Carbotech XP8 Fronts, what pad for the rear?
 

So I'm upgrading to the Corrado setup and 1.8 size in the rear.
I think Carbotech's in the rear are overkill and expensive.

Is anyone running something different out back with the XP8's in front?

Recommendations for rear pads? I'm thinking HP+'s right now.

Chris

XP8s in the rear too. Hell, I might try an XP10 with a stock bias valve. It has nothing to do with brake wear and everything to do with the bias of the setup.

xp8s in the front and xp10s in the rear is the current hot spec miata setup, as Savington guessed, it helps with brake bias without a bias controller.

xp8s are race only pads, HP+ on street/light track, I wouldn't mix the two.

Where the best place to but the XPs?

cheapest I found was 5x racing for $130 fronts, $111 rear. 949 is only a couple bucks more though.

I run XP8s on all corners with the wilwood propvalve and corrado rotors up front. Works perfect for me...

saferacer.com with the spec miata 10% discount.
or 949racing.com

Carbotech XP10 & XP8 combo
 

Guys, I'm guessing this was a typo and you meant to say the reverse of what you wrote, but we should clear it up so we don't confuse people doing searches. If you actually put XP10's in rear and XP8's in the front, your rear tires would lock up and the car would swap ends every time you went to max braking. The higher the number in Carbotech pads, the more aggressive the compound, which is why Carbotech recommends XP10's in the front and X8's in the rear, or XP12's in the front and XP10's in the rear. I run the XP12/XP10 combo on my Lingenfelter Z06 and the XP10/XP8 combo on my Turbo Miata.

I have been running Carbotech for many years and I am very happy with them. From time time to time, I try other pads, but I keep coming back to Carbotech. One thing I have noticed is that adding cooling ducts radically improves the life of these pads, and the more aggressive the compound, the more difference it makes (i.e. the more heat that needs to be removed). This is likely just as true for other brand pads, but I have only done real tests (before and after cooling) with these pads on both cars.

MadDog

I'm pretty sure it wasn't a typo, if you want a balanced setup with the stock prop. valve, you need more rear pad in the miata. A more aggressive front pad just makes the bias worse...


With the Corrado 11" rotor upgrade, I'm running $25 Duralast pads in the front and HP+s in the rear on 1.8L non-sport 10" rotors. I have my prop valve almost all the way to the front for bias.

With HP+s all around I had the prop valve maxed for rear bias and it still wasn't enough.

I put xp12 on the street for 5k miles and 3-hours of track time and if they weren't so expensive I'd run them again.

Well I run that combo on my Hennessey Viper and it works just fine.

Srsly though, it was a full year ago and I could have easily typed a mistake, I have no idea any more. Even as a mod I can't edit it though, sorry. I'm running Porterfields on all four corners now (when I track it), and I wish I had a little more rear bite, even with my proportioning valve, so a xp8/xp10 wouldn't be something I'd over look.

Well the 8's didn't last very long for me with dual street/track use. That and they squealed a bunch.

I'm on bobcats now but I'm less impressed with their cold stopping than the XP8's (weird).

Carbotech's are getting a little expensive for my blood, especially if you have two pair for both ends (over $500 in pads alone). Maybe I'll go back to the Mazda Pad for street and swap out for track/hill country jaunts.

Chris

The problem with that is magical Carbotech pad material mixing with standard pad material. This is why I'm going back to Hawk ceramic street pads and blue or dtc-60 for the track.

If your taking the pads off its not much more work or money to have a set of street rotors/pads and carbotech rotors/pads. I'll agree with maddog and say that I always run the higher bite pads in the front ie xp10 front xp8 rear. I think if you run abs you can go the same all around.

Yea, that's what I meant. Mazda pad (or a Hawk) for the street and good track set or track pads (maybe the Hawks you are talking about), no more Carbotechs.


Chris