Another "What brake pad for my miata?" question: going from no aero to aero with 9 lives racing...

wspohn said:

I am running EBC Red on one car, a ceramic material with negligible dust, and find it to be very good.

I run Porterfield R4-S on my other modern sports car and find it almost as good, and I have heard good things about the HPS pads for hard street driving.

For serious competition you'd need something more, IMO.

Never tried EBCs on a car, I know it's not a fair comparison, but I tried them on my R6 once. I changed pads in the paddock and threw the EBCs in the closest trash can.

They were worse than the stock Yamaha pads. 

EBCs were the 'go to' pad for bikes back in the day.  As factory bikes got better and faster, the factory pads had to get better as well, and IMHO the aftermarket didn't keep up as well as the auto aftermarket.  After ~2000, I don't think I ever experienced increased performance from a brake 'upgrade' on a motorcycle...

Rodan said:

EBCs were the 'go to' pad for bikes back in the day.  As factory bikes got better and faster, the factory pads had to get better as well, and IMHO the aftermarket didn't keep up as well as the auto aftermarket.  After ~2000, I don't think I ever experienced increased performance from a brake 'upgrade' on a motorcycle...

Glad to see someone else who agrees. Mine was an '04 R6. The stock pads could handle anything you could throw at them.

I have no personal experience with the Miata. But I'll take the opportunity to plug the Raybestos ST43 compound.

Over the last 20 years, I've used Hawk (Blues, HT-10, HTC-60), Carbotech (XP8, 10, and 12), and Performance Friction (PFC 01 and 08) on a variety of cars. The Raybestos ST43 is my favorite so far. The bite and fade resistance are comparable to the best of what I've used in the past. But, they also offer the following advantages:

• quick bed-in
• even pad transfer (I'm looking at you, Carbotech!)
• easy modulation
• relatively quiet
• non-corrosive (berkeley you, Hawk Blue)
• last forever

For what they cost, the performance is amazing. I'll continue to use them for the 2020 season ... assuming we have a 2020 season :(

LanEvo said:

I have no personal experience with the Miata. But I'll take the opportunity to plug the Raybestos ST43 compound.

 

Thanks for the plug, looks like they're available from Goodwin.  Do you run them on the rear as well?

I have ST43s on the front of the Cayman, and they're amazing on track.  They're so smooth, which makes them very easy to modulate.   I wouldn't recommend driving around on the street with them, but they're not unsafe or anything, just noisy and probably not great to the rotors when cold. 

In reply to WonkoTheSane (Forum Supporter) :

Yes, I generally run the same compound on all 4 corners. If the front:rear bias is correct, then everything should remain balanced.

I know some people run "milder" pads in the rear (like ST41 front with ST42 rear). The idea seems to be that the rear brakes won't heat up as much, so a pad that works at lower temperature would be a better fit. But I figure that's why the rear calipers/pads/rotors are smaller to begin with.

Thanks for the info, Red_Stapler :)

Good point, Lan.   Especially with a bias adjustment, it probably makes sense to keep it matched...  

Arg, this shouldn't be this hard!  There's too many choices!

A long overdue update: I did about 10 track hours with some EBC Reds, and they were definitely not up to the task. They never faded, but it took a lot of pedal effort and they couldn't really ever lock up the tires except in panic stop situations.  Too hard to modulate beecause you had to really stand on them to get them to do their job.  At the end of 10 hours or so, they were down to the backing plate. 

This past week I switched to Hawk Blues (Tire Rack had them handy) and these brakes are awesome!  The pedal feel and engagement is perfect.  They seem extremely controllable, although I think they're probably a touch too much for street tires.  It's easy to lock them up.  I don't think I'd use these unless you have bias adjustment, as I was really bringing up the rear to prevent front lockup.  These are the type of brakes that when you really apply them, the oil pressure light starts flashing at you.

I probably would be happy with HP+, but the blues seem great.  I'm excited to see how they hold up.   They're a bit bitey when cold, but on my single drive up to the track and back, they had grip immediately, so I never felt unsafe on the street.  That said, for anyone playing along at home, I wouldn't recommend these for an actual street car, but they seem safe enough to drive to & from the track.

Was just coming to say that EBC Reds would probably not be up to the task, EBC Yellows should work well for what you want, they're actually very well-mannered brakes on the street, and they're relatively cheap. Only downside is that they're very bitey pads, not so easy to control. Oh, and the profuse dust.

morello159 said:

My Pagid RSL29 pads survived a year of turbo miata track abuse without giving up the ghost and being livable on the street. Not one you ever hear about on forums but it's what they run in real racing. 

I'm sure they talk about Pagids on Ferrarichat 

GameboyRMH said:

Was just coming to say that EBC Reds would probably not be up to the task, EBC Yellows should work well for what you want, they're actually very well-mannered brakes on the street, and they're relatively cheap. Only downside is that they're very bitey pads, not so easy to control. Oh, and the profuse dust.

morello159 said:

My Pagid RSL29 pads survived a year of turbo miata track abuse without giving up the ghost and being livable on the street. Not one you ever hear about on forums but it's what they run in real racing. 

I'm sure they talk about Pagids on Ferrarichat 

Yeah, the reds weren't exactly my first choice, but they were, what's referred to in the industry as, "cheap and available" :)