StopTech Street Performance Brake Pads - Thoughts?
 

Has anybody here used StopTech street performance brake pads? StopTech claims they are pads that are good for street and occasional auto-cross and track use. That's pretty much what I want... a single pad I use for daily driving... and spirited drives on the street. I will only track my car a couple times during the year.

The problem I'm having is I haven't heard much about these pads. So... what do you guys think of these pads?

http://i26.tinypic.com/2dw7mrr.jpg

we have the stoptech pads on our evo x project car runs on it . works well. only tracked once. felt very responsive bite and no fade.

Placed an order on these... I will report back on how I like them. I read other reviews... and people seemed to like them and said they worked on the track as well as the street. Plus the cost was too good to pass-up.

I am running these on the front. I would not say they are "good" track pads. They squeal HORRIBLY and very LOUD when they get hot. If I had to do it again, I'd have bought track racking pads sooner. These also leave "greasy" coatings on the rotors, but are gentler so far on the rotor wear than OEM's. I have about 15k and the pad life is nice. If you want a one day HPDE, they won't kill you, but they do not inspire confidence with the "pissing" and whining that they make.

I'd tried to buy Axxis ULT's but ended up with only the R's as Axxis apparently stopped producing the ULT for the US market, so I have an odd setup. However, there is no problem with different F/R brake bias with this setup.

While I didn't like them for tracking, they do have good bite as reported, and even under some moderate temps, they didn't really fade. But they sure were embarrassing!

But for $100 or so, I think they only address the occassional track user; if you don't see the track and drive it legally, no life-on-the-edge tailgating or late braking, you'd probably never notice the difference btwn these and Wagner ceramic pads for $50.

I did like the fact that they were pre-cured, didn't require a long break in period.

More review from users would be nice... Im looking for something thats more daily use friendly and non-squealing pads...

I run them on my street Mini S. Good for the street. They're quiet and have pretty good feel. Subaru guys have been saying they can take a bit of a beating but I haven't pushed them.

- Andrew

I did notice the squealing has gone down somewhat after I had the rotors turned. But I still have not heated the StopTech's back up to track levels. I'll do that this weekend at a HPDE "drive for $55" and report to y'all if the squeal returns to pre-turn volume levels.

But in general, all high performance brakes will squeal more than lesser stopping power pads because of the increased grip the pads make to the rotor, and unless the pads are mean to rotors (i.e. track pads), that increased co-efficient of friction comes at the price of more pad material being ablated. That's why my next DD pads will be $50 kind, low dust, low noise, ok/good stopping power and just plain not high-temp, not SUPER stopping capable. With dual pistons or more, it'll still be very good stopping power.

(The StopTechs come with kevlar embedded in them as the "ablative" material that increases the co-efficient of friction without eating too much metal, that's the "greasy" looking stuff on the rotor surface after you get them REALLY hot.)

Cheaper low dust/low noise pads are just not trackable -- ever. Pads are SO easy to swap out, and any tracking should have someone remove all wheels and look for safety concerns first anyway. Can swap all the pads out faster than it takes to just lift car and remove wheels. For $100, the StopTechs try to be everything to all people, but there really is no such thing as that.

What kind of daily use are you considering, on the extreme side?

You need to let us know what the MAX use is, not "more daily" generalized because it only took my StopTech's one moderately length HOT heat cycle to begin to scream/squeal; they began to do it after one fast lap. If you never do that "HOT" fast "HOT" fast "HOT" fast "HOT" driving, the squeal isn't so bad, just the normally reported "squeals" you find in other brake threads that most still find too loud for their preferences.

Yes, they do take a beating if you can handle the noise. Wear levels are actually impressive, haven't seen bad fade. I guess another option can be to turn rotors after the noise level climbs too high ;-) JK!

I agree....although they are sort of marketed as being capable on the track I'd think of them more as slightly aggressive street pads. I wouldn't use them as "real" track pads.

- Andrew

Ah ic good to know...

After bedding in and testing out (both) my new "real" track pads, dang, I see why we don't all have them. You freaking need R-comps or the stock Advan's, something with "R"-like compound tires. I've never tripped my ABS so easily in many many miles. Hope the tires with 8500m can handle one last beating.

Are the Stop Tech pads rebrande Axxis pads?

No, Stoptech used to sell Axxis a lot but these are completely different.

Yeah race pads will do that. :lol:

- Andrew

With the StopTech F and Axxis ULT R, the brake bias is very even, nothing that causes upsets or odd rotation during late braking. The wear is PERFECTLY even between those two, so I can say for the last 17,000 miles that you can combine the two in a DD setup that sees an occassional track day.

Do not buy these pads! I put them on my car with brand new rotors and they vibrate and shake like the wheels is going to fall off. They also don't bite even close to stock and they DO FADE.

If you have instant vibration and shake, your "new rotors" weren't true. Pads cannot cause that. A stuck caliper perhaps.

When you said that they're shaking, how can you tell fade? Fade occurs when your on them so long they heat up and the glue becomes viscous. In my many laps of HPDE of these pads, while they scream like Justin Beiber's fans when hot, the pedal never ever got softer. I think you have something else wrong due to the "runout" -- the uneven rotor behavior. The pads are stationary so they can't shake the car.

The pads are causing the vibration because of uneven wear. The rotors are true. How do I know they fade? Because after just 5-10 hard stops the car no longer stops and the pedal goes to the floor. And it wasn't "instant" shake either.

If this is recent, I would have them inspected and if there is something wrong with them I would talk with Stop Tech, they take their brake quality very seriously.

A good chunk of the local guys up here in Canada run the Stop Techs and its the favored brake pad to run for everything but hardcore track. For a lapping day your fine. But if your serious, you should be swapping pads at the track for better stuff.

I am curious to hear what is up with your specific pads.

For those of you running the Stoptech pads, how does their dust compare vs. the stock Brembo pads?

stop tech ftw. im going to pick set up next week.

I have these on my 8 because they where dirt cheap, seem to be fine on the street but I use cobalt xr1 or hawk dtc 60 for the track.

I run RB's ET500 on the street most the time and swap the XT 930 or 960s on autox or track days. Id suggest this setup.

I had those on my IX. No complaints with them, just also looking into alternatives (Stoptech Street and EBC Redstuff).

I have them for street use. Approximately 15k miles so far and they look great I bought them for less brake dust and they are cleaner than stock. Never used them on the track but they were fine on a friend's similarly equipped X during an autocross.

On the track use a track pad. They don't take long to change and honestly it is better to be safe and use the right part for the right job.

I am running these on my EVO with the AMS SS Lines and Motul fluid. No squeks, no noises, stops great and stops when I need them to. Great for back woods driving with no problems on numerous stickies. Took them on tail of the dragon and I didnt experience any of these noises that others are talking about when they heat up.

Just my .02

Agreed {thumbup}

StopTech Street pads & ATE Blue fluid ordered...we'll see how I like them in a week or two!

'Been my daily driver setup for over 2 years now, hard to believe how fast time flies. I did a weekend on a "high HP", i.e. shorter straightaway GIR once and the StopTech's never faded. Just screamed as they got hotter. So the screaming kept me from repeatedly inducing near lock-up really aggressive braking. Just surprised that even after that 300 or so miles that I've still managed to "coax" another 40,000 miles out of these. I have F Grandsport GS6's laying around somewhere, but until I absolutely have to replace the Stoptech Street Performance pads, that experiment will remain untested.

i am using the exact setup. 2000 miles so far so good, they are an improvement from the stock pad for sure.

Don't forget that you will need to rebed them about every 2-3k +/- for driving style and environment. It's easy to remember to get it up to the point you smell brakes you're driving it so hard, and then park the thing -- no e-brake, and let the rotors cure with a fresh layer of the bluish that's the pad material.

Do that even with autozone store brands -- it's a world of difference.

These pads are a great pad...much quieter than the stock pads too and do not squeal...at least so far for me at least...haven't tested them on the track but for street so far so good and less brake dust for sure as well...I also recommend these if you don't want to brake the bank for some quality pads...

that was not want on the website ! thanks a lot for the advice. i'll be sure to do that ASAP. {thumbup}

^ The technique is pretty much same for all brakes: 60-5mph as quickly as you can, but without ABS in cycles, 5-10 cycles of that without stopping or locking up (best you can to try to be firm on the brakes w/o ABS kicking in).

If you buy race pads, they just add that after that 60mph difference, to go 100-5mph six more times, gets flames shooting out of the wheels. Freaking awesome!

I got these pads installed this weekend along with ATE Super Blue fluid and so far I'm very impressed! I have ~90 miles on them so far and they've been silent, have great initial bite, and very linear response. We'll see how they dust compared to stock after I get more miles on them.

I have over 46,000 on these on the fronts that included a track weekend or two :)

I would not use these as track pads. However, I have some 1000 miles on this pad now on my RA. Very satisfied with them. Very similar to the old Axxis ULTs. Good cold bite and response.

I agree, I had my first track day in my EVO with these pads and they only lasted about 3 laps with street tires, I had to change them out for dtc60's between runs.

Agreed. I think I made a great choice going with them; not even a tiny squeak yet and their performance has been as good or better than the OEM Brembo (made by Ferodo) pads.

I've been using Carbotech pads on track and I really like them. Before that I used Hawk Blue race pads and they worked great, except that they ate my rotors. Another lesson I learned, don't by the slotted or drilled rotors. They are crap. They can not be turned and have to be machined. In my area it's $10 to turn a rotor and $100 to have one machined. I buy basi Brembo rotors that are so cheap I have spares.

I think I'm going to get these pads for DD and reserve my endless SSH pads for Auto-X and track use. I can't stand how the endless pads squeal at low speed and when they are cold, with some titanium shims they should hold up well for a while and when they're done I'll get some true track only pads most likely the ST43 I hear so many great things about.

I put these on this autumn to see how they would work. Not really impressed- if they were sold as trackable pads.
They are quiet and seem to make very little dust- but the good news ends there.
The have very little bite and require extreme pedal pressure to engage ABS.

For me, I think they are great winter pads and DD use.

Sprirted driving- not enough bite. Track use- are you kidding? I guess it depends on the track, the tires and the drivers' ability to threshold brake.

I threw a CEL at about 145mph (MAF overflow) so I wanted to get the car slowed down as quickly as possible and I have only good things to say about these pads. They bit hard and hauled the car down with no fade or any type of uncertainty. Nothing but solid and linear stopping power.

These are not track pads, they're called "Street Performance" pads for a reason. As an aggressive daily-driver I'm in love with these.

^^ agree with Kracka. i beat on my car like a catholic latina wife on a daily basis. plenty of biteand stopping power specially for the price, cant go wrong

How is the dust compared to stockers?

What rotors are you guys using, stock still?

Much less, and stock (untouched).

how mch do these go for F&R complete set?

i saw a stoptech brakes for F/R set for evo x for 140 shipped.. is that about right? how mch did u guyz pay for a whole set?

I won't say what I paid, but industry average is in the $120-140/set range.

il be trying these .. il make a review later on - this is so far the cheapest with a good review

Which vendor are you guys buying the pads and ATE fluid from?

pads, Partsgeek.com. SuperBlue: Amazon

MAP

I try to support the good site sponsors/vendors whenever possible. Most of them will match/beat any lower price you find online too.

^ Good point. I've been internet bargain hound shopping as a computer OEM on the side for so many years, "loyalty" and web-shopping don't usually intersect in my brain anymore. Will try to do better.....

Thanks as always for the referral! We won't be beat in regards to price on Stoptech pads :) Also, I found this thread researching pads for my personal car so thanks for your input I think I've made my decision!

I just bought these pads coming from the Racing Brakes ET 500 pads which are also street pads with improved braking performance over the stock pads. The ET 500s dust much less than the Stoptechs which remind me of the Axis Ultimates in terms of performance. The Stoptechs have a better initial bite than the ET500s and better pedal feel but do create a darker dust than the ET500s. Neither pads are track pads.

From what I have been told, the max temp on the StopTech SP pads is 1300*. That seems pretty damn good for a dual purpose pad. IIRC the Axxis Ultimates were only rated at around 900*.

Has anyone used stoptech rotors or have any input on them? I'm going to be getting these pads and I need new rotors and just daily drive my car with minimal spirited driving.

I did on a 2G DSM. They wore much more consistently than the NAPA rotors they replaced. Not sure if they self-cooled any better, tho', and that might be more important to you.

ps. thanks for waking up a related thread, instead of starting a new one

Cool, thanks for the input. And ya, figured it'd be a good thread to bring back. Lots of good info and view points.

If anyone doesn't like those rotors, any suggestions for solid, daily-driving rotors? Simply looking for reliability that can stand up to the ever changing seasons in Wisconsin. :thumbup:

As suggested in my previous post, I, personally, am more interested in consistency from one rotor to the next. Having not learned my lesson, I currently have no-name blanks on the front and Centrics on the rear. The fronts are all over the place ... grooving and inconsistent wear, plus huge differences in dust. The rears are dead equal.

And, yes, I bled the calipers and even flipped the rotors side-to-side and rebed. It's the rotors.

Of all of the semi-cheap rotors I've used, I think I like Centrics the most. If they come in the correct size, they get my vote.