Brake pads, beating a dead horse.
 

Looking for info on the porterfield r4s.
They're priced appropriately, seem like a decent product. I'm looking for reviews. I autocross about 10-12 events per year, and hose/lapping about 5 times a year. Car gets beat on all summer long. Looking for something that won't produce too much brake dust, will last a reasonable amount of time, and of course, will bite the fuck out of my rotors!

Was also looking at ebc, someone suggested xp8 but they're a bit above my price rnge and I believe they are overkill, the guy who suggested them has a track only miata and tends to buy the best of everything.

Thanks in advance for any input!

How about StopTech Sport? They will need a bit of temp to get the most out of them, but are great for DD duties as well. Moderate dust, not as bad as some, but a bit more than OEM.

R4s are very mild as track pads go, mild enough that you can use them as street pads. They make a bit more dust than stock (although it's reddish-brown instead of black). They work OK for autox, and are decent at the track on a low-powered car that's not being driven all that hard.

Any real track pad is going to make a lot of dust, it's something of an inevitable tradeoff for track performance.

--Ian

R4S pads are very mild as track pads go, mild enough that you can use them as street pads. They make a bit more dust than stock (although it's reddish-brown instead of black). They work OK for autox, and are decent at the track on a low-powered car that's not being driven all that hard. (Note that they also make an 'R4' pad, which is a hard-core track pad despite the similar name)

Any real track pad is going to make a lot of dust, it's something of an inevitable tradeoff for track performance.

--Ian

Would you say the r4s lack enough bite for autocross?

R4S will work fine for autox. IMHO, for autox you don't need "bite", what you want it something that's very linear and easy to modulate. You also don't need heat capacity there -- if you're overheating your brakes at an autox then you're doing it wrong.

--Ian

They worked fine for me at Auto-x, but i was trying to stay on the edge by playing with throttle since my tires weren't super sticky. They don't have a crazy bite, but work well as a sporty all-around pad.

They work fine for me for autocross. Need to stand on them a bit, but nice and linear.

The Stoptechs have been putting up with 20min sessions on the big Pocono double infield course on my N/A 1.6.

I've used the R4S many times it works great for street use and autocross. Like Cordus said, more bite at autocross is not always desirable. Anything more than street and autocross use and you need a different pad.

2slow's description of the StopTechs matches my experience with them exactly. Nice pad for street and light track for the money.

I wasn't able to fade them during 20-minute sessions at Autodrome St Eustache.

St.Eustache is pretty light compared to 45 mine sessions at calabogie! ;)

what about ebc yellow stuff?

I'm also running stoptech pads. Excellent price! They dust a bit more than parts store pads, great feel and I couldn't get them to fade on track without specifically trying to abuse the brakes. My only issue is they sequel on the street if I've been driving like a bitch for too long but hard driving fixes it.