Best Initial Bite - Pad & Rotor Combination

[suff]

Hi All,

Getting close to time to upgrade the brakes on the sedan.. I am currently running EBC Green & RDA Slotted rotors on the wagon.. they are good when hot, but I am looking for something with much better initial bite..

So, short of upgrading to brembo's.. what are people using and how are you finding them? (Also.. anyone have P/N's for the ferodo's and a rough idea on price?)

Cheers!

[fatfrog02]

Hi All,

Getting close to time to upgrade the brakes on the sedan.. I am currently running EBC Green & RDA Slotted rotors on the wagon.. they are good when hot, but I am looking for something with much better initial bite..

So, short of upgrading to brembo's.. what are people using and how are you finding them? (Also.. anyone have P/N's for the ferodo's and a rough idea on price?)

Cheers!

What is "P/N"?

I have Ferodo DS2000 or 2500 (can't remember which) with DBA4000 rotors on the front of my wagon. I am not overly impressed with the Ferodos. Was going to change to something else when they die. Was thinking EBC Redstuff or Hawk pads.

As for price, not sure. I was given them by a friend. I think they are about the $200 to $250 range for the fronts.

Had EBC greenstuff and RDA rotor combination on my previous Forester and thought that was a pretty good combination.

[swingn]

You're only using the car on the track right?

Unsure about which rotors to use (Dixcel come to mind) but Ferodo DS3500's are awesome... But they take a little bit to warm up & make all sorts of noises :S

But they pull up at 243km/h pretty good & they are a proper track pad to my knowledge.

[Sentinel]

You're only using the car on the track right?

I think it's the daily.

I'd be interested in seeing what people recommend coz I'll be in a similar boat soon. Great question Suff!

[WhiteGTB]

I'd be interested in seeing what people recommend coz I'll be in a similar boat soon. Great question Suff!

Thanks Chris, me too

[tangcla]

What is "P/N"?

Part number.

[suff]

The best initial bite I have had personally was on my old Forester.. Bendix Ultimates with DBA Gold Cross Drilled rotors.. dusty as hell, but fitted the requirements I had at the time.

I want to avoid a high temp pad, as I just dont need it in the sedan..

Unfortunately you cant get Ultimate's for the GT's

[smythie]

The Getz hire car I've had for the last couple of weeks has highlighted to me that the Hawk ceramic pads on my Lib don't have huge initial bite - I'd just gotten used to them

[tangcla]

The Getz hire car I've had for the last couple of weeks has highlighted to me that the Hawk ceramic pads on my Lib don't have huge initial bite - I'd just gotten used to them

Yeah the Ceramics have very little bite. The Ferodo DS2000s I had earlier had more bite than the Ceramics, but the Ceramics have nicer dusting properties (or lack thereof).

I'm running Hawk Ceramic pads with DBA5000 slotted rotors at the front, and DBA Gold slotted rear rotors with stock pads.

[Arith]

The Hawk ceramics are meant for day to day street use. They have good, not great bite, but are quiet and consistent. They're great for bumper to bumper rush hour traffic which require constant stabbing of the brakes. They won't glaze the rotors like some of the more gripping pads meant for track use.

Can't beat the Dixcel M Series (or even Z series) for good day to day runnings and occassional track days. They're rated from 0~500 degrees (0~850 for the Z series) , so they bite hard straight off the bat. No need to warm them up. Everyone who has them on loves them. Unfortunately for me, my commute on the parking lot known as the M5 everyday consisted of constant stopping and going. This ended up glazing the rotors after a while, which made for horrible brake squeal at every single stop.

I asked about the Ferodo's as well, and they are similar in characteristics to the Dixcels, which means they have good bite and good for occassional track days, but will glaze the rotors with the kind of commute I deal with. So in the end I had to stick to the Hawks if only for convenience.

[AndrewCowley]

Agree totally that the Hawk Ceramics lack bite. I downgraded from DS2500's to Hawk Ceramics and the difference is noticeable. No big deal for me though since you just have to brake earlier so a small adjustment in driving style is needed. The upside is they don't squeak and as best as I can tell they are dust free or as close to that as possible. They are pretty cheap too compared to the DS2500's.

[smythie]

After a while I got used to using a bit more pedal pressure on initial application. I'll probably try something different next time around but they aren't causing me to want to change before they wear out

[adhar]

EBC Redstuff and most of the Hawk pads and Endless pads are very good pads for fast cars that need to stop time after time with no fading, but for a daily driver you don't really need this level of pad as it takes 5 mins of normal driving OR several hard stops to get enough heat in the pad for it to work properly.

Atm I have EBC redstuff with DBA 4000 slotted rotors. They work really well together, but i have to be careful on the first corner of my road as the car doesn't want to stop. In the city the Redstuff squeals a bit too as there isn't enough heat in them. I've never had fade at all though, even after 30 mins straight at Winton raceway. (the tyres de-laminated though!) lol

I've tried everything from a cheap $30 pads right through to $500 endless pads for the track, so can recommend alot of brands, but you mostly have to pick a pad that suits your driving conditions.

Honestly, for a daily driver, and if you can afford it (and i'm gonna get some shit here!!), go a Subaru OEM pad for the best overall performance and initial bite. Brakes are a real safety thing and Subaru wouldn't put a OEM pad on their cars if it wasn't any good.

That's my 2 cents