Discussion
Good morning all. Well the fsti passed its MOT yesterday with a clean bill of health apart from advisories for front and rear pads being low. So what is everyone using? Mine is an 06 model, used on the road only so just after pads that stop well with minimal dust and noise really. (Did do a search but didn't seem to be anything recent on the subject)
Dan
Dan
When I still had the OEM brakes on the front I went through a number of pads, none of which really felt outstanding for everything; you either got great hot performance, great cold performance or something a bit wooly in the middle. It seemed very difficult to get the holy grail. That said, if you have got the OEM pads in there just now and are only looking to replace because they're worn, you'll probably not find the high temp range to be as important as someone who's looking to upgrade because they've run out of brakes once too often to be comfortable.
I've run:
EBC Yellow - reasonable cold feel, reasonably progressive overheating characteristics but they do lose it when you really start pushing them.
EBC Blue - okay after the first couple of stops but that first application really is terrible, great once they get up to temperature but then turn to blocks of wood when they hit their temperature limit which could be as little as 5 or 6 minutes of really hard driving up here.
Mintex M1155 - Probably the closest to ideal for a daily driver that I tried. Good price, don't seem too aggressive on discs, reasonable cold bite (just don't go hot into a junction having not used the brakes at all), reasonably progressive tail off and nice feel.
Mintex M1166 - Poor from cold, especially on the stock calipers/discs, great hot feel but tended to go away after ten minutes of hard driving. More pronounced fading than the M1155. These felt amazing in the AP calipers I upgraded to and really worked well from cold (bigger surface area and leverage on the larger disc made up for the lower than stock cold friction coefficient). These were awesome until they delaminated from the backing plate. The brake dust they leave is also very stubborn - they've stained my gunmetal grey wheels quite heavily.
EBC Orangestuff - Actually impressed with these, albeit I think they'd suffer the same cold-stopping issues that the M1166 suffered from in OEM calipers. In the AP's they're awesome and have a high working temperature range along with a very progressive tail off as they get too hot. Seem very dusty though, even on brake dust coloured wheels!
The best option from many seem to be the Performance Friction range but they're pretty expensive and do squeal a little from cold. Good all round performance and life though which should offset the negatives. I've never tried them though, only heard anecdotes.
Not sure if that's of any use whatsoever or just confused things, sorry!
I've run:
EBC Yellow - reasonable cold feel, reasonably progressive overheating characteristics but they do lose it when you really start pushing them.
EBC Blue - okay after the first couple of stops but that first application really is terrible, great once they get up to temperature but then turn to blocks of wood when they hit their temperature limit which could be as little as 5 or 6 minutes of really hard driving up here.
Mintex M1155 - Probably the closest to ideal for a daily driver that I tried. Good price, don't seem too aggressive on discs, reasonable cold bite (just don't go hot into a junction having not used the brakes at all), reasonably progressive tail off and nice feel.
Mintex M1166 - Poor from cold, especially on the stock calipers/discs, great hot feel but tended to go away after ten minutes of hard driving. More pronounced fading than the M1155. These felt amazing in the AP calipers I upgraded to and really worked well from cold (bigger surface area and leverage on the larger disc made up for the lower than stock cold friction coefficient). These were awesome until they delaminated from the backing plate. The brake dust they leave is also very stubborn - they've stained my gunmetal grey wheels quite heavily.
EBC Orangestuff - Actually impressed with these, albeit I think they'd suffer the same cold-stopping issues that the M1166 suffered from in OEM calipers. In the AP's they're awesome and have a high working temperature range along with a very progressive tail off as they get too hot. Seem very dusty though, even on brake dust coloured wheels!
The best option from many seem to be the Performance Friction range but they're pretty expensive and do squeal a little from cold. Good all round performance and life though which should offset the negatives. I've never tried them though, only heard anecdotes.
Not sure if that's of any use whatsoever or just confused things, sorry!
sideways dan said:
Good morning all. Well the fsti passed its MOT yesterday with a clean bill of health apart from advisories for front and rear pads being low. So what is everyone using? Mine is an 06 model, used on the road only so just after pads that stop well with minimal dust and noise really. (Did do a search but didn't seem to be anything recent on the subject)
Dan
I've used the following on various imprezas, From the best to the lesser performers:Dan
Ferodo DS2500 - Dusty but fantastic
Mintex 1155
Mintex 1144
Brembo HP2000 - Surprisingly s
tOEM "kevlar" generic stuff (From the likes of godspeed)
If you are doing pads, perhaps do the discs as well. I find Brembo HC discs are great. I don't like grooved or drilled discs, they really don't perform as well.
drumsterphil said:
DS2500's all day long.
As long as you wash the wheels once a week (I soak with APC, wash with car shampoo and a bit of quick detailer when dried) there are no issues with dust buildup on the wheels.
Stopping is not over-rated lol
I have DS2500s at the moment and there is one thing that I don't understand = how can they produce so much dust without appearing to wear, at all? As long as you wash the wheels once a week (I soak with APC, wash with car shampoo and a bit of quick detailer when dried) there are no issues with dust buildup on the wheels.
Stopping is not over-rated lol
speedking31 said:
A word of warning: DS2500 are labelled "For Track Use Only". I don't know whether anyone has ever had issues running them on road cars (from an MOT / insurance pov). They are dusty but good once warm.
Never had a problem at MoT time with them and had them on a few cars. I have AP 4 pots on the front so the cold stopping is still better than the OEM hot stopping. Might try PFZs next, if I can find them in my size. 25k in on the DS2500s and they don't appear to have worn any less than when new - so could be a long wait!TEKNOPUG said:
Never had a problem at MoT time with them and had them on a few cars. I have AP 4 pots on the front so the cold stopping is still better than the OEM hot stopping. Might try PFZs next, if I can find them in my size. 25k in on the DS2500s and they don't appear to have worn any less than when new - so could be a long wait!
I've been using DS2500's for over 10 years and never noticed that warning(and it's also never been mentioned by any of the retailers I've bought off). Still an awesome road pad and I'm unlikely to switch (though as they never wear that might be a while....)drumsterphil said:
TEKNOPUG said:
Never had a problem at MoT time with them and had them on a few cars. I have AP 4 pots on the front so the cold stopping is still better than the OEM hot stopping. Might try PFZs next, if I can find them in my size. 25k in on the DS2500s and they don't appear to have worn any less than when new - so could be a long wait!
I've been using DS2500's for over 10 years and never noticed that warning(and it's also never been mentioned by any of the retailers I've bought off). Still an awesome road pad and I'm unlikely to switch (though as they never wear that might be a while....)Ferodo said:
All Ferodo brake pads citing race or racing on their packaging are solely developed for motorsport use. They are intended for race use only. They have not been developed for use on public roads and must not, under any circumstances, be used on public roads.
Perhaps you have Ferodo performance which are different to DS2500?tonyb1968 said:
The DS2500's are not a race compound pad, now if it said this... "DS3000 is the FERODO RACING compound that has set the braking standard from 1998" then it would be a race compound pad 
You missed the bit where Ferodo said "... on their packaging ...". Have a look at any picture of DS2500 boxes.speedking31 said:
tonyb1968 said:
The DS2500's are not a race compound pad, now if it said this... "DS3000 is the FERODO RACING compound that has set the braking standard from 1998" then it would be a race compound pad
You missed the bit where Ferodo said "... on their packaging ...". Have a look at any picture of DS2500 boxes.http://www.ferodoracing.com/products/car-racing/ra...
Not with you. That link is in a section,
Ferodo said:
DS2500 (H)
Home » Products » Car Racing » Racing Brake Pads » DS2500 (H)
•Track day & light race use for all vehicle types
So it's listed under racing, comes in Racing branded packaging and doesn't mention 'fast road use'. Seems definitive to me.Home » Products » Car Racing » Racing Brake Pads » DS2500 (H)
•Track day & light race use for all vehicle types
Gassing Station | Subaru | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff