Brake pads for a girlie-man
 

So I started doing some HPDE with my DD this summer, and I suck. But I also love it, and now I need brake pads. The track I drive is tight - I have trouble seeing 80 MPH on the straights, and whatever generic pads that the PO put on for low dust and noise gave me enough stopping power during the 20 minute sessions to tip-toe like the 8 year-old ballerina that I am up to the corners, but I did manage to wear them down within about 5,000 miles.

Car spends 90% of its life in the city, so I'm not ready to do something like Carbotechs. I had my little heart set on StopTech Street Performance or Axxis ULT, biasing towards the former because the performance shop that sponsers my lapping club carries them. But the sales dude (who didn't really seem to know much about either of the two pads) is trying to talk me into Hawk HPS.

Anyone have experience with both? Should I listen to the sales guy or hit him in the jaw with an AC Delco brake rotor (which I also plan on buying)?

TL;DR: What brake pads for a DD that drives like a bitch on a tight track?

Stock powered '99 with FM springs, Illuminas, S-Drives (soon to be new Star Specs or Bridgestone Comp2s).

Just for fun, here's a clip of an E46 passing me at 5:00 and 10:30.

HPS are the worse pads ever made ever. Like I could take a shit into a form shaped like a pad, dip it in liquid nitrogen, install the hardened form into my brakes, and end up with a much better pad than HPSes.



Go with ULTs; at stock power they should suffice. otherwise maybe step up to HP+ and deal with the noise/dust.

I'd have to agree with Brainey on this one.

I've experience with these "wuss brakes" on 3 different cars, so my :2cents:

On my stock powered NA, I ran HP+ on the street. Sold it to a friend and he installed a turbo and ran it at 200hp. Drove far more aggressively than when I owned it but the brakes seemed to do OK, but you had to watch it when they got real hot. He upgraded to the M-Tuned Corrado rotor w/stock caliper to try to get more thermal mass and kept the HP+ and was still able to fade the hell out of them every session of the day.

On my stock powered NB, I installed the Axxis Ultimates (now PBR ULT?) on stock NB brakes. Ran this on the street and trackdays. They held up fine until I got more experience/faster/boost/longer sessons, then I started to get fade. Great for AutoX and street. I still run them, though I am looking for an upgrade because of trackdays and more boost. These do seem to dust a bit but are generally quiet unless its really cold out.

Same above friend bought an NB and it came with HPS. One trackday at stock power and the HPS were tapered and warped the backing plates. We swapped cars one session and I got massive fade pretty quickly.

TL;DR:

HPS: DO NOT WANT but would probably be fine for my mother
HP+: They are "okay" if you are set on Hawk
ULT: Would buy again for DD pads and drive like wuss/infrequent/slow/stock power track day stuff

I found the HP+ to be woefully innadequate for canyon carving with stock power. They just don't handle enough heat and the stock brakes just don't have enough thermal mass or heat rejection ability. The FM BBK helped a lot, and with the TSE ducting, I am having much less fade now.

EBC Yellow is a good compromise pad for dual use

Who makes ULT?

Axxis | PBR.

they are cheap as shit too. last i check, Import Replacement Parts | Import Performance & OEM Parts had the best price on them at $55 for the F and $45 for the R.

I am really liking mine. They have a pretty wide heat range also. AKA the stop when cold on the street.

Good luck finding the ULT. Not really that great of a pad as well.A fresh set of OEM's would do as good. I used the ULT for years.

ULT is much better than oem. I've used HPS, HP+, ULT, Redstuff, and oem for years. I just linked where you can get them. and they are the best ceramic street / stock power track pad for the price.

AT one point I though so too, but now I would tend to disagree.

At this point and time I like the EBC yellows better, plus like i said try finding the ULT/PBR's in stock. And if the website says they are in stock make sure you call.

I know I'm sorta bringing this back from the dead a bit, but...

I am pretty sure I just made a mistake ordering the ULT PBR's from ImportReplacementParts... Hopefully I get them before my rears are completely metal-to-metal because they only have about 10% left.

Just figured I'd chime in and confirm what you said.. Seems like these pads are not easily obtained. I ordered my rotors from TireRack (Brembo replacements) yesterday and they are already being delivered today!! Should have went with something in stock at TireRack... Meh

Mine came in about 2 days from them. But I also made sure they were in stock first.

Hopefully they ship that quick for me. I made the mistake of ordering before checking if they were in stock. After I ordered, I sent an E-Mail asking if they would be shipped this week, but haven't gotten a response yet. Maybe i'm just impatient lol hopefully they respond today.

So they shipped but wont make it to the east coast until the 27th... Glad it won't be too long of a wait but at the same time I was hoping to do them before X-Mas.. oh well. Now I just have to decide on braided SSbrake lines... I think I might just save the $120 to put towards turbo parts hmmm

I gotta' say, steel braided lines are worth every penny. Seriously. And you don't need to get the name brand.

A '91 with 61K? Nice.

Im thinking about autox'ing next season so I think I will grab a set from FlyinMiata... $105 seems reasonable unless you know of anywhere that sells them cheaper?

And yeah it's got 67 on it now but I bought it in late July with 61k... little old lady had it and only drove it on weekends... got it for a steal I got pretty lucky!

Stainless braided brake lines Miata

DOH! I just saw out of stock =/

Yeah I did see those actually ... Out of stock :vash:

they are all going to be pretty much the same, so the FM ones will suffice. $100 is prett fair price.