Street / Autocross pads

[Rapid]

Is there one setup that will work OK for both? I have read so many threads that conflict.

I will put up with a little dust if necessary and an occasional squeak.

I autocross at least once a month and do about 2 track days / year.

Its a stock 2010 GT

 

[05SonicGT]

Try the NEW EBC Blue pads.

 

[2k05gt]

plus one on the EBC Blue Stuff, Used in Formula racing.

Awesome pads, I use the Red stuff.

The worlds first Race pad that can be used on the STREET.​

This is highly unusual as until now Race Pads have been built with no regard to disc wear, noise, harshness, bite from cold and certainly never tested and passed brake safety tests for Highway use such as Europe’s ECE R 90 Brake safety test.(see note at bottom about street use in Europe)​

The biggest advantage of the new EBC Bluestuff NDX pads is their bite from cold and progressive feel. This is achieved by blending with specially chosen man made naturally mined fibers which are much less harsh on rotors than semi metallic fiber used by ALL OTHER Race pad builders.​

http://www.ebcbrakes.com/automotive/ebc_disc_pads_for_racing/index.shtml

 

[Rapid]

Looks good.

Where did you find them?

 

[Dreadknought]

Oh wow this is very interesting indeed. Does anyone here have any practical experience with these yet?

 

[Sam Strano]

I'd like to point out that 100*C is 212* F. You don't always have 212*F in your brakes when you are street driving or autocrossing.

Also, we know nothing about how the pads feel, respond, etc. But in my experience it's a pipe dream that something that's truly track worthy on a fast heavy car is really very streetable and works well for autox. The closest thing I've used are what I have on the front of my 2011 and that's Ferodo DS2500's (they only make them for Brembo calipers however). And they aren't marketed at race pads, but "track day" pads. They work from 100*F (not C), and have an almost dead flat friction curve to over 1000 degrees.

In the end, I think that it's best you have a dedicated set of track pads if you are serious enough you go a couple times a month. At some point you will need more pad than anything that will work @ street temps.

On my Camaro (the car I usually track) I run Hawk HPS for street/autox, and at LEAST Hawk HT10 front, but have moves to the DTC series of late.

I would also like to point out that I can indeed sell EBC pads, so it's not a matter of me trying to spin this away from them for that reason.

 

[Vapour Trails]

I'd like to point out that 100*C is 212* F. You don't always have 212*F in your brakes when you are street driving or autocrossing.

The same applies for the yellowstuff pads, and I have no issues with the brakes being too cold, they grab just fine from the first stop.

But in my experience it's a pipe dream that something that's truly track worthy on a fast heavy car is really very streetable and works well for autox.

In the end, I think that it's best you have a dedicated set of track pads if you are serious enough you go a couple times a month. At some point you will need more pad than anything that will work @ street temps.

I totally agree, the yellow stuff pads were terrible at the track, seriously faded after a couple hard braking zones. I highly doubt the blue stuff would be much better with an expanded temperature range of 100F. There is no one size fits all pad.

 

[DusterRT]

The same applies for the yellowstuff pads, and I have no issues with the brakes being too cold, they grab just fine from the first stop.

My yellows have always taken a stop or two before they feel good in cool/cold weather. When I was running around with my brake ducting unblocked all the time I had a couple, "where are my brakes?!" moments on the freeway..but overall I've been satisfied with them as dual purpose pads and don't seem to be too hard on rotors either. I have 14" brakes though so that might be a factor to take in to consideration. When these pads are worn out though I will probably go with reds or comparable for the street, and get something less compromising for the track.

 

[Rapid]

So what would be your recommendation for a stock 2010 Mustang GT?

I don't do enough track work to justify making that a part of my decision but am working hard to become more competitive at autocross.

I'd like to point out that 100*C is 212* F. You don't always have 212*F in your brakes when you are street driving or autocrossing.

Also, we know nothing about how the pads feel, respond, etc. But in my experience it's a pipe dream that something that's truly track worthy on a fast heavy car is really very streetable and works well for autox. The closest thing I've used are what I have on the front of my 2011 and that's Ferodo DS2500's (they only make them for Brembo calipers however). And they aren't marketed at race pads, but "track day" pads. They work from 100*F (not C), and have an almost dead flat friction curve to over 1000 degrees.

In the end, I think that it's best you have a dedicated set of track pads if you are serious enough you go a couple times a month. At some point you will need more pad than anything that will work @ street temps.

On my Camaro (the car I usually track) I run Hawk HPS for street/autox, and at LEAST Hawk HT10 front, but have moves to the DTC series of late.

I would also like to point out that I can indeed sell EBC pads, so it's not a matter of me trying to spin this away from them for that reason.

 

[05SonicGT]

I have been track testing the new blue compound for EBC
I will share experiences as soon as i get a little more time to write up

 

[Ch4r1ie]

I have been track testing the new blue compound for EBC
I will share experiences as soon as i get a little more time to write up

I'll be very interested to hear what you think of the Bluestuff pads!

 

[darkstar november]

for autox ive always used HPS pads and never had an issue

 

[Kobie]

I'll be very interested to hear what you think of the Bluestuff pads!

Me too!

 

[Rapid]

Looks like HPS is the almost answer for both uses so I'll give them a shot.

Thanks all!

 

[Sam Strano]

I've got them.... $155 for the front and rear, shipped.....

 

[pcdrj]

EBC Yellows are fine for street but they don't hold up well on road racing. Hawk 70's/60's have tremendous bite and modulation but they're a track only pad. Carbotech XP12/XP10 is another option for track only but I had a hard time modulating them.

 

[kona302]

I'd like to bring up this old thread since I won't have to post a whole new one. Regarding the non brembo GT brakes has there been any advancement in that area. Looking for street/autox pads, the courses they setup here are no more than 50 seconds. The last course on avg was 29.xxx

 

[claudermilk]

I've been using the Carbotech 1521 (Bobcat) pads for street/autocross for a few months now and they've been working quite well. There is a little bit of squeak now & then with slow stops. They have good bite for autocross; I am sure the AX pads will be even better, but so far these have been doing fine.

I do have the Brembos, but I doubt there will be much difference for the standard brake setup for this use.

 

[Apex50]

Looks like HPS is the almost answer for both uses so I'll give them a shot.

Thanks all!

That's a good pad. Not sure how this translates to AutoX, but I found the rears lasted much longer with Advance Track off.

 

[Vorshlag-Fair]

I've been using the Carbotech 1521 (Bobcat) pads for street/autocross for a few months now and they've been working quite well. There is a little bit of squeak now & then with slow stops. They have good bite for autocross; I am sure the AX pads will be even better, but so far these have been doing fine.

I do have the Brembos, but I doubt there will be much difference for the standard brake setup for this use.

I like the AX6 autocross-specific pad from Carbotech a lot. We've sold a lot to autocrossers who liked them. But dual-purpose? Mmmm... while they DO work dead cold, they do make some noise.

http://www.ctbrakes.com/brake-compounds2.asp

Carbotech™ AX6™

The AX6™ is specifically engineered for Autocross applications. A high torque brake compound delivering reliable and consistent performance over a very wide operating temperature range of 50°F to 1000°F + (10°C to 537°C+). The advanced compound matrix provides an excellent initial bite, high coefficient of friction at lower temperatures along with very progressive brake modulation and release characteristics. Many drivers use the AX6™ for street driving as well, even though Carbotech™ doesn't recommend street driving with AX6™ due to possible elevated levels of dust and noise. AX6™ is NOT recommended as a race compound in most applications.

I used to swap pads (and rotors!) between a street/autocross friendly set-up and a track-worthy set with harder compounds. When we moved to Carbotech we realized we could use their different compounds on the same set of rotors without "cross-contaminating" the pad materials. That saved a LOT of work, and we have folks who switch between AX6 and XP-series Carbotechs for street/autocross and track use.

As our car has increased in speed on track, and our brake size hasn't (we stuck with the 14" Brembo front/14" GT500 rears for a long time), the weight and speeds have really taxed the brake system. We've moved up steadily to the hardest compound XP20 pads they sell. And moved up from 3" to 4" brake ducting, to keep pad temps down.

But as I street drive this car less, I also seem to care less about the noise of the harder track pads. This year we've still autocrossed this car a number of times on the XP20 pads, on both Hoosier 315 A6s, Hoosier 335/345 A6s, and 315/335 Rival street tires. Won at Goodguys, won at Optima/USCA (with autocross, track and speed stop challenges), and always with the same XP20 pads.

We just ran an autocross yesterday in our TT3 prepped Mustang on Carbotech's hardest XP20 pads, in the rain, too. How do we get the pads up to temperature? Drag the brakes from paddock to the starting line in 1st gear. It takes about 5-6 seconds to get the pads to SQUEAL, which is when they seem to be hot enough to work. Ever since I started doing that I haven't come to a first corner and had no brakes in an autocross.

My results at yesterday's SCCA event were pretty poor, but it was still the 8th quickest time out of 145 entries, and it wasn't the brakes holding me back (it was a course that went from wet to "drying"). So nowadays I run the same pads for track and autocross, and if I were to daily drive the car a lot I'd switch to the Carbotech 1521 pad. Easy.

Carbotech isn't the cheapest brake pad choice - the lower cost options tend to have more filler material and wear more rapidly, from my experience - but it seems to have the best priceerformance ratio. We've tried ALL of the top named brands, and sell many of them, but stick with Carbotech for our own cars and what we recommend (and we make less money on this brand vs others).

edit: for STREET use I wouldn't use any of the XP series pads or even the AX6. The 1521 is the one to go with... its the dual-purpose street/autocross pad that works dead cold and makes no noise.

Cheers,