Pick some pads for me please
 

I currently have porterfield R4S on my car and they are dying.

I want some street pads that

a) bite hard when braking hard down from 120mph+
b) don't dust like mad

Minimal dusting is important to me because I don't have a place to wash my car.

Hawk Blues. You'll love them.








What did you not like about the R4S'? Tried the Hawk HPS yet? I've run the Hawk HP+ and really liked them, but the dust is a problem after a few days. I'm currently running the R4S on my Brembos and just just HPS on the GF's MSM.

R4S make my wheels black in about an hour.

I haven't tried hps or hp+.

And omg! my GF has a MSM too!

If you want good stopping from 120mph, you don't want HPS. HP+ are great for street but noisy.

My white wheels have turned black from the HP+. So avoid them.

Maybe I should just give up and paint my wheels black?

This. It always seems to end up that way.

If you get the HP+, then you won't have to paint them black!

Can anyone think of a good way to accellerate the brake pad aluminum oxidizing effect?

Perhaps I could go for a "salt and pepper" finish.

Pick one. And only one.

Another vote for Hawk HP+

read this:
http://www.racingbeat.com/Miata-1990...ads/54570.html

for info on the other compounds. Sounds like HPS would be good.

Fine I surrender.

Duplicolor here I come. I was going to get my wheels copper plated for a kickass natural patina to match my paint but fuck it.

New question:

What is the most badass street pad? Rotor wear be damned for i rock napa.

Just rock race pads on street. Like Carbotech Xp8s or even Xp10s.

Ferodo DS2500 or Endless SS-S would be a good pad for your needs...

Maybe the carbotech AX6s? might dust a little less than XP8s

Otherwise just get the hawk blues as someone above said. they are really quiet too, especially when cold!

Armorall Wheel Protectant actually works quite well. Apply every few weeks and you'll endure very little dust or dirt on your wheels. Might help you use a more aggressive pad...

http://images.solidcactus.com/autoba...protectant.jpg

It's too late for my 6ULs. :(

Tampax.

I just painted some LegGT wheels using the duplicolor graphite and it's dark.

As for pads. Seriously for a street car you're limited to the tires ability to brake on a shitty street surface so the most badass pads will either:

A) Allow you to lock up quicker and skid on the shitty surface or

B) induce the ABS.

There won't be much difference between a decent less dusty pad and a rotor chewing race pad for a daily driver.

How retarded do you really drive on the street?

If you get over 100mph on the highway, which is easy, then need to panic stop, typical street pads will just glaze over.

I had that happen to me with HPSs, at 80mph, on my stock 1.6L brakes and ordered 1.8L brackets and rotors and HP+ pads the next day.

In an NB that already has bigger brakes with ABS (I think he has ABS)?

I guess I just don't cruise around at 100 any more.

Just sayin'.

I think anything in the HP+, Ultimates, R4s zone should suffice. But with that said, we have plenty of guys here Daily Driving on XP10s.

I've been doing a lot of street tuning lately which means 4th gear pulls which means 120mph. I have a "test track" in the baltimore wasteland which works for 3rd gear pulls too.

My ABS is actually fucked up. If fact, I need to fix that shit stat. Basically when I induce ABS, my car stops about 5x more slowly. It used to work pretty well until I put in my SS lines.

Neither do I but when more horse power means more brake responsibility blah blah.

How thoroughly did you clean your wheels before duplicoloring them? I was thinking about sanding mine up a bit before painting.

just like anything you paint, it's all in the prep work. Need a surface the primer will hold onto.

HPS=weaksauce almost like stock

HP+=much better

My wheels sucked. I used aircraft stripper (spray stuff) first and it barely softened up the top coat after 2 applications. Then I tried this other stuff that is paint on gel and that didn't do much either so I ended up using an abrasive cleaner that took the stuff off OK but put a lot of scratches that I hoped would be filled with many coats of paint and primer. Problem is you can still see them up close so I'm sorta pissed. The Leg wheels appear to be powdercoated or something and that shit just didn't want to come off with 4 total coats of removal stuff.

I did used all the Duplicolor shit in Braine's post here. If I could do it over I'd just clean really well, fill in the curb rash, prime with adhesion promoter and sandable primer, then hit with 2 coats of color and 2 of clearcoat.

OK that is good info. I was thinking that scratches would be filled in. Good to hear they are not.

They are filled in somewhat but it's better to get high grit sandpaper and make sure. The stock daisies appear to be easily stripped. It ended up being a lot of friggin work. The wheels will still look decent on my red LegGT, but hell, I coulda bought some cheap Rotas and done other crap instead of killing a whole day doing the wheels. I'd fill in any deep scratches with JB weld and sand. I fixed some serious rash with it and that turned out well.

frank, is the miata running yet?

bead blast that shit

Another vote for HP+.
Dust like mad though, and if you don't break em in just right they're going to rupture your fucking ear drums.

Ducting to my brakes has significantly reduced this noisiness though.

Rupture via squealing?

Yep.

<--------has HPS on centric rotors with black painted wheels.




After a few days, my black wheels look brown as do my tires. More so in the front, and hardly in the rear.

I hate squealing.

What are my other choices than HP+?

XP8?

Mine and my buddy's never squealed because we both broke them in as per the destructions that came in the box.

Charcoal gray metallic would be great for not showing much dust.

My buddy uses the dust protective spray for his wheels with great success. But I don't much worry about looks at this point for mine. I need it to be fast before it's pretty.

Have you driven any hi-performance bone stock cars with decent brakes? Some of the pads they use are decent for what you seem to desire. And they are way milder than some options suggested herein. Hence less dust and squeal and premature wear issues during street use.

squeal means they are working.

Nope.

Quit being a pussy. Squeal lets everyone else know how bad ass your car is.

As I said earlier AX6 would probably be ok for what you want, Ferodo DS2500 work pretty well as DD pads for my Subie, mild as far as dusting but it is harder to remove than the dust from carbotechs.

i had HPS on my other car and they were HORRIBLE please do not buy them. Try EBC Yellows, i have them on a higher HP DD and love them! HAWKS race pads are great (running DTC-60s in all 4 corners of the track miata) and they do great

Squeal will make everyone think I am a ricer dumbass and my brakes need to be replaced.

If you have performance pads that squeal a bit, this will gain you respect from those that do high performance driving as opposed to ricers.

Some ricers are impressed by fake cardboard "roll cages".

Actually I don't really care about anyone respecting me. Personally, I like to hear pleasant noises when I drive like "vroom vroom". And "whirrr" and "pshh" and "woo woo woo wooo".

speaks truth...

We just had lots of pollen from the trees / flowers here in NC. Your car turns yellowish in about 2 hours. But not my wheels with the wheel protectant. Would make a cool picture as the car is black. Yellow dust everywhere except the wheels!

Without trying to start a new thread... I have a set of Hawk HP+ in right now. Do I need to get new rotors for a new transfer layer when I switch to HT-10 pads? Or can I swap them in and out for the drive to the track?

For cheap, just swap them in.

If you want slightly better braking and better pad life, have the rotors turned, but then you couldn't (shouldn't) use the HP+s again.

To do this "right", label the rotors and pads with a sharpie for left/right, and keep the current rotors with the HP+s, and get new rotors for the HT-10s.

Is there a noticeable difference? Or is it something only an elite drive would notice?

the main issue is the bedding of the pads to the rotors.

My theory is that not all pads have uniform stiffness across their entire surface. As you use the brakes, the rotor eats into the softer stuff, and the hard parts of the pad eat into the rotor. This makes your rotor into some what of a LP, with a bunch of different grooves.

New pads will ride on top of the rotor grooves, reducing a lot of the surface area that the pads have to grip.

At least that's how I've always imagined it in my head.

That's what I've always thought. I was just unsure if there is some sort of chemical(?) advantage to using dedicated rotors and pads.

carbotech xp10 front, xp8 rear, they dust but it's non corrosive and they are all you'll ever need if you have 1.8 brakes, even on lapping days :)