Good Brake Pads

[Dewey]

My brakepads are about 10% and i was wondering what would be a good replacement. I know alot of you are really into the ebc yellows and greens, but i want to be sure that they will be good for street use autox and light track use. my primary concern is though is that i am going to be in washington, and it is going to be wet... 95% of the time. what is your imput? *remember i have an 02 no brembos: *

[DUB]

I don't have any first hand experience to offer yet, but I plan on picking up Hawk HPS pads in the near future. People seem to to generally like them.

[Dean]

Greens will handle almost anything you can throw at them including light newbie track use. As I recall, Alex even had very positive things to say about them in the freezing cold of lake tahoe... Here it is.

[cody]

Porterfield R4-S are still my favorite. They are as close as you can get to the perfect all-pupose pad IMO.

[wrxkidid]

I had axxis ultimates and liked them. Not a good track pad from what I have heard though.

[MPREZIV]

I've got Ultimates right now, and they are a good street/auto-x pad, but they're about the DUSTIEST brake pads I've EVER seen!

[van]

Originally Posted by MPREZIV

I've got Ultimates right now, but they're about the DUSTIEST brake pads I've EVER seen!

x2 I've had the ultimates for a while now and I'm impressed, although I don't have a lot of exp with other performance pads. They dust like crazy but they're dirt cheap. Kevin will chime in soon about how and why He hates these pads in a bit

[Kevin M]

Fine..... here goes. Ultimates are the most overrated brake pads ever. They're absoutely nothing special in terms of performance, they (as mentioned by everybody) dust like mofos, and I didn't like how they felt at autocross. Granted, I didn't have Stoptech ST40s... but how many of us do?

I say Porterfield R4-S, unless you can't or won't spend $100 on pads, then get HPS.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by Kevin M

Fine..... here goes. Ultimates are the most overrated brake pads ever. They're absoutely nothing special in terms of performance, they (as mentioned by everybody) dust like mofos, and I didn't like how they felt at autocross. Granted, I didn't have Stoptech ST40s... but how many of us do?

I say Porterfield R4-S, unless you can't or won't spend $100 on pads, then get HPS.

I dunno. In 2001, the Ultimates were probably the best affordable pad out there that fit the WRX. 'Course the only other pad that fit the car was the old-formula Greenstuff that demolished rotors. But still, I was really happy with the performance of the Ultimates for street/autocross. You just have to be proactive in keeping your wheels clean.

[cody]

In 2001 Utec was the shit! Let's all buy Utecs!!!

[sperry]

Originally Posted by cody

In 2001 Utec was the shit! Let's all buy Utecs!!!

Utec wasn't out in 2001. It was all Unichip baby.

...which reminds me, I've got a Vishnu tuned unichip in a drawer somewhere. Went well w/ my MBC.

[cody]

Are you going to suggest that Dewmudgeon run that setup along with the Ultimates?

I'm just yankin' your chain of course. There's nothing wrong with Ultimates for the financially challenged...I'd just rather spend the few bucks extra and get the R4-S's. They're pretty much better in every way.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by cody

Are you going to suggest that Dewmudgeon run that setup along with the Ultimates?

I'm just yankin' your chain of course. There's nothing wrong with Ultimates for the financially challenged...I'd just rather spend the few bucks extra and get the R4-S's. They're pretty much better in every way.

You're stretching.

Nowhere did I say that Ultimates were still great pads when compared to other options out today. I was just saying that they're not "the most overrated brake pads ever".

The rating they got back when they were first available was correct; they were great pads for the money when compared to the other options. Just because pads have gotten better doesn't undo that the Ultimates were great value 7 years ago, nor does it reduce their actual performance. It's not like the pads work worse today than they did in 2001, there are just better pads out there for the money today.

It's like saying that the 1990 Miata is "the most overrated autocross car ever" just because the 2008 Solstice beats it in every way measurable today. We all know that the Miata isn't a world-beater anymore, but that doesn't stop it from being the best thing since sliced bread 2 decades ago.

[cody]

What are the most overrated pads ever?

[Dean]

Ultimates are a good street / Autocross pad and are cheap but don't take them to the track beyond maybe your very first day on the track on a technical course.

HPS are good street / Autocross pad are more expensive but again, are not designed for the track.

EBC Greens are probably a better Street / Autocross pad, are cheap and can handle a light track day.

R4S or HP+ are a good Street / Autocross pad are more expensive and are OK for a light track day.

EBC Yellows are an OK stree/autocross pad and you can beat the crap out of them at the track and they are cheap.

Anything else on the low end is a crap shoot.

There are tons of high end track pads that you can spend a fortune on but they will be poor to OK at best on the street / autocrosss.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by cody

What are the most overrated pads ever?

Maxi.

[cody]

Originally Posted by sperry

Maxi.

You'd know all about that eh?

[sperry]

Originally Posted by cody

You'd know all about that eh?

C'mon, man... you're better than that.

Try again.

[cody]

Your bloody vag is stinkin' up the forum?

[sperry]

Originally Posted by cody

Your bloody vag is stinkin' up the forum?

Good points for vulgarity, but with a degree of difficulty so low, you're not gonna win gold.

The correct answer is:

"Well according to your mom, Axxis Ultimates aren't overrated even as maxipads. 'Course she has a vag that leaks molten lava as it is, so she doesn't mind the high dusting of the Ultimates. YMMV."

[cody]

I see.

[bign]

After looking into pads a bit I decided to give the new(er) EBC red stuff ceramics a try. They reccomend greens for cars 200hp and under. Not sure how much difference that makes. I couldn't find any pad that didn't have both great and horrible reviews so I decided to give these a shot since they are relatively cheap and was what I was looking for per the description. I hope to have them in about 2 weeks so for what it's worth I can give you my opinion then, even though it may not be the best comparison between our cars.

[sperry]

Red's aren't performance pads... they're ceramics designed to be long lasting and quiet on cars than need decent brakes (i.e. cars w/ 200+hp and >3000lbs weight). I was considering them for my GF's Saab, but just went with the similar but cheaper OEM pads.

I think the Reds will be good street pads (assuming you don't drive like a crazy person), I probably wouldn't autocross them and certainly I wouldn't track them.

[bign]

They are supposed to be for more 'aggressive' street driving, but I agree that prob doesn't mean much.

http://www.ebcbrakes.com/redstuffinfo.html

I have come across a few people who have auto-x'd them and had good things to say about them. They seem to work well for light track use (auto-x) but would fall apart under any prolonged heavy track use. For just a street pad though they seem to have lower dust, noise, better stopping power then OEM pads and, in my case, are less then half the price of OEM. Either way, I will know soon enough.