Brake Pad Review: Stoptech, Ferrodo, Project Mu, Carbotech, G-LOC, Raybestos
 

(the following info was added after my experience with G-LOC pads) So I learned a lesson when using a real race pad that can withstand high heat and a lesson for pads in general. The pad hardness must be matched with rotor hardness for best performance. To make it brief, Pads that take massive heat IE GLOC r16 R18, Raybestos ST45 ST47 etc must be used with hard high quality rotors ie: Brembo, AP, Stoptech ARK etc. Pads like the G-LOC R8 R10 Project Mu club racer can be used with most rotors. I used a coleman rotor with a G-LOC R18 and even though the pads didnt over heat the brakes still faded cause the rotos overheated. The bite wasnt very good either. After I noticed the problem on a few track days, I was told by Danny at G-LOC that the Coleman rotor would not work with that pad, but like any other budget racer, i had no choice but to continue use.

***When I mention a race pad is streetable, it is meant in a way that the driver should be aware they very light braking is not good, try to get heat into the pads and block off ducts.

** I started using RT700 brake Fluid with the GLOC and Raybestos. Before that I was using Motul 600. Which I dont reccomend, pedal feel sucks. Use RT700, Prospeed, Brembo or Endless. Those are my personal recommendations.

Stoptech (Street only): Emits very little dust, easy to clean. Less bite and friction compared to stock. Will last longer than stock.

Ferrodo 2500(Street | Light track use): The next step to upgrading stopping power from stock. Will emit slightly less dust than stock, again slightly. Provides a little more friction compared to stock.

Project MU Club Racer (Race Pad | Streetable): Good entry level race pads. Price is OK, lower than the higher end pads as you would expect. Provides way more bite than street pads. They are noisy when cold. Emits a lot of dust. A bit harsh on rotors if you have a powerful car and brake hard. (TI shims recommended if tracking)

Project MU HC+ 800 (Street | Light track use): Used these in the rear with the PMU CR Fronts. Decent double duty pad. They dont like alot of heat, will glaze if tracked hard, happened to me. Price is good for a pad with good bite will not be good as a front pad on our heavy cars.. (TI shims recommended if tracking, even though i reccomend not tracking with them on a heavy car)

Carbotec XP12 F XP10 R (Race Pad | Streetable): Awesome bite, awesome stopping power. Emits a lot of dust but is very easy to clean. Dont make much noise even when cold. Not too hard on the rotor. If you make over 420whp, when you wear the pad down under 40% they will over heat if tracked hard, even with TI shims, our cars are very heavy.

G-LOC R18 (Race Pad | Not Streetable) I cannot give a 100% accurate review on this pad. (See above posted info) The pads can take ALOT of heat. I never over heated the pad, I actually over heated the rotor cause the material is to soft. They are absolutely not good for the street, they ate my soft ass coleman rotor up LOL. They are very loud under hard braking.I cant really give an opinion on bite since I was using the wrong rotor. I can tell you despite having the wrong rotor they still stopped the Rhino and didnt boil the fluid.

Raybestos ST45 (Race Pad | Shouldn't Street Drive) I learned my lesson. ST45's square matched with Stoptech ARK rotors. This has been the best combo so far. Very easy to bed in, they take alot of heat (never boiled brake fluid) the bite is awesome and the pedal is pretty progressive. I have used this combo at like 6-7 track days. They have been amazing. I have street driven a little bit with them with not issues but it hurts to do so cause it starts eating away that perfect blueish transfer on the rotor when they are bed in.
-I also have an interesting point to make. This brake combo is always great, but there are times where they feel AMAZING. I have to test it next track day but it seems the way i get them to temp may play a role in this. On 2 occasions i remember having to apply less brake pedal pressure and had shorter stopping distance and more bite, if i figure it out exactly, oh my oh my will i get faster!
***Update on ST45 rears: after going through a set of fronts, i found that the rear ST45 were almost new. I am not getting enough heat in the rear to get the pads to work nor do i have enough rear bias)

SOOOOOOOOOOO...
I have found to what I believe is the ultimate combo on the Evo X for brake pads. Between Speed Freaks USA and myself, comparing experiences and looking at data,(thanks Matt!!!!) i am done testing pads. :D

Raybesto ST47 Front | Porterfield R4-1 Rear (Race Pad | Shouldn't Street Drive) The ST47s are the perfect aggressiveness for me. They are more aggressive than the ST45 and the modulate exactly how I like it. My last time out I found I need new deeper braking reference :cool: Not much else to add. They are amazing. And matched to a new rotor, perfection.
Now im sure you are wondering why I am using a R4-1 rear pad. Simple, It comes on hard at low temps. They dust hard to. Actually I get more rear dust than the fronts. I found the car so much more balance with rear pads that actually bite. Based on my rotor and caliper temps, this is exactly what i needed to compliment the heavy hard working front.

So this is probably the last update to post #1. I have found the combo i have been searching for!

Thanks for posting this up!

No prob man

BUMP!!! Bunch of info added!

I'll second Raybestos ST series pads. people often underestimate them cause they see "Raybestos" and they think autozone special. but the ST series is an awesome track pad. I have ST43's on my NC Miata and I don't even bother swapping them out. Temps locally have been been right around freezing last week and even that cold they work fine. They make a little bit of noise when its that cold, but nothing crazy at all, its not that loud annoying screach most identify with track pads, just a little sqeaking sometimes. When when outside temps are warm and you get some hard braking in them once in a while, they don't make any noise at all. They're easily the most streetable track pad I've ever come across. I had CL Brakes RC5+ (supposed to be an autox / entry level track pad) when I had my Evo and also on my RSX, ST-43's have much better street manners and are worlds better on the track.

On the track they're great, maybe even a little too much friction for a light car like a Miata, but I figure my opinion isn't worth much in the context of a 3500lb Evo.

I still have the pictures of this, lol. It wasn't pretty. You made rotor soup.

Noise wise is oppsite for me. The squeel from mine is ridiculous LOL.

We fortunately corrected the issue LOL.

prolly a different pad thing, I have ST-43's, you have 45's

although I drove a Vette (C7 Z06 brakes) with ST-47 pads and it didn't squeal

updated the original post. I am done testing pads :D{thumbup}:chug:

Great info. Thanks!

Thanks for this. Question -- I'm in the R12/R10 camp and also experience fade once the pad reaches half-life (Im in a WRX, not an EVO, but also heavy, etc). I'm going to step up to higher temp pads, but I saw your comment on the Coleman rotors and had a question -- Were the Colemans a two-piece setup and/or spec'd to match a two piece rotor ring? I know of people who replace the Stoptech AeroRotors (that come in the ARK) with Coleman rings and run high temp pads with no issues, so I wonder if Coleman can produce a ring that can take the necessary temps, etc.

I was using a coleman HD ring spec'd for an OEM Evo X rotor hat. High temp pads isnt the problem, its high friction pads. The Stoptech ARK is the best bang for buck of any quality 2 piece rotor.

update on this, I gave my half used ST43's to a friend of mine that had Wilwood BP20 pads before and they squeal like a banshee... we did a track day on his car and it got significantly louder... this is only under light brake application tho, on track with hard braking they didn't make any noise. but on the street, not or cold, under normal braking... they'll hear you from next town over. my theory is its cause the rotor had a different pad material on it, other possibility is the pad compound doesn't agree with the rotor...

Although I went from BP10's to ST43's and didn't have this issue... so maybe its more likely that it doesn't agree with the rotor...?

Its likely due to the difference in pressure the caliper gives out. I believe the Evo X caliper has the biggest combo of total piston diameter in a 4 pot and on top of that heavily front Biased. In which fixed alot on the last pad combo.

the BP20 to ST43 pad squeal was NC Miata to BRZ both with the same Wilwood calipers on them. plus the noise went away with heavy brake application, only present at light braking