Neil Smalley

Ok i'm about 3 weeks away from needing to change my brake pads.

I've got standard pads and disks and would like to know which is the best pad that will:
1. Give good overall performance(cold and hot)
2. Not wear the disks out in 10 miles
3. Not wear themselves out in 10 miles.
4. Not give out after 2 or 3 strong slow downs.
5. Not make me clean my wheels every 10 yards

Basically i'm looking for a disk friendly fast road pad. I won't be going on track just yet.

I'm leaning towards the EBC green stuff pads
but i'm told Mintex 1144's are good too. The standards were ok, but my local garage want over a 110 quid for a set . They also reckoned the prodrive(mintex 1155's) were good too, but i've heard that they are more of a track pad.

Can't afford the AP 4 or 6 pot kit, which would be my preferred upgrade(would'nt we all)

Any ideas?

NITO

None of the above...get Pagid blues.

I've gone the Mintex route and got fed up with the incessant squealing. I can't comment on the EBC particularly, I think stef rates the green stuff for the road but the Pagid blues are just awesome, everything I've ever wanted from a pad. They make an excellent crossover from road to track, they are pretty kind on the discs (much kinder than mintex which tore my AP's drilled discs up in a very short time)and they have very reasonable wear. They are expensive but you pay for what you get basically!

Nito

Hoppy

Neil, with any uprated pad you run a real risk of warping the standard discs, even on the road. Best go for better discs, too (Prodrive?).

With this thought in mind, get Prodrive upgraded pads (Ferodo DS2000 - excellent stuff) and then if you do have disc problems you should be covered.

Richard

Neil Smalley

Cheers Hoppy.

I knew that would be the case. The plan is, is to uprate the pads which will wear the disks(although not too quickly say after 10K miles), then replace the disks with some black diamond or prodrive ones.

I don't want to wear in disks and pads at the same time and I want to offset the cost of disks and pads by a few months too. Hence pads first, then disks.

Keep the suggestions coming..

Andy W

Neil,
TSL motorsport

Jim Dunleavy

I fitted EBC green pads to my MY99 a couple of months ago, excellent bite, bugger all dust (and very easy to clean off) quiet in use. Highly recommended.

[This message has been edited by Jim Dunleavy (edited 09 April 2001).]

Stef

I still reckon Greens are the best road-only pad I've ever used. OK, you can get them to fade if you really push, but it's bloody hard!

Stef.

Darren Thompson

I have put Mintex 1155 pads in and yes they make squeaks etc. but they are worth it when pushing hard because they work.

Darren.

Stupot

EBC Greens are ideal for road use. No dust, no fade and reasonably priced. I got EBCs front and rear.. in fact im on my second set of fronts... they lasted about 10 months. Disc friendly too. Im using Bremsport Spiragroove discs ...cant remember the name of the place but the number is 01772 454647. Got them after reading what GaryC said about them last year and they are a big improvement on the standard units. The pads you can get from the scooby shop but I got mine from Hi-Spec in Dartford tel 01322 286850 as i needed em right away heh. Let us know the results on whatever you go for

Cheers
Stu

Gary Foster

Pagid Blues, but you will warp standard disks (if you use them). Otherwise I see no reason to buy any other pad.

TURBO7379

I fitted EBC greens and done my first track day and got no fade at all . You could probably get a set of EBC pads & discs for the same price as a set of pagid pads .

JasonHook

I paid £252 for front and rear DS2000 pads inc vat + £41 fitting. Much better than the standard pad.

Jason

Luke

been happy with Green pads. Also use turbo groove disks also by E.B.C. Found a quiet bit of the North circular tonight. Braked very hard from a very very high speed!!! 4 times no worries.

Doogsy

Sorry to confuse you any further but I have had Mintex 1155 on MY99 standard disks for the past 6 months and they don't squeal, they do bite from cold, haven't had any fade in road use and the disks seem to be standing up to the abuse quite well.
I will probably uprate the disks soon.
Any ideas anyone?

Hoppy

Doogsy, you seem happy with your brakes. What sort of driving do you do up there, and why do you want to upgrade the discs?

Just interested ?

Richard.

Doogsy

Just back from a serious thrash around some twisty stuff in Ayrshire with a group of Subarus and John Philips in his Evo 6.
Brakes proved up to the task once again.
My usual commute to work is on fairly twisty roads with a fair number of short straights and right angle bends. Great for foot down low gear acceleration and anchors on to take the corners.
I did say they don't squeal but when new they did a bit. There was a post a while back about how to bed them in I can't remember the exact procedure but basically it involved braking hard a number of times from high speed.This was done and the squeals disappeared.
I was thinking of changing disks to optimise the benefits of the uprated pads and the car has done 33500 miles now so the old one owe me no favours.

Hoppy

Doogsy, braking hard from high speed is NOT, definitely NOT, the way to bed in your brakes, though it's not a bad way to de-glaze them.

Richard.

Doogsy

Hoppy
Check this thread:

SCOOP

Well I`spose I`d better have my say . . . .

Having tried most that are on the market, and tested them for magazine reviews/product tests etc, I reckon that EBC Red Stuff on the front and EBC Green Stuff (recently introduced for Impreza`s ) on the rears is the best combination available.

I know that there will always be differing opinions, mainly due to differing styles of driving, but if you want efficient smooth retardation from relatively high speeds, this is the setup to go for.

Only slight disadvantage, but hardly worth mentioning is that you need to get a little bit of heat into the Red Stuff front pads before maximum efficiency is attained.

Cheers
SCOOP

P.S.
No backhanders from EBC for giving this opinion (honest)

[This message has been edited by SCOOP (edited 16 April 2001).]

tommy m

Neil,do your self a favour,dont get the mintex,i put some on the car about 1000mls ago.the dust is all down both sides of the car,with tiny spots of what appears to be metal,some of which are starting to rust.I spent an hour with t-cut,mer today but still cant get it off,It looks like somebody has been using a angle grinder beside the car!.Getting some cutting polish tomorrow and taking the car to be looked by a mate in a body shop!and some new pads. tommy. anyone else had these problems or could it be faulty pads.

DieselGolf

I am off to Falkland performance next week to get some minor brake mods done.

I was thinking of Mintex 1155's for fast road use.

Has anyone else had the "hot metal" problem ?

Simon

Simon Graham

Just fitted the following and the improvement was amazing:

EBC Green Stuff front pads
ScoobyMania Brake support bracket

Next up are new front discs as mine are gettign near the end of their life - EBC do a drilled/grooved one - anyoen tried them with the above?

2 pot MY97 BTW

sasim

I had Mintex 1155's for a while (unfortunately a binding brake caused uneven wear) They were a bit poor when cold but excellent after a couple of uses, however the dust was a nightmare, it seemed to burn into the wheels.

I have now got EBC Greenstuff, and after 400 miles they are just starting to work, bite from cold is excellent, dust is practically zero (a quick wipe). However someone told me the other day that EBC no longer recommend greenstuff pads for Impreza's they say to use red's, it might be worth checking this out before buying.

BTW I have EBC grooved disks.

Stuart

SCOOP

Simon,
I use EBC grooved discs (dotties). They look OK but I am doubtful about whether they have any positive effect on increased braking. Popular myths about cooler friction surfaces are not significant, perhaps the only slight advantage is that they do de-glaze the pads a little.
Hope this is of help,
Cheers
SCOOP

Trouser

Try Ds4003 at the front and Ds2000 at the back. Like everyone says... some of it is down to preference and driving style. These take no heat to work... useful if you are half asleep in the morning.

Fade wise, on a practically empty donington last night they didn't!. The only person braking at the same point was a GT3 so i didn't feel too much the poor relation.

The dust is a bit of a bogger to start, but be lazy and get a spray for your wheel cleaner.. leave it .. and then hose it off. No effort, especially if you get the stuff yoy can dilute yourself. Just mix it a LITTLE bit stronger.

They do really need a new, grey iron disc or relatively young standard one to work properly though.