Brake pad suggestions?

Hi all old fan and junkie new name: Looking for new front pads for my Neon ACR. I am looking for a compromise between the Hawk HPS and stock. The Hawks were too dusty and way too squeaky for my taste. I could play songs with the squeaks until they warmed up.

The car is driven hard sometimes maybe 3 autocrosses a year (if more i would go with the HPS) but for the most part just "spirited driving." Any suggestions? I know there are some "Satisfied" ceramic pads that look good on paper but maybe EBC Greens?

Any ideas? Oh and this will be paired with new rotors and money is really not an objection, (read: willing to pay for what i want)

thanks

Me, too! 04 Si, fronts only, Kuhmo XS.

I run Axxis Ultimates on my Miata and they serve me just fine. Not very noisy and not super dusty. They do dust more than the stock pads but I don't think its too bad.

I liked my EBC greens, but they ended up chunking and breaking apart towards the end of their life. I'm partly to blame, as the car saw plenty of track time, too. I've just installed the Porterfields that Flyin' Miata recommends.

Rob

Carbotechs are pretty nice.

Fwiw, I'm running Porterfield R4S pads on the truck, and they are most impressive. They are lasting longer and dusting less than I'd expected.

i have EBC Greenstuff on my car now, good pads, a little on the dusty side, but quite competent for street and occasional track duty. Going for EBC red next time just to try them out.

My vote goes to the Porterfield R4S for street and autox as well. I'm on my 3rd or 4th set with the FD now and no regrets. I've also had good experiences with the Axxis Ultimates as well and have a new set waiting to go on the Galant. I was unimpressed with the EBC Greenstuffs except for their longevity. They just won't wear out fast enough so I can put the Axxis back in ;P

I have been running HPS and HP + pads for several years and have never heard a squeak. Street and track on my ZX2/SR.

oh SWEET! an opportunity to dig up my hatred for EBC greenstuff.

rotor shredding dusty loud AND THEY DON'T STOP ANY BETTER

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

+100, Porterfield R4S is the answer..

I run hawk HPS too.. less dusty than the stock BMW pads and I have NEVER heard a peep out of them

Porterfield R4S is awesome.

The Greenstuffs i've personally had good luck with, but either the red or the yellows blow them out of the water. The yellows are GREAT pads. Kindof scary on cold stops though.

93celicaGT2 wrote: Porterfield R4S is awesome. The Greenstuffs i've personally had good luck with, but either the red or the yellows blow them out of the water. The yellows are GREAT pads. Kindof scary on cold stops though.

are the reds ok for cold stops? suitable for street duty?

jcanracer wrote:

93celicaGT2 wrote: Porterfield R4S is awesome. The Greenstuffs i've personally had good luck with, but either the red or the yellows blow them out of the water. The yellows are GREAT pads. Kindof scary on cold stops though.

are the reds ok for cold stops? suitable for street duty?

Yep, they're fine. If the car is primarily street, with occasional track work, and some backroad shenanigans, the reds are adequate. At least on my car. YMMV. I have a front heavy car, weighs about 2300-2400lbs, with brakes that were designed for a 3300lb car, so i would imagine that it would even stop pretty well with duralast stuff if it came down to it.

I'm going to put EBC Reds on the Deathscort, because the OEM replacement stuff from The Zone is just scary.

But i really like the reds. For the small price jump from the Greens, it's a great deal.

Actually, Mopar OEM pads always served me very well on my ACR, and could be mailordered for reasonable cost.

Porterfield R4S work well on a quality rotor, but on the white-box made in china crap the Porterfields shredded the rotor in about 12 months.

I'm currently running Hawk HPS on Brembo (made in italy, not china, although some Brembo rotors are indeed made in china, which really pissed me off but that's another story for another time) and I have no complaints at all.

But now that I work for Performance Friction, I recommend PFC products exclusively.

The Hawk HPSs on my FC work just fine for street driving. Like AngryCorvair, I'm also using Brembo Italian-built rotors. I've only heard them squeal once or twice, but that was after hours of stop-and-go driving. Not enough initial bite for my tastes in auto-x, though. I scored a set of lightly used front HP Plusses I'll try this weekend.

AngryCorvair wrote: But now that I work for Performance Friction, I recommend PFC products exclusively.

How about some pads for an '04 X-Type?

Not having much luck shopping for track only pads so I'm trying to decide what to go with for a street/track (HPDE) pad for right now. Debating between the EBC yellows and Porterfield R4S's. Thoughts?

belteshazzar wrote: oh SWEET! an opportunity to dig up my hatred for EBC greenstuff. rotor shredding dusty loud AND THEY DON'T STOP ANY BETTER grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

thats odd.... my experience is totally opposite, except for not stopping better

ive had greenstuff f/r on my M3 since 2001, same set, same rotors, 2 trackdays, lots of autocross runs, and about 45k miles. they didnt dust much for me, made no noise at all, but i hated the bite. mediocre cold bite and ok hot bite but they just didnt feel good. the strangest thing is that they wouldnt wear out! the damn things still had about 80% depth and damn near zero wear lip on the rotors. i honestly cant figure out whats wearing... perhaps nothing which might be why i hated them.

i replaced the pads with redstuff as its all i could get that was more agressive the night before an autocross and they have much better bite, a little dustier, but i think i'm gonna try carbotechs or hp+ next time.

A few have said it already... But I wonder if it depends on application?

My HPS are amazingly civilized. Maybe some dust... I am not a wheel polisher anyways so I don't know if any other brake would be any better (been so long since they were clean looking some was bound to accumulate)... but no squeaks and no real loss in cold performance.

Have you tried OEM? I don't think I could step down much below the HPS with out just being OEM.

The carbotech street pads (bobcat?) work great. My dad ran EBC greenstuff on his subaru, and there were no problems except they really dont last long at all.

I have the Carbotech street pads on my car now and I'm really not thrilled with them. They don't have the initial bite that I like and wet stopping is very scary. I drag my brakes to heat them up routinely in the rain. I wouldn't recommend these pads to anybody except my ex.

I thought about ordering the autox pads from Carbotech but they insist on charging me a $25 core charge everytime I order brakes and since I don't have any old sets to send in I'm kinda stuck with paying it. Berkeley that. I might order a full on track set after I replace my street pads so I can send their street pads back to them, I'm just not sure which would be better for me, the EBC or R4S...

I'd like to see how my Akebono Euro ceramics do on the autocross course. they're great for stopping a 4200 lb daily driver and also the Range Rover when towing. Quiet and virtually dust free (barely any visible dust after a month of daily driving, compared to the OEM BMW stuff that made the wheels black in a couple days). Initial bite is very good and they are predictable and progressive. For heavy duty street use, i love them, but I haven't had the opportunity to track them yet.

Hawk HPS dust and squeak too much? That was my experience with the HP+, though they were great on a road course. I've run HPS pads on a Saturn SL2 and on my current Miata, and they work great for me. No noise, and dust isn't a factor (though I'm not a clean freak by any means). Are you sure you don't have the HP+ instead?

I went through a few sets of EBC Greenstuff pads on my previous Miata. They worked great for street, autocross, and track. I really have no complaints about them. But I do know some people who have very strong feelings against them. My experience varies from theirs, but that's not to say they're wrong, either.