6 calipers on ebay, and they come complete with premier pads, i may buy them, and try the pads out, at the very worst i still have a set of 1.6 calipers...

[MerlinGTI 3]

Ive got premiers in the GF's Astra, really impressed for the price. Will defo buy again.

 

Mintex m1144's in my pug (used for fast road) and love them, with my cheapy CRN groved disks (1.9 calipers - 1.6 disks). The bite from cold on these bad boys is extremely impressive. Low dusting I find too, even with groved disks.

 

EDIT: While we are on the subject of brake dust, Try applying a product called Finish Kare 1000p to your wheels. 1 tin will last a life time (~£16) and very little sticks once applied. Its suitable for 'high temps', your looking at durability of around 4 months with 1 aplication. Its a synthetic wax/sealent. Good on body work too.

Edited February 24, 2010 by MerlinGTI

[Rippthrough 98]

In that case add Carbotech XP8 to that list, it's more expensive than the others, but it's got cold bite to rival the 1144's, better hot than the ferodo's, the wear rate is low and it's also very gentle on discs.

It is a bit dusty, but it tends to just wipe off rather than need scrubbing.

[paul205mi16 4]

Make sure there is a compensator going to the 1.9 rear disk beam you have installed, I put a 1.9 beam on my XS and managed to lock the rears braking hard resulting in a costly accident. All sorted now with bias valve. Some sort of compensator is a MUST with that set up.

Paul.

[chocolate_o_brian 0]

Ive got premiers in the GF's Astra, really impressed for the price. Will defo buy again.

 

Mintex m1144's in my pug (used for fast road) and love them, with my cheapy CRN groved disks (1.9 calipers - 1.6 disks). The bite from cold on these bad boys is extremely impressive. Low dusting I find too, even with groved disks.

 

EDIT: While we are on the subject of brake dust, Try applying a product called Finish Kare 1000p to your wheels. 1 tin will last a life time (~£16) and very little sticks once applied. Its suitable for 'high temps', your looking at durability of around 4 months with 1 aplication. Its a synthetic wax/sealent. Good on body work too.

 

Could also try Poorboys wheel sealant. I got it from Polished Bliss and for under £15 it really is the daddy - especially on whilte wheels

[petert 578]

mintex 1155`s and 1144`s,

ferodo DS2500 and DS3000,

EBC green, yellow and black stuff pads,

and finally the black diamond predictor pads,

 

You've got quite a range there, that will go from low dust to high dust. You can't have your cake and it too. If dust wasn't a problem, and it was a track car, I'd say Endless.

[205Rallee 59]

Pagid RS4-2 every time, but a wee bit expensive!

[pug_ham 243 3 Cars]

Pagid blacks (fast road) are better than 1144's in my experience.

 

Loads less dust, noise & better performance.

 

I used to have 1144's on my STDT & the wheels were dusty within a day of having cleaned them. Wiped off easy enough but spoilt the appearance of a shiney car with minging dusty wheels.

 

I think I've a new spare set somewhere if you're interested.

 

Graham.

[TheLarneMan 4]

How about Ferodo DS Performance?

 

They do the job in my car.

[woodsy 0]

i was using EBC turbogroove discs with Greenstuff pads on my mi with GTI-6 setup and they were ok but not great.The other month i put on some black diamond discs and mintex 1144 pads and difference was amazing.The pads are so much better.

[Baz 421]

How about Ferodo DS Performance?

 

They do the job in my car.

 

Same as already mentioned in the thread about 19 times, DS2500 and 3000's.

 

i was using EBC turbogroove discs with Greenstuff pads on my mi with GTI-6 setup and they were ok but not great.The other month i put on some black diamond discs and mintex 1144 pads and difference was amazing.The pads are so much better.

 

I can imagine compressed wood chippings and cardboard would be better than greenstuff's tbh!!

[M_R_205 5 1 Cars]

so bassed on that, and other opinions i think il discount EBC pads from the list, im very tempted to go with the 1144 but iv heard that the 1155s can withstand heat much better, though in saying that its not a track car, so i cant see there being a massive heat build up,...

 

The DS3000 haqve minging dust so il leave them alone, any input on the DS2500 pads, especialy compared to the 1144s??

 

Has anyone else had any experience with the ferodo premier pads??

 

Thanks again for the input

Paul.

[Baz 421]

I know Anthony rates the premier pads aswel.

 

Screwloose's Mi runs DS2500's on 1.9 calipers and 285mm discs, and that's very good.

[TheLarneMan 4]

Same as already mentioned in the thread about 19 times, DS2500 and 3000's.

 

They are not the same pads, Mr. Smart@rse.

 

They sit below the DS2500 in the Ferodo range.

[Henry 1.9GTi 36]

I have been running 1144's and black diamond discs for road and track. They were good to start with but got progessively worse the more track days I did. They ended up needing one hard brake before use on the road otherwise they didnt seem to do much. Took them off yesterday and they fell apart in my hands around the edges of the pad. One too many trackdays I think.

 

Going for CL RC6 all round so will let you know

The RC5+ could be a good choice for road use.

 

check out CLBrakes.co.uk

[CaptainK 11]

They are not the same pads, Mr. Smart@rse.

 

They sit below the DS2500 in the Ferodo range.

I had the pads you mean installed on my 205 GTi6 (GTi6 brakes as well) setup prior to the new discs and DS2500s put on. For my normal road driving the old pads (the Ferodo Performance thingies) were really good and didn't notice any difference when I put the DS2500s on. I think the old pads used to be called DS2000 and then they renamed it to Performance or something as people were confusing them with the DS2500 and DS3000 more track oriented pads.

 

I would personally AVOID anything by EBC when it comes to brakes. I've had two sets of redstuffs on my FTO and they have been dire and offer limited braking ability whether hot or cold and just seem to vary too much.

[Baz 421]

They are not the same pads, Mr. Smart@rse.

 

They sit below the DS2500 in the Ferodo range.

 

Ohh really? I stand corrected and apologise for being Mr Smart@rse!! As they say, you learn something new everyday!

[Bigtimmy 1]

I am going to wade straight in here with my big size 13's and say that in my own "limited" experience I have had nothing but good times with EBC, both disca and pads.

 

I run an 03 Scoob Sport with EBC grooved and vented discs on the front and redstuff pads and that has performed really well with my "spirited" driving style, they have now covered a good few thousand miles and are a s good as the day they were worn in. Likewise with the Greens on the back.

 

On that basis I bought some drilled and grooved EBC discs for the front of the 205 and replicated the redstuff pads too and it has now done about 600 miles (165 of which were a track day so some abuse given) and they are great, with no fade and they stood up to the track well and didn't produce a lot of dust at all.

 

Just my 2 penneth for what its worth....probably jack sh*t but there you go anyway!