race pads are designed for racing. The pads are ceramic based ,in the case of Pagid. Some are sintered metallic compounds. They growl , squawk, groan and generally dont do well until they get to temperature, which is one reason why drivers brake check while still in pit lane as they go out for some laps.

please dont buy race pads if you intend to drive on the street.

 

x2

You will ruin the wheels and paint. You can put them on just before you drive to the track, but they will eat your rotors faster when cold. Haven't personally had a problem with braking power in the cold/rain though, but then, I never did like grabby street pads.

 

So the stock Ferodo is what you recommend? Or you think there are other pads that are better and don't make noise?

 

stocc pads n slotted rotor r my setup

 

I will go back on stock pads, unless someone tells me about better and quiet pads

 

Stock Pads: The best out there, short of dedicated racing pads that a limited number of us on here use.

Hawk HPS: I used these for a while with my R1 slotted rotors. They are quiet and produce much less dust than the stockers but fade quickly in anything more than moderate usage. I wouldn't recommend them for anything more than DD use.

Hawk HP+: Known to be noisy actually, but provide better fade resistance than the HPS pads.

I was told early on to steer clear of EBC, but opinions aside, the stock pads are a sure thing over both those and the Hawks either way. If I recall, those stock "Brembo" Ferodo HP1000 pads are the same compound that's been used with Ferrari and Maserati before.

I recently ditched the Hawk HPS pads I had and went back to the stock pads myself.

 

X2. Went to the track with stock Ferrodos, loved them. Just hated the squeaks and the dust, oh god the dust. Then I got hawk HPS pads, loved them too. Went to the track, meh. Not like stockers, when they get hot they don't grab. The Ferrodos work better when hot! LOL. So moral of the story, Hawk HPS street and dailiy is perfect. If you track your car here and there, stick with the Ferrodos it's worth it.

 

Wait, you are saying that the Ferodo squaeaks meanwhile the HPS don't?

 

If you really are concerned about track performance, like you keep implying, just get a SEPARATE set of race pads.

 

Did they squeak?

What about as far as squeaking?

 

No squeaks with HPS. None. Only with stockers it sounded like a truck lol

 

Carbotech are the best on the market with a fierce bite

 

I went with Ferodos for the front, HPS for the back. Slotted premium R1 rotors.


Everything should be here sometime next week. I know what I'm doing next weekend.

 

who sells carbotech?

 

They have a wide range of different materials, which ones are you running on your Sky?

 

Nope, no squeaking. The Hawk HPS were good on being quiet pads and weren't nearly as bad about dusting either. They were pretty good for DD driving.

As stated though, they do fade quickly if you start getting moderately hard on them, so plan accordingly. You can't give them near the same workout as the stock pads.

 

XP10 Front, XP12 Rear

 

Let me weigh in on this a bit.

I've tracked my car a bit, and always with the stock pads. Stock pads are wonderful for auto-x and shorter road courses. (Milwaukee Mile being my example of a shorter track.)

However, Last weekend I tracked my car on Road America, which is one of the highest speed tracks in the country, and also notoriously hard on brakes. I can definitely tell you that the stock pads will fade during 20 minute lapping sessions there.

Unfortunately, I actually crashed my cobalt at RA because of this. At the end of the first 20 minute session, I was coming down into Canada corner doing about 125, and suddenly my brakes were not what they used to be. Couldn't make the corner, and crashed into the tire wall going about 20mph.

Granted, earlier in the lap a mustang (of course ) blew its cooling system in front of me, and sprayed me with some coolant. I (and my instructor) think some of it may have gotten on my brakes, making them less effective.

In any case, later in the day when I was back on the track, I experienced more brake fade towards the end of the sessions, luckily with no crashing involved this time. SO, while the stock Ferrado pads are indeed a very GOOD pad for track use, I do not believe them to be the BEST pad for track use. I think next time I might try a set from the ironically named company "Cobalt Friction", and give those a go.

 

Oh, looks like someone else already suggested Cobalt Friction here lol

 

we had very good success with Cobalt friction pads. The first Grand Am race ever won by Cobalt used those pads, at Three Rivers Quebec, a street based track notorious for brake wear.

I am a Pagid fan, but use HP1000 daily and in summer, and Bendix metalmaster cheapo pads for the winter and cold weather. I use curved vane slotted rotors machined from Brembo blanks.

I am working on a new floating rotor set up using Coleman rotors. Not cheap but Coleman make good stuff out of Michigan.

 

Moar brakes!

 

I've experienced brake fade at the road track before and it's a scary moment when your brake pedal goes to the floor at 130+ (in my case) approaching a 90 degree turn...
I recommend running a race brake fluid instead of the OEM fluid. I use ProSpeed 683. It's pricey but works great. In terms of pads, I'm a big fan of the Hawk DTC-70 pads. I run them on all 4 corners and in combination with the fluid I've not had any overheating issues although I've actually increased my power level.

 

I love DTC-70s. I use them on my M3. They seem to never wear, but put the rotors through their paces. When I tracked my Cobalt, I used Carbotech XP-10 and they weren't so hard on rotors, but didn't last for very long. No fade with those, either.