Which Brake Pads?

[mystery machine]

Hi folks.

Need to replace my front pads soon and looking at a few of the options (prices from ScoobyWorld)...

Brembo £164

EBC Yellowstuff £112

Mintex £118

Ferodo £180

Can anyone comment on any of the above?

Also, does anyone know who makes the O.E. pads? Are they Brembos?

Who should I go to for fitting? Looking for someone who'll take care of the car and has premises that don't require a hike across badly potholed roads or forecourts.

Many thanks!

[boab type ra]

another pad to try is performance friction put them on ma brothers wr1 and he swears by them said the brembo`s started to fade when heavy braking but the new pads have never let him down.

[Spaceman]

fit them yourself bud its seriously the easiest pads on the planet to change .

[johns]

If you aren't doing track days, or regular "very fast" road driving (ie have been happy with the standard pads), then I would stick with standard type pad materials.

I went for a set of Mintex standard material brake pads from Ebay. Cost me about £32 inc P&P and they have been fine. Only once have I got them hot enough to fade on the road, and then I just eased off for a while til they cooled down.

John

[arch]

Performance friction Z compond but as John says they are not cheap and it depends what you plan to do with them. looks like your wheels dont agree with your pad choice tho John

Give Alyn at AS Performance a ring he will be able to advise on a good choice for your usage and he is difficult to beat on price

Edited July 26, 2010 by Arch

[scooby222]

id recomend mintex 1144's - and you should be able to get them down to under 100 for them

brembo's are oe, i wouldnt touch ebc with a barge pole and im running ferrodo ds2500's just now and aint terribly impressed. for the money on a fast road car i dont think youl beat the mintex

[johns]

Performance friction Z compond but as John says they are not cheap and it depends what you plan to do with them. looks like your wheels dont agree with your pad choice tho John

Give Alyn at AS Performance a ring he will be able to advise on a good choice for your usage and he is difficult to beat on price

That's because I haven't washed my wheels in about 3 months Arch I did actually wash them this last weekend, and 95% of the brake dust came off with just soap and a sponge. Unlike the XP8 pads I had before which had unremovable dust after a week of light commuting use!

[mystery machine]

Cheers for the replies folks.

I was happy enough with the performance of the standard pads (when they were less worn), and I certainly don't want any more brake dust than they produce, so I should probably stick with a fairly standard material.

John - how do I know which pads use a 'standard' material and which don't? Cheers.

fit them yourself bud its seriously the easiest pads on the planet to change .

Never done pads before

What's the procedure then? Does the caliper need to come off or be prised apart or 'owt like that? Anything special I need to do to avoid introducing air to the system? Got myself a hydraulic trolley jack a few weeks back (primary for rotating wheels)... might as well use it when I can! Cheers.

Edited July 26, 2010 by Mystery Machine

[mystery machine]

id recomend mintex 1144's - and you should be able to get them down to under 100 for them

brembo's are oe, i wouldnt touch ebc with a barge pole and im running ferrodo ds2500's just now and aint terribly impressed. for the money on a fast road car i dont think youl beat the mintex

Sounds like you've tried a few different types. What kind of Impreza are you driving?

[kennyuk300]

Performance friction Z compond but as John says they are not cheap and it depends what you plan to do with them. looks like your wheels dont agree with your pad choice tho John

Give Alyn at AS Performance a ring he will be able to advise on a good choice for your usage and he is difficult to beat on price

With Arch on using AS Performance ,have used them several times now and pricing was excellent and good advice too

Kenny

[boab type ra]

there is 2 pins go across the back of the caliper with R clips on them, use pliers and take out the R clip and gently chap through the pins. slacken the bleed nipple and push back the pad 1 side at a time against the caliper and the pad should giggle out, best to do 1 pad at a time. hope this helps

[mystery machine]

Any opinions on Tarox?

http://www.just-subaru.com/brakes-hawk-eye-78993-0.html

[arch]

That's because I haven't washed my wheels in about 3 months Arch I did actually wash them this last weekend, and 95% of the brake dust came off with just soap and a sponge. Unlike the XP8 pads I had before which had unremovable dust after a week of light commuting use!

Cant believe you have given up looking after the car to decorate

Pads are an aquired taste and really comes down to budget and usage thats why its best to get advice from suppliers who use various compounds and actually build cars hence my suggestion.

[scooby222]

Sounds like you've tried a few different types. What kind of Impreza are you driving?

05 sti so same brembos as yourself - subaru were over 200 for pads when the first pair wore out so i went to the mintex 1144's (£90) with braided hoses - no different to the standard in dust or performance from cold, no squeaks or squeals, definite increase in bite and lasted about 15k hard miles

im now on godspeed 330mm 2 piece discs with the ds2500 pads and there better but not a huge improvement over the mintex and need quite a bit of warming up. i cant wait to move back to the mintex and i know a few others who agree with me - on track with lots of heat the ferodos would be great but for road use id stick with the 1144's

[rig-pig]

Any opinions on Tarox?

http://www.just-subaru.com/brakes-hawk-eye-78993-0.html

tarox are good but can be quite noisy in town at low speed (squeal) mintex get my vote m8

[tomwrx08]

i had mintex in mine and they were good,

tried kevlar pads,to much like the oem set up so not for me,

currently trying out the new bluestuff pads i recieved from ebc for free, they seem to be good so far,quiet in and around town/slow speeds but seem to handle a spirited drive no no brake fade so far,

after these im going on to pf pads as i hear these are a great pad

[BalliSTIc]

Currently running DS2500s... fine for fast road. Need a couple of stops to warm up, but fine for out on a run, and plenty bite for round the town even when cold.

EBCs? In my book... AVOID. I put Yellows on with standard discs... very wooden with very un-inspiring feel... and they ate my discs! I also know wrx kenny had a bad scare with some Reds which I gather disintegrated at a rather inopportune moment!

PFs getting good reviews... but anything over stock might need you to uprate your discs to cope with the extra heat.

[tomwrx08]

totally agree on the ebc pads however if u look on snet they have gave away approx 80 sets as these have new compound etc so basically no bedding in time required, seem to be getting some good feedback so far

[wrx kenny]

Currently running DS2500s... fine for fast road. Need a couple of stops to warm up, but fine for out on a run, and plenty bite for round the town even when cold.

EBCs? In my book... AVOID. I put Yellows on with standard discs... very wooden with very un-inspiring feel... and they ate my discs! I also know wrx kenny had a bad scare with some Reds which I gather disintegrated at a rather inopportune moment!

PFs getting good reviews... but anything over stock might need you to uprate your discs to cope with the extra heat.

yep red stuff total sh**e , cant handle the fast lanark runs, had total brake fade wae nae stopping on 2 seperate runs . got mintex on now absolute night and day have not had any issues so far and will replace wae mintex again, on the highland run they were spot on and they were only put on an hour b4 i left airdrie to go to inverness so little bedding in time either

kenny

[john_mchutchison]

i have red stuff pads on my55 sti and i was on a lanark run last week with no smokin/fade or anything un toward, maybe its down to the driver/driving style . Na seriously they r pretty ****, seemed to heat up very quick on the kames test track. I had yellow stuff on my wrx with standard calipers going round KH and i thought they were **** hot, never faded once, just seemed to get better when they got hot.

Cant comment on any other makes as thats all ive tried apart from oem.

[arch]

PF Z compound

[mystery machine]

PF Z compound

Care to elaborate?

[arch]

If budget permits they are, in my opinion the best for all round use

[mystery machine]

If budget permits they are, in my opinion the best for all round use

Cheers Arch. Glad I asked now, thought that was your way of telling me to avoid them!

[AlanL]

Had Yellowstuff on my bugeye good pads but went through discs like they were made o cardboard