I've a 99 Classic which I've had for 6 months. Pads were low when I bought it but the seller was good enough to give me some EBC Redstuff pads he had laying around. Had these fitted about two months ago and ran them in gently but over the last 3-4 weeks, they make a right grinding noise which also makes the steering wheel vibrate slightly. Discs are drilled and dimpled (not sure what make) and look in fine shape - as did the pads when I looked yesterday. Are the redstuff pads likely to be responsible or should I replace pads and discs? Also, which bolts need to be removed to get the discs off - the ones actually on the caliper itself or the ones that attach the caliper to the suspension?

Also, I had a 306 Gti6 as my last car and even with std brakes, they were 10 times better than the Sub, is this right? I don't remember reading about incredibly wooden brakes when I read the magazine articles on Imprezas.

Cheers.

 

Don't touch the bolts that hold the caliper together.

You undo the two bolts that hold the caliper to the upright then lift the whole caliper clear in one piece. The disc then lifts off over the studs no more bolts to play with.

Undoing the bolts in the caliper will split the caliper apart. Split the caliper and you're into new seals, replacing fluid, bleeding etc etc.

Not being funny but if you need to ask do you really think you should be playing with the brakes? Great that you want to learn but do yourself a favour and get a mate who knows a bit more to sit with you and talk you through it the first time you do it.

Can't help you with the wooden pedal, just know I don't like EBC.

 

Im on my third set of EBC red pads on my bugeye STi with no complaints. You comment that the brakes on your Pug felt better than the Scoob. I thought the same when I first got mine then a mate said when you brake have a glance at the speedo as you will be going faster than you think. This was very true. Could be worth trying giving them a agressive work out to see if this cleans them up somewhat. Best of luck Steve

 

Cheers guys.

I'm OK to do the pads as I've done them on just about all my previous cars but fair enough for asking the question.

May be true what you say regarding the fact that you tend to be going a lot faster - hence why they appear to be wooden. Worrying thing is that the Missus also thought they were **** and she drives very sensibly! That said, she did comment about how impressed she was with it on the motorway from 70 mph!

 

Were you given redstuff ceramic or the old recipe? I thought the old ones were truely horrendous with exactly the same problems as you are experiencing. The ceramics are supposed to be better but I don't intend to find out and will revert to (probably) Mintex.

 

Reakon they must be......changing them in the morning. They worked OK for a bit (i.e. without noise) although the stopping power has always been ****.

 

red stuff pads work best with the ebc groove discs... mixing and matching the ebc'c with other brands wont give you the full potential of the ebc's!

 

Hard use does tend to clear them a bit,but mine always been less good than std. when cold.
Would not get them again.

 

Well I changed the pads to STD and they're 1000 times better. I have EBC grooved and dimpled discs which are now pretty much silent.

May I join those of you who say 'EBC Redstuff Pads are SHAT!!'

Cheers for the help.

 

I did that, didn't realise how bad the EBCs were until swaping back. Especially at slow speeds from 10-40mph. ABS works much better in the damp too. EBC TGD discs are now quieter, which is a pleasent bonus.

Pedal feel is still crap, and they don't like hot temps, but then I back off and don't brake so hard and late if they start to fade, and being honest the EBC weren't that much better in this area anyway.

 

used to use EBC red stuff on my Bugeye STI

they scratched my discs with in 1000miles.. and wraped my disc @ 3000miles... NO TRACK DAYS, just B roads sprints....

went to Ferodos DS2500, what a difference... no brake fades no sqeeking..

 

Had a Clio 172, now that car had brakes!! Driving a 05 WRX these days, brakes are useless especialy after a few 100 to 50-60 mph stops. I am going to change the hoses to Goodrich braded units with dot 5.1 fluid. The standard hoses are way to soft. My mountain bike has stiffer hydraulic hoses!! I will see how that works. I then will change pads from standard to Mintex units. Will keep you posted

 

I put reds on my last scooby and they was no noticeable difference to the originals and except three times the price.. never again

 

Uh oh!

 

hi guys just to let you know that im on me second set of ebc red stuff pads ( ceramic ones) and well iv had mixed results really. first set was fine with ebc disc's and now iv well and truely cooked and cnraked the second set after 7 months and the discs are shagged too.
They just seem to loose their bite once they get way to warm,ie if you brake hard from 100 the bite goes after a few seconds. and start to get noisy!!!!! time for a change i think.

 

try Yellowstuff'R'

 

Standard pads have a high co-effiecient of friction when cold. Theyre designed to give instant stopping power and bite from the start of the journey. This superb cold bite is offset by their hot performance and resistance to fade. Standard pads have a nice progressive fall off of their co-efficient of friction as they get hotter which gives the driver plenty of warning that he needs to let the brakes cool. Sadly for the fast road and track driver this level of performance drop off is at relatively low temperatures meaning it doesnt take a huge amount of pressing on to find the limitations of the brakes.

NOTE: Standard pads are OEM Subaru. They design the pad compound to match the specific vehicle. Aftermarlet pad suppliers, even of standard replacement items, have a much smaller range of pad materials to work with and therefore theyre not so well matched to the specific vehicle.

Aftermarket performance pads tend to have poorer cold bite but greater resistance to fade. This means the first couple of stops will feel wooden, you need to get the pads upto temperature before they will think about working. The upside ios that you can press on for much longer without hitting fade, youd continue to be able to brake hard long after the original pads would have given up the ghost.

This is where you get into the benefits of the higher quality performance pads. The Ferodo DS2500s still provide superb cold bite (still not as good as standard mind) and yet will out perform a huge range of other performance pads when hot. Best of both worlds. If outright performance isnt of such interest to you then the Project MU Street pads provide awesome steert and fast road braking, they are better than even the DS2500s when cold but dont have the same resistance to fade. They are, however, significantly cheaper than the DS2500s.

You cant compare vehicle to vehicle, some cars have additional braking asisistance in comparison to others so the brakes will feel sharper for less pedal pressure. This does not necessarly relate to outright braking performance.

Changing brake discs for the sake of it is pretty much a waste of time in my eyes, be it for aftermarket plain, grooved, dimpled etc. The performance gain is through pad material, braided hoses and fresh fluid. If you want to step on from there then look at a larger kit. This gives a similar effect to greater servo assisiatnce in reducing pedal effort but also gives far far better fade resistance due to the size of the rotor plus greater outright power due to the larger pad surface area, assuming you change the calipers as well.

The only time Id change the standard rotors for same size is when the original rotors arent upto the job and are out performed by the calipers as with the Brembo equipped Scooby, Evos etc. In these circumstances Id only think of a Performance Friction set up. If I was at that stage then personally Id just go larger for similar money but then Im the KSport distributer so Im biased

Also note than a lot of performance pads need serious bedding in before they will perform properly. Its not the milage thats important, its running the pads through heat cycles step by step. Once youve got Ferodo DS2500s smoking then theyre fully ready for use and you know the resins in the pad have transferred to the rotor face and that youre going to get maximum braking performance You dont need prolonged bedding in period for brake pads, I bed them in one 70% session when one track, let them cool fully and then cain the life out of them. Its never failed to work for me irrespective of pad manufacturer.

 

Hi Bren, I think it is possible they may still not be bedded in. I will give it a few more miles yet. Otherwise I might have to consider the Ksport upgrade that Andy (Richard Henry Motorsport) was raving about whilst fitting the pads.

 

Youre a local lad then Im just looking to buy a Scooby now so will get more into the local scene in the near future. Do you go to any of the local Scooby meets?

I was round at Andys twice today, hes just done a high lift kit on our Mitsubishi Shogun so we can go for a play this weekend

 

Iy you've got a classic Impreza running standard discs and calipers try sticking your foot out of the door and digging your heel into the tarmac. Braking effect is increased by about 50%.
Kevin

 

Yep I'm from Dewsbury. I have known Andy for a few years and he has worked on all my cars two previous Imprezas and my brothers (two of them). I don't really have the time to get any meets with work commitments but
will be at the rolling road shootout at AET this Saturday. Andy is a top bloke and is always mown out with work. He works on all sorts of exotica from Rollers to Corvette Stingrays! He is pretty handy with Imprezas too

 

The standard two pots on the earlier classics do border on the dangerous!

 

Good guys down at Henrys arent they Hes dug me out of a last minute hole more times than I care to remember!

We were looking at taking our new RA to this on Sunday if we get it in time:

https://www.scoobynet.com/northern-e...yno-demon.html

 

ebc are simply the ****test pads ever, irrespective of colour.