I have been using the new EBC Blue stuff for the past 3K miles, I am not going to make this very long. All I can say is you have to try it to believe it, Its better than everything that I have used previously. Stopping power is unbelievable. and dare I can say it is better than my previous Performance Friction Pads and I am not planning to go back...

 

Nice to see a direct comparison with the PF.
Were you using the Z-compound?
Is the initial (cold) bite the same, better or worse?

 

In the direct comparison with the PF pads and EBC Bluestuff on my KSports I'd say the PF pads still had the edge, but the extra performance gained from PF pads against the vast difference in price really isn't worth it for fast road driving IMHO.
The PF pads are just 'that' bit much better in everything. That's not to detract from the EBC Bluestuff at all, they are a fantastic pad

 

That's interesting.
One thing I have noted with the PF pads is pretty good resistance to wear.
This will also be a major factor in comparing the two when it comes to price.

 

Sorry to high-jack the thread.

Ive took delivery of Red Stuff rear for my STi MY04. Is it worth using the little shim plates that come with them or just add a little copper slip and leave the plates out??

Any help please??

Steve.

 

Use the shims provided and add a little copper slip too.

 

When fitting brakes, take the copaslip pot to the other end of the workshop, place it there and Leave it there till the brake work .finished,preferably forever

DO NOT USE COPASLIP ON BRAKE PADS OR CALIPERS.....END OF STORY


EBC pads should always come with stick on anti noise black shims,. place those on there and nthing else.

If you didnt get them call Northamton for some free shims

01604 583344 talk to Chris Etheridge

 

Thats you told bob.

 

Well, it is something that Andy has said many many times before on here.
Anyway, I am having a thrash this weekend then I will post up my 'final' review of the EBC Ultimax discs and Redstuff pads I have on mine.

 

Thanks for the replies.

Ill go without the copper slip and stick to the shims as provided. I knew they were in there for a reason.

 

Hi Madass

Please dont go racing on those Reds, I did say the new Red was softer for fast street use and track really requires our Yellow or better still the new Bluestuff NDX.

If the Reds get tracked and you dont like them, please dont say I didnt tell you my man

All the best

 

Have a read of this gents

Andy,

Its been I while since I've been in touch, you may remember I competed in the Time Attack Final second weekend in October down at the Snetterton racetrack, I must apologies for not getting an email to you until know but I've been out of the country for a few weeks.....

What a fantastic day, the weather certainly helped, blue sky and sunshine all day! I won my class by over 2 seconds, beat one of the Car Planet 800hp Pro Class Evo cars and took the lap record for my class by almost a second....so something of a cleansweep!....I'll almost certainly be competing in the professional class next year against Ollie Clark's high profile Gobstopper, the 900hp orange Car Planet Evo and some other of the UK's top flight race cars..




Your EBC Bluestuff NDX pads performed flawlessly all day, you can see from the youtube video footage of the final session that at the end of the main straight the car brakes from 156mph to less that 50mph within a few seconds, and that is just one of the corners! This kind of service is just about as aggressive as you can get and is a testament to the new product you have developed.

Video footage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buvIaufVtPw

I'm currently working out my plans for next year, I've just signed a deal with Ksport brakes that will see me run next season as the "Ksport Impreza", I understand you have had dealings with Bren already at Apex in Bradford. I currently have opportunities for secondary sponsors and thought you may be interested in associating your EBC Bluestuff NDX brand with the success of my car, your Bluestuff Product now its proven in full race conditions and I think the tie up with Ksport Brakes may be a good fit for the EBC Bluestuff NDX brand.

In addition to Time Attack I'm looking at competing in the 6 rounds of the televised AAA saloons series....their programs go out at peak times on Motors and SKY TV and the series generates quite a lot of interest in the motorsport press too.

For a small contribution to the running costs of the car I can market your products through your branding on the race car, my race car transport vehicle, my race overalls/clothing plus awnings etc; In addition I would be happy to make the car available for several shows/exhibitions on costs only basis to assist in the promotion of your EBC brand. All sponsors will also be credited in race reports to be published in the motoring press/internet forums.

Both the Time Attack and AAA saloons series get masses of interest from the motorsport/performance car magazines and websites and for the Time Attack meetings the crowds are in excess of 6000 people at each of the 6 events, Its my view that this kind of marketing would focus on exactly the audience your looking to target, I.e. Performance/modified and trackday cars. It was a shame you were not available to come and take a look Snetterton to see the crowds the Time Attack events draw first hand..

See below some photos of me and the Car this season and of the reports from some of the Time Attack meetings from 2010..

 

Hi Andy,
I didn't track them. My thrash consisted of another set of brake bed in stops that saw me missus threatening to throw up if i continued! LOL.
Anyway, I like the reds but feel the yellows may be better, HOWEVER, I have no experience of yellows so may be wrong. I have no plans to track the car, and have not done so in over 7 years of ownership. Its weird, cus no matter what you have, you always want to try or move to something else! LOL.

 

My Bluestuff's arrived today courtesy of Aztec performance. Being fitted to my 350BHP 06 STI next week together with PF drilled discs, HEL braided lines and some 4.dot fluid. Be interesting to see how these perform against the standard Brembo setup.

 

Thanks Madass, glad you like the Reds for fast street, I still have the new Blues in and 4000 miles now to assess street friendliness, theyre fine for traffic although i cannot push them like you do My missus also says STOP DOING BRAKE TESTS everytime we drive

 

I keep meaning to fit an in car camera to record people's faces on both acceleration and braking

 

Drilled disks can crack. Alot of companies dont make them anymore because they fatigue crack around the holes. Grooved disks are better

 

All discs can crack used with incorrect pads and use out of their temperature range.

Brembo, AP etc still make them and they are still OEM on many high end cars.

PF discs are dimpled in any case.

Not really relevant on Andys' EBC thread though

 

Yes all discs can crack when serious heat is put into them , but drilled discs will crack a lot easier , the bluestuff pads are good enough to generate enough heat to crack discs with very hard use

Yes drilled discs are fitted to many standard road cars , my car has them from the factory , but they only fit a standard pad so will fade way before they get to serious temps

Most AP drilled discs will be fitted to race cars where the weight saving will be greater than longevity , you will not see drilled discs on rally cars.

 

Glad to see some accurate comments about drilled discs. There are of course two types of "Drilled" discs.

Some have the holes cast in and are chamfred at the mouths and they have half a chance.

What you should never do is DRILL a standard discs on a machine and think you have done anything but endanger life and limb.This is a back street machine shop approach and highly bad news.

lets be honest, any REDUCTION in rotor surface area reduces the available braking torque and has to be compensated for by a high friction pad (Thats why EBC Bluestuff NDX runs above 0.6Mu) This high friction balances the surface area reduction.

The BIG BENEFIT of slots that go the the edge is removal of dirt dust and debris to a SMALL extent but the main advantage is that the slots make the pads wear dead FLAT and prevents ridges and draw cool air under the pad contact area.

On ROTOR CRACKING it is worth remembering that new rotors take far longer to bed in than new pads, rush the process and they develop a brittle particle structure and then POP. Cracks funnily enough never seem to happen along the slot lines, which would hint they were a stress raiser, they just split right across the braking surface radially.

This link on our website gives more detail but spot on Aztec and Godspeed for getting the facts right here.

http://www.ebcbrakes.com/ebc_brakes_...w_rotors.shtml

Hey this link is starting to have some real value for people now , not a lot of bozos talking rubbish. Glad to be part of it

Cheers Andy

 

Agreed Andy, some of the machine shop junk is an accident waiting to happen.

Interestingly though, Brembo say that their is no difference in strength between cast in holes or drilled chamfered ones. We're talking like for like on quality discs though and not machine shop stuff.

Drilled only discs have their benefits over grooved only and vice versa, it's all about selling what is right for any given application. We've never had a drilled and grooved disc crack.

 

These Bluestuff NDX are working well with quality OEM spec discs too.

 

I've had the Bluestuff for over 1000 miles now, and passed MOT with no comments. I don't think people need to worry about the road-legality of the pads. I find these to be great on my daily driver, and I am really hoping to take them to the track some time. Cold bite is good enough, and overall braking performance is much stronger. There is a little dust, but less than with my previous PBR (Axxis) Ultimates, which did not work as well. You can see a hint of the powerful blueness lurking beneath the calipers:

 

My experience with EBC products

First of all I bought the EBC Red Stuff pads for my 2001 Subaru Impreza UK300
From day one the pads didn’t seam to be able to stop me and I was worried about this, I personally would not recommend these pads for any turbo Impreza modified or not These may have been early compounds.
After I had some issues with the pads above, EBC were kind enough to send me replacement Yellow Stuff pads, After fitting and bedded in I noticed the pads were a hell of a lot better than the Red Stuff that id fitted prior, From cold the pad was not great (to be expected from a road and track pad) but once warmed up they had a good quick bite, but they did let me down under high speed or repeated breaking, I would personally recommend these pads for any standard impreza as they did the job on my car until I pushed the boundary’s past what a standard impreza is capable of.
The pads were then replace once again for the new Blue Stuff pads NDX (track only). I expected these pads to squeal and be terrible when cold, To my surprise there is literally no noise from the pads what so ever and breaking from cold is in fact better than the yellow stuff pads, So during the bedding in procedure I was very impressed,
When the pads were bedded in I really put them to the test, The initial bight is not as grabby as the Yellow Stuff, Where as for me the Yellow Stuff would have a good bite and then fade away, the Blue Stuff had a smoother bite not as aggressive as the yellow stuff but seemed to rapidly stop me from high speeds and during repeated braking, I could not be more impressed with this pad, it is perfectly suited to my car and have never let me down even under extreme testing, This is definitely the pad I will be using from now on in all my cars.
I think the v-grooves on the pads matched with the EBC grooved and dimpled discs are an excellent combination allowing the brakes to cool down and disperse and debris.
During putting these brakes to the test I suffered no brake fade what so ever and can now brake a lot later and I can’t wait to track the car next year with a totally different feel of braking and safety.

Andy
Thanks for all you have done for me as I really appreciate all your help in finding a successful and great pad for my car.
As I mentioned in a previous email, Id love to hear about the new discs you are bringing out soon and love to put them through the paces, also a two piece standard fitment disc would be very appealing to me and no doubt a lot of other drivers, so if you could please keep me posted on any future developments id be great full.
Many thanks once again
Ross Wilson
I’ve tried to be as accrete as I can whilst reviewing these parts

 

Pretty much my opinion also. They aren't as instant as the OEM pads from cold but the bite is adequate. When hot they are excellent, although you have to keep them warm as they cool pretty quick. An excellent trait for a track car, but it's worth noting that when used on a road car they cool just cruising along. So if you ride your gears or do lot's off off brake driving, these aren't the pads for you. You have to use them to get the best out of them. As it should be for a track pad.

 

Towing the Round table xmas float for most nights and weekends in December, constantly riding the brakes to bring my speed down to a crawling 3-5 mph, stopping every few hundred yards for Santa to talk to the kids, has much to my surprise, not affected the yellows.

I was at best, expecting to have to re-bed them in but no; a fast run down the road followed by an ‘emergency’ brake showed they have immediately come back to full performance.

I am very impressed with this, not your every day test or requirement granted, but still, it’s impressed me. Possibly the nearest you would come to this situation is crawling along in a never ending traffic jam.

We are now preparing the car for the next big test, the Macmillan cancer support Mac 4x4. This year it’s a four day event so we will really be loaded up, as far as we are concerned this will be THE BIG TEST of the brake pads, over two tons of car before we add all the kit. We had Mintex brake pads last year and had brake fade like you would not believe.

The car is; Land rover Discovery 300tdi Auto on yellows, STD brake discs, STD Brake system. As you can imagine, Automatic = no engine braking, the car lives on its brakes.

Previous years Macmillan reports can be found here http://www.innocent-bystander.co.uk/

Sponsors wanted or you can donate via http://www.justgiving.com/AlunandSean2011
Sean

Please note, Andy has supplied these test pads and requested I post ‘warts n all’.

 

Just thought I'd at my review of the EBC Bluestuff NDX pads.

My set arrived a back end of December but haven't had time get round to fitting them.

My set up is
Front
Brembo 4 pots (Gold Calipers)
Brembo Sport discs drilled
Goodridge braided lines

Rear
Brembo 2 pots (Gold Calipers)
Brembo Sport discs drilled
Goodridge braided lines

Using EBC Yellowstuff pads all round and AP Racing DOT 5.1 fluid.

I've had my pads in my car for some time now and being used everyday (running 453bhp/415bhp/354bhp depending map settings) the car wasn't braking how it should. So much so I had to keep tapping the pedal a little simply just to get some heat in the pad and discs for stopping power.

I was having geo carried out on the car and with the box of EBC Bluestuff NDX sat in my boot still after getting them thought whilst the wheels were off fitted them.

I have read reviews on a number of forums and wasn't sure really what to think? I was really looking for reviews of fellow owners to give feedback with a set up pretty much like to mine but could not see any so was in the dark as to what they would be like?

Looking at my old EBC Yellowstuff pads they still had a lot of life left in them. But on the pad themself noticed the EBC Bluestuff NDX how much bigger the cooling/debris gap was on the EBC Bluestuff NDX.

I put the rears on first. I had to spin the car round to fit the front but soon as I touch the pedal noticed a little more bite even from low speed/movement.

Popped the fronts on and was shocked from cold how well these EBC Bluestuff NDX bite.

As I was setting the geo up with JS Engineering after the final setting I had to give the car a little bit of power to test the rear damper settings. I had a nice long open road with no traffic not even a cyclists in site!! I was shocked the amount of bite I had when putting the car on boost (up to 1.4/1.5 bar) and braking putting the car on boost and braking the pads would bite and bite and bite. So much so I had to keep dropping down a gear to start the process again when normally on the old EBC Yellowstuff pads they felt wooden and no bite I could continue.

I have now driven pretty much all week (250 miles) using motorways,A & B roads stuck in traffic and yet these EBC Bluestuff NDX do not fade what so ever it is unreal!! They just want to keep working.

They work so well that I have had to get used to having braking power again and even catch myself out when stuck in traffic at the bite.

I have had Redstuff (2007 compound) and YellowStuff (2007/2008 compound) and was thinking over moving towards other brands like Pagid,PF,DS2500 and so on but really,really honestly feel that EBC have got this current EBC Bluestuff NDX right.

I can honestly say if you by these EBC Bluestuff NDX they will not let you down. So much so I want to put a set on my MK1 Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec as well.

Well done EBC you have cracked it.

Steve

 

Another 300 miles and still biting hard.


Steve

 

I've tried 4 different compounds before Blue NDX, the Blues are way better than anything else hot or cold as far as I'm concerned.

EBC have upped their game considerably with this product IMHO.

 

My EBC BlueNDX are going on in a couple of weeks & it will be an interesting comparison to the Performance Friction Z pads I was using earlier. Will update after a few hundred miles of varied driving. So far all the comments I have read seem promising