Brake suggestions.
 

I needed new brakes and was looking for suggestions.

I used Axxis/PBR ult but they no longer seem to be available anywhere.

I DD/autoX the car (99 NON-sport brakes), although I keep saying that end goal is to do some track days/HPDE events (I have been saying that for years). I understand that if I do I should have dedicated brakes for those days, but I am looking for something that could that in a pinch. I understand that would not be ideal but at least to get my feet wet.

I was looking at mainly for pads that have cold bite and work on the street:
HPS+
R4s (I hear the crumble though)

These are carbon-ceramic/carbon kevlar. Non corrosive dust from what I understand.
EBC Yellow
Carbotechs (AX 6)


opinions, suggestions, experiences.

I ran Carbotech XP8's on the street for 2 years. That would be my pick for you. The only disadvantage is some dust, which is non-corrosive, and sometimes they squeal a bit in the summer. Screw the AX6's and go for the XP8's. They bite very well cold, and they will work fine for your track days.

Bed them according to Carbotech's recommendations and they will be fine.

Doesn't Sav say he would never touch another Carbotech pad even with a gun to his head? Or is that another brand...

My vote is for the HPS pad. I've ran it on 1.6, 1.8, and now 11" wilwood setups. I definitely need more brake soon, even with my relatively "easy" pace and my local track's braking demands, but they work wonderfully for your first couple track days.

You can see I changed brake parts before brake pads. Once I knew the 1.6 brakes with HPS weren't enough, I went to 1.8 with HPS, then Wilwood. I did this partly to stay with the wonderful HPS pad, not wanting to have to move to a dedicated track pad. That's my next step though.

Stan, you said HPS+. There are HPS pads and HP+ pads. Which one do you mean?

I feel that my 1.6 brakes with HPS pads, NB2 master cylinder, booster, and non-abs prop valve don't have enough initial bite. They seem to take quite a bit of pedal pressure compared to driving your car with its inferior master cylinder and booster.

I forgot to ask when I drove your car. Do you have SS brake lines?

Well Hustler at least doesn't like (actively dislikes) Carbotechs. Not sure about Sav. The 949 team ran Carbotechs for their T25 win.

XP8's are fine for daily use (in my experience, I'm in the northwest, cold and rainy much of the year and the pads worked fine), have outstanding initial bite even when cold, are fine for naturally aspirated track days, and are non-corrosive and easy on the rotors.

I'm DDing on hawk DTC60s. They don't squeal but they make a shitload of dust.

They're not really that bad when they're cold in my experience. Only had them on for a month and one track day though.

I had the same dillema as you and bought R4S for street duty, and XP8/XP10 for track.

Had Axxis ULT. Wore them out, wanted to buy more. Out of stock.
Bought HP+. Stopped great. Dusted, squealed and made me embarrassed of my car on the street.

Don't know how R4S will hold up... I have high hopes.

I stopped using CTs on our cars, but I definitely wouldn't go as far as preferring death over Carbotechs. :giggle: For a true dual-duty street/track car, the XP lineup is the best option out there. For track cars, I prefer the way a metallic pad modulates, and the DTC-60s that I use now are cheaper and easier to break in, but the XPs are a great dual-purpose pad - probably the only pad out there that will truly work on the street (non-corrosive dust and low cold rotor wear) and on the track.

Yeah, must of been Hustler I was thinking of.

For a multipurpose car I love Hawks. I swap between HP+ and HT-10 depending on if the car will be doing AX or track that day. Don't need to re-bed/change rotors if you stay within their brand.

I had some XP8's on the front end of my pig and while they worked great, they dusted all over and dug into the Corrado rotors pretty bad.

Every time I hear someone mention excessive dust from race pads, I die a little inside.

You mentioned on the street. They were easy to wash off, but they did dust. They were a must for the first set of pads after the swap though... way too many WOT passes back to back for the HPS pads to hold up.