Its been a while since I saw people reporting about the brake pads they have and their success with them.

I race about once a month at willow springs and do 5 30 min runs on a 1.8 mi course . Braking from 120 to 60 roughly and around 6-7 other turns. Dont want to look at the map to actually count the turns.

I also drive the car every day. What pads have people been in similar conditions to mine?

Im leaning toward the F E R O D O ds3000.

Anybody comment on these for daily driving?? I want to be "rotor friendly" as I am keeping the stock rotors and dont want to have to relaced them.

Also how much brake fluid does our car take, if I completely bleed the system?

 

I would also be interested in feedback about the DS3000 as a street / track day crossover pad.

 

Ferodo's own website states they are not suitible for street use.
http://www.ferodo.co.uk/ferodo_home/
Click on "motorsports" on the left menu for DS3000 compound description.

Then you need to look elsewhere. The one racecar I've seen use them had rotors so gooved I thought he had burned them to the backing plate. Turns out they were only 1/2 done.

 

Call Carbotech, Larry is the man!

 

One of these days, Matt's gonna shoot me on the spot but...

If you are doing that frequent of track events, you should get dedicated track pads and preferrably a good set of track rotors.

My preference in track pads are either Hawk Performance Blue or Porterfield R4. The Hawks are not very rotor friendly, nor should be driven on the street; but you do get amazing performance out of them. Porterfields are good on the rotors, and provide very good performance, but again should not be driven on the street.

If however, you are looking for a single pad for track/autox/street and willing to change pads relatively frequently (every 2-3 events, all depends on your driving, some change prior to each HPDE), the I would recommend Porterfield R4S pads.

I do about 3 to 4 track days a year and numerous autoxes. I use R4S pads and change them about every 6 months during the season.

 

I have the Carbotech Panther plus on right now, been on for about 8K and at least 8-9 20 minute track sessions, hear is what I found:

As advertised these are not a great choice for street use.

They have a much better torque and fade resistance compared to the stock pads, in fact when they were new I found them a little difficult to modulate under severe braking situations (ABS kept kicking in). On stock/street tires they may just have a bit too much initial torque for the available tire grip.
After a bit of wear either the torque has fallen off a bit or I have just gotten used to them, can't say for sure but the modulation seems to be manageable now.
They work well on the track and even have decent stopping power when cold, and initially they seemed very friendly on the rotors. The main down side is that they squeal like mad, and not just under braking, they made a lot of noise just cruising down the road (very annoying).
I tried several techniques to get rid of the cruising squeal with limited success.
I have done a lot of street driving lately and the pads still have about half the meat left on them but they are beginning to grove the front rotors badly. I have a real nasty 3-4mm grove in the middle of both front rotors.

I am beginning to think the stock pads may just be the best compromise for a street/track pad. If your switching to R-compound tires for the track then switch to race pads at the same time. In that situation the Panther plus pad may be a good option.

BTW I need rotors, so any options with prices and availability please PM me.

 

This sounds interesting, how do these R4S pads compare to the stock pads? street and track? More details please. Oh and how about price?

 

I use the XP's and they are too much for me on the street, but it takes about 45 seconds to change the pad, 2 pins and a clip. I just chage them from the stock pads to the race pads at the track, or before I goto the track. Also they do make a lot of noise even when not on them but I tell you what, I can really beat on them and I was going so fast and stopping so quick I was kind of scared and was waiting for fade that never happened. I don't really think there is a TRUE street / track pad. It's like asking for a low fat McDonald's burger

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not believe Hawk has the correct fitment for the EVO caliper. Some people have used the Ferrari F40 Brembo pad, but it is shorter than the EVO pad.

Silver:
Yes, the Panther Plus (and XP8/9 for that matter) are harsher on the rotors than a stock pad. Having said that, they are WAY more rotor friendly than Hawks Blue compound (and our dust doesn't permanently bond itself to your rims). I'd say 10-12,000 street miles and the rotors are approaching done. Yet another reason we do not recommend them for unlimited street use. They're perfect, however, for changing a day or two before the track event, and driving to/from the track without any problems.

 

I have used hawk blues and I agree whole heartedly with everything you have said. Limited street use/track days, this is a very good option. I not complaining, hell they didn't start realling eating the rotors untill several thousand street miles, that's dam good for a race pad.
If it weren't for the constant squealing I might still recommend tham for street/track use.

BTW the rear pads do have a slight fitment issue, backing up and then pulling forward the pads are shifting/slapping in there seats.

 

Interesting about the rear pads. We've sold 1.4 ****loads of rear pads in all our compounds for the EVO, STi and 350Z, all of which use the same rear pad. This is the first "comment" on that.

 

Try reusing the shims from the OE pads, if you haven't already.

 

I've had that happening too with my Carbotech Bobcats. It doesn't seem to be affecting performance or anything, but it is a little annoying at times. On a car with more sound deadening I probably wouldn't even notice, but the Evo is what it is.

Recently, as in the past week or so, the pads have started to squeal some too. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that might be related to two days of autocross school at the end of October. It's nothing major at this point, but as with the slapping noise, it can be a little annoying.

Other than that, the pads have been great -- low dust, good bite, and apparently rotor friendly (I have about 6k on them)...

JW

 

my car has 600 miles on it now, i just got it, and the brake dust is terrible! will they stop making so much dust after i break it in? or is that just somthing i have to deal with owning brembos now?

 

With any brake pad there are compromises (AFAIK!).

I've used the EVO stock pads for 5 weekend driving schools this year. This is on a car with the factory brake air guides. fresh brake fluid before each event, and close-to-stock engine output (just RMR turboback exhaust). The good points about the stock pads are that they didn't fade, have good modulation/control, have reasonable wear characteristics (may last two weekends), don't wear the rotors very much, and are cheap (~$64 from Conicelli).

The bad characteristics are that they are prone to uneven pad-to-rotor transfer (the infamous "warped rotors") and can glaze the rotors if you are not careful.

I've stuck with the stock pads because the problems are easily corrected by doing a light skim of the rotors. I only had to do this once - after the 3rd school. I'll probably get it done again before the season starts again next Spring. As I recall, the rotors were only 2 mm less than new after the 3 schools and the skim.

I did not have good luck with the Porterfield R4S pads on the Evo. They wore out very quickly - about 40 minutes on the track. These were considered to be good pads on DSMs, but seem to perform differently on the Evo.

On a related brake topic, I removed all the anti-squeal shims a couple of months ago and have no problems with brake noise. This is definitely a YMMV thing, though.