Brake Pads Users Ratings Guide

[Snowman]

Guys and Gals,

I thought I'd chuck together a thread where everyone can post up the brake pads they have used and what they thought of them. I'll try and keep a summary up in this 1st thread as a quick glance resource. I'll list the pads as people post them up under three headings as either track only pads, track/street pads or steet only pads. For the summary I'll do a simple next to the pad name if people like them or a followed by a reason if people don't like them. Also if people can list where they got the pads from that would be great too. If you want anything else added let me know.

Track Pads

EBC Green (poor performance and taper wear)

EBC Yellow - OK but not as good as DS3000's

Ferodo DS3000

Ferodo DS2500 (rears) (crumble with hard use)

Performance Friction Carbon Metallic

SBS Dual Carbon

Track/Street Pads

Bendix Ultiamtes (Light track work)

EBC Green - OK But not as good as DS2500's

Endless SSS

Ferodo DS2500

Queensland Friction Materials (QFM) A1.RM (front+rear)

SBS Ceramic Carbon

Street Pads

Bendix Ultiamtes

[Snowman]

I'll start my own thread then

I currently use in my GT-R Ferodo DS3000 pads in the fronts and DS2500 in the rears. I think they are great. Can get a little noisy if I haven't done much hard driving but after one good session become quiet again rather quickly. For me I love the progressive bite - but they will bite hard given a firm press. I get mine from John @ UAS and would highly recommend them for a track set-up.

[T04GTR]

cool.

ds3000 good feel ,consistant, used on v8 brutes. the discs crack before they break up.

ds2500 pretty average not very bity. and crumble with hard use. (since 3000 came along) but once warm ok.

ebc green. garbage and extreem taperd ware.

sbc ceramic carbon. awsome street/track pad. long lasting and dont overheat the disc. my pic for steet/track

sbc duel carbon. very good aswell. more track orientated. long lasting and take an awfull lot of heat. (targa favorite)

performance friction carbon metalic.

omg insane pad. so easy to use and instant pedal responce. my pic of the list. but due to the fact that they work so well you cant tell your overheating the discs. cos they feel the same from warm to a orange hot disc. (as used in most top level motorsport. nascar,v8 supercars etc etc)

bendix ultimate,ferodo formula,metal kings etc etc. pretty crap and good for going up to the shops.

i haved used all these pads in my gtr with 355mm rotors and brembo f40's (38,44mm pistons) and im hard on brakes. once you get good brakes you seem to explore there limmits hehe

[Links]

sbc ceramic carbon. awsome street/track pad. long lasting and dont overheat the disc. my pic for steet/track

Dave, where can you get these from, how much will they set us back? For a track gts-t, what would people recommend?

[Wogboy]

I've been using factory pads so far and they are working fine, no fad. Have just brought some new Bendix Street Road Track to see if I can shortern the distance down a bit. But very impressed with factory brakes!

[vidospace]

Gee 225kw on factory pads? Damn!

I really think the factory pads on the R34 GTT are not up to the job. To spongy. Well worth an upgrade.

[Wogboy]

If there spongy it's in the fluid not the pad, but 180km/h plus and braking at the 100m mark into a 2nd gear hair pin lap after lap, no fade. I'm impressed with the factory brakes.

[vidospace]

Hmm... maybe its time for some 5.1 fluid in mine then.

[Wogboy]

Hmm... maybe its time for some 5.1 fluid in mine then.

Try some Motul RBF 600, it's around $30 for 500ml, but works a treat!

[260DET]

This topic is a good idea, pity about the lack of response.

Anyway, I've had good results when doing sprints at QR, Sprint circuit, with Bendix Ultimates. Great bang for buck but not a race pad. So thinking of EBC Yellow stuffs, which are supposed to work cold too. My big concern is rotor wear, but seeing noone uses them.............

[simpletool]

Using RB74 front and rear pads. Stock rear dics and 4000 series (non-slotted) fronts on R33 GTSt.

Good pad, warm up in one average stop first thing in the morning, can be very noisy if you don't grease the shims properly. Definately better than Nissan pads that seem to leave material on the disc after hard driving (makes discs feel temporarily warped)

Been used around QR and seemed fine and dandy. But I've only got 170rwkw.

[MrStabby]

my 2c - some of this is second hand tho

DS3000s - high friction 0.62 so very grippy - works well at high temp - tough on rotors (maybe only at low temps tho) - manufacturer says "NOT suitable for road use", presumably because of the rotor wear issue

EBC Yellows - quite like DS3000 - similar price so you might as well use the better DS3000s

DS2500s - med friction 0.5 so not as grippy as DS3000s - dont eat rotors - good for track and street

EBC Reds - quite like DS2500s - similar price so you might as well use the better wearing DS2500s

EBC greens - med friction 0.55 - everyone says they're crap but they worked ok for me on street and light track work

You should use pads of the same friction coefficient front and rear unless you want to change the brake bias.

[Basti]

what are people's thoughts on the endless sss or ssm pads? looking to get these sometime soon. 90% street work, the rest on twisties or track.

[Godzillr]

I am sitting on 4 x Ferodo DS3000R FCP998R from a R32 GTR which I want to fit to my standard R32 GTR.

Question. How can I tell if they are for a standard R32 GTR or a V-Spec R32 GTR?

Cheers

[kasanoff]

what are people's thoughts on the endless sss or ssm pads? looking to get these sometime soon. 90% street work, the rest on twisties or track.

Recommended...

I've been running the SSS pads for a lil while now. For what you've said you'll be using them for - low noise, low dust and still good after 4 laps of Sandown...

[Duncan]

godzillr the wrong ones won't fit, so just try em

[jmac]

In my time with the 34 I used:

Endless Euro-X (front) and Endless NA-R (rear)

Great for track, no fade after 5 laps, but poor pedal feel and noisy when cold so not the best for street. These are now old parts replaced by newer Endless pads.

Bendix Heavy Duty (front)

Put in as a stop-gap measure cos my front pads were too low before a track day. These pads were crap for my application, poor pedal feel on the street, dusty, wore quickly, faded after 2 laps but didn't go away completely.

Queensland Friction Materials (QFM) A1.RM (front+rear)

Good compromise pad for those on a budget. Good street feel from cold. Good performance on the track with only a slight fade on lap 5. Kind to rotors, low on dust, and cheap, ~$120 per pair (about 1/3 the price I paid for Endless).

I should mention what really helped was also:

- decent fluid (Endless fluid or Motul Factory Line)

- decent rotors (basic upgrade to DBA/RDA slotted rotors of stock diameters)

- cooling (cutting away the guard plastic in front of the front wheels to allow airflow, removal of dust plates)

- braided lines front and rear

- master cylinder brace

- proper bleeding procedure

[GTS-t VSPEC]

Has anyone had any experience with Pagid Blues ? Using them with standard R32 GTR calipers, and RDA slotted rotors.

[driftmeister]

Im using the SSS 500 deg front and 380 deg for rear for almost 1 year. Been on a lot of twisties all year round and does mostly street. No noise at all and quite low brake dust with plenty of bite. Though some ppl use them find them to be squeky on low speed though i haven't experienced this before.

Any price is acceptable and gonna change the pad in 2 months time.

[Abo Bob]

Dunno how I missed this thead til now.

Snowy, what's the reasoning behind DS3000 front and DS2500 rear?

I have used:

Bendix advance - as dave says, fine for going up to the shops.

Bendix Ultimates - Nice and bitey, better than advance, chew through rotors like a fat man munching down on an old twix, wear out quickly, dusty, can be noisy.

Ferrodo DS2500 - long wearing, heat rotors pretty badly making it very easy to crack them, don't chew them though, cheap for performance pads, can be used on the street although an emergency stop when dead cold wont be too great, don't need much heat to negate this at all though.