Brake pads?

[Kevin M]

Hey, money to burn (literally). I'm looking for new brake pads that have the best performance, but have the least dust and noise. Does that pad exist? $$$ for pads not an issue. Would like to stay with stock rotors. For a 98 T/A. Any advice welcome.

[Kevin V 2002 SS]

I put the Hawk HPS pads on my SS. I run auto-X and road race once in a while. They are great, MUCH better than stock. I also installed the braided stainless steel brake lines and Super Blue racing brake fluid. I kept the stock rotors.

[Performin Norman]

I have GM Durastops on my Z06. The factory pad is horrible at making dust and noise. The Durastops make very very little dust and no noise. I'll have them on any future modern GM product I own.

[Mirroredshades]

I like Performance Friction's Carbon Metallic.

[M3EATER - GG '00 WS6 T/A]

The Performance Friction Carbon Metallics are nice.

I use the Hawk HP when on the track (with a set of rotors dedicated to those pads ... tell ya why later).

I have used the HPS for street & track.

The HPS was OK for autocross but was not good enough for road race ...with track tires . They work fine for the street (very good) but are abrasive on the rotors when they are not being run at higher temps ..... so on the street they are a great functioning pad, but wear faster and wear the rotors.

When I was still using my street tires for the road racing, I was using lifetime autoparts store pads (Certified brand semi-metallics) and they worked fine if I seasoned them and broke them in properly. And, I would just get a new set after each event.

I currently use lifetime autopart store pads (the Certified ones) for the street and the Hawk HP units for the track.

Since the street pads are semi-metallics and the HP pads are carbons ..... I run different rotors with each set of pads. This is because the Carbon pads function by laying down a thin layer of the carbon material on the rotors. Until this layer is complete... the carbon pads will not function up to full capacity.

If I were to just swap pads at track time ..and then back to street ... the carbon pads would not be up to full tilt right away at the track .. and the metallics would not be up to full tilt on the street until they scraped off all of the carbon.

Sooo..... what to do?

If you do not go to the track and do not use track tires.... I'd say if you want to upgrade the pads, try the Hawk HPS, or the Performance Friction Carbon Metallics.

One more note...... My son tried the EBC green pads on his CRX (for the track... with track tires). They have AWESOME friction. Very noticably more than most other pads (which means lower pedal effort). However.... they were used up quickly and really chewed the rotors.

Remember...... if you can lock the tires with the brakes (and with street tires... you most certainly can ... again & again) .... that's all you need. With different pads, you may be able to do this more times in a row before overheating the pads. Or, with a higher coefficient of friction you can do it with less pedal effort. Or, with better modulation. But ........ if you can lock the wheels (or go into ABS) then that's all you need.

Gordon
PPC
www.provenperformanceconcepts.com

[detroitgene]

If you have painted calipers (especially black) - or even if you haven't - you might want to look into the Super Stop line by Raybestos.

I've used them in the past with other cars with good results. Grippy little SOB's, minimal dust and minimal noise. They were originally designed for severe/commercial use (taxi's, etc). They come with a high-gloss Red finish on the backing plates - an instant color-coded mod for those with black calipers.

[N20LT4Bird]

Originally posted by Performin Norman
I have GM Durastops on my Z06. The factory pad is horrible at making dust and noise. The Durastops make very very little dust and no noise. I'll have them on any future modern GM product I own.

I'll second that - a nice pad.