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What pads for daily road and some track use? (Now with R90 info)


longsh07

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I dont like EBC, at all - dusty, not particularly good bite and not cheap for what they are either.

 

I use the Bluestuff NDX and they're awesome!

I did look at blue stuff pads but couldn't find them listed for the 350. Admittedly I didn't look very hard. Where did you find them?

 

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I've got aftermarket brakes (from Art Automotive on here) so they may be different to the standard Brembo pads.

Ah that makes sense then.

 

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I dont like EBC, at all - dusty, not particularly good bite and not cheap for what they are either.

 

I use the Bluestuff NDX and they're awesome!

I did look at blue stuff pads but couldn't find them listed for the 350. Admittedly I didn't look very hard. Where did you find them?

 

Sent from Tapatalk

 

I've got aftermarket brakes (from Art Automotive on here) so they may be different to the standard Brembo pads.

 

EDIT: Although Google seems to think they're available: http://www.ebcbrakeshop.co.uk/nissan-350z-35-brembo-2003-ebc-brakes-bluestuff-pads-ndx--front-dp51644ndx_p1242049.htm

Oh cool. Thanks for the link :)

 

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Why do people do this? Ive done 15+ trackdays on the standard discs and the car has never ceased to amaze me at how well it stops, even after 25 minute sessions. The brembo discs are bloody good, youd look at changing calipers before the discs and if the calipers arent good enough for you Id suggest trying out for GT Academy ;)

 

Agreed the standard disc is very good!It's mostly down to pad choice with things like this. Like I said I only do the occasional trackday and the discs hold up well! Oem pads and fluid aren't up to the track work though unless you are very soft on the brakes.

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Further digging has given a few other options. Anyone had an experience with these?

 

Cosworth Streetmaster / Trackmaster

Tackmasters look good but fall into the technically not road legal category. This non road legal thing is crazy! Surely we should be encouraging the best braking performance possible!!)

Steetmasters look similar to Brembo Sport, Hawk HPS/HP+ and Yellow stuff pads.

 

Performance Friction

Good info on their website (compound info here: http://www.pfc.parts/motorsports/pfc-compounds/)

No mention of PF-01 specifically on the UK but a lot of 'similar too' options.

01 compound info on US site: http://www.performancefriction.com/motorsports/brake-pads/compound-descriptions.aspx

Would probably need to speak to them direct to find out the best option for me personally.

 

Brembo HP Sport

Look good, temps up to 600. Only concern is cooking these too. Greenstuff in my MX5 'claim' 650 and I managed to cook them with a passenger in the car. That said, 350 has a more open wheel design and bigger pads so heat dissipation may be better.

 

Tarox Corsa

One option I've not heard much about.

Claimed street use but aimed at track driving with temps of up to 800 degrees.

Cant find anything to say if they are or are not officially road legal or if they fall into DS2500/Trackmaster bracket.

 

Carbone Lorraine RC5+ or RC6

Both look very capable pads but not R90 approved so not road legal...

 

Pagrid S

Seem similar to Bremobo HP/Yellowstuff etc.

Looked at Pagrid RS too.

Again, no solid info to say if these are road legal or not.

 

 

To be honest, after all this, having seen how easy it is to change the pads on a 350Z it might be better to just switch between something like a DS2500 and my Hawks... live and learn.

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I have DS2500, like people say. Very dusty my wheels never look clean anymore. They do need some heat to operate well and sometimes can catch you out! When they're warm they are fantastic. There's been times I've had to stop pretty quickly after a hesitant driver and they've performed very well :)

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I really wouldn't worry about the road approved thing.

 

Still, the PF stuff gets my money every time.

 

I just don't want to be the guy who gets caught out. Chances are, with better brakes you'd be even less likely to have a smash in the first place.

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My 2p as I am about to buy new discs and pads all round...

 

I really wouldn't worry about the road approved thing.

 

Still, the PF stuff gets my money every time.

 

I just don't want to be the guy who gets caught out. Chances are, with better brakes you'd be even less likely to have a smash in the first place.

 

Just watch out for people behind you who can't stop as quickly! ;)

 

I don't do many trackdays ........

I find the oem discs ok for occasional track work obviously if you were looking to do this more often I would recommend a disc more suited

 

Why do people do this? Ive done 15+ trackdays on the standard discs and the car has never ceased to amaze me at how well it stops, even after 25 minute sessions. The brembo discs are bloody good, youd look at changing calipers before the discs and if the calipers arent good enough for you Id suggest trying out for GT Academy ;)

 

OEM discs are much more expensive than almost all the aftermarket stuff listed (Bar the top spec DBA and Performance Friction). So, assuming you don't want to pay over the odds for Brembo discs and you need a like for like replacement. I.E. No worse than the Brembos, what do you go for without breaking the bank? That is basically what the OP (And most people looking for new brake) wants to know. :)

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Weird I cant find blank Brembo discs very easily for the 350Z yet the slotted Brembo discs seem much easier to get hold of.

Based on the price for these, the DBA T3's are the same money. Both slotted so its 6 of one, half a dozen of the other really.

 

Thanks for pointing this out Paddy, not something I'd even thought about.

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The main thing to keep in mind is cast iron quality. Cheap discs use a low quality cast iron compared to the higher end brands so slotted does not mean they are automatically a better disc.

 

The eBay specials around nowadays are all just cheap blank discs with slots and or drill holes that are mainly there for looks only.

 

Brembo Sport, DBA, PF etc that have been mentioned are all made from high quality cast iron hence the higher price.

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The main thing to keep in mind is cast iron quality. Cheap discs use a low quality cast iron compared to the higher end brands so slotted does not mean they are automatically a better disc.

 

The eBay specials around nowadays are all just cheap blank discs with slots and or drill holes that are mainly there for looks only.

 

Brembo Sport, DBA, PF etc that have been mentioned are all made from high quality cast iron hence the higher price.

 

Wouldn't trust my life to eBay special brake parks :D

 

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  • 4 months later...

SOME INFO ON ECE R90

 

For those still following this topic I just wanted to post a quick update that I totally forgot to do at the time.

 

While researching all of this I decided to try and find the ECE R90 regulation myself (attached). I also decided to contact a number of manufactures and my insurance company to get their input.

Amongst the 'Our pads are no R90 but buy them anyway' replies I actually managed to scrape together some quite useful information.

 

Before I get into the actual detail of R90 I just wanted to say thank you to EBC. EBC was the most helpful company I came across while asking for info! I had a very long email exchange with one of their technical guys that went into proper detail, not just sales crap. Gained an awful lot of respect for them through this exchange as they were straight up and honest about what to expect from their pads.

 

To summarise:

  • Fitting non-R90 pads to a car used on the road is a massive grey area.
  • It appears that R90 only applies to the manufacturing requirements/process of brake components. It does not (as far as I can see) have anything to do with the fitting of these pads to a vehicle.
  • My insurance company were prepared to insure me if I wanted to fit non-R90 brake pads.
  • No one was able to tell me if fitting non-R90 pads to a taxed, insured (with brakes declared), MOT'd car used on the road was either legal or illegal. EBC even asked me to let them know if I found any more info on this. If manufactures dont know, how the hell are we supposed to know!? As far as I can see and anyone could tell me there is no UK law governing the use of these non-R90 pads on the road.
  • 'Not for road use' is basically a statement that allows reputable manufactures to sell uprated or race pads to the general public without falling foul of the EU legislation. In theory however it also means you could buy shoddy copy pads that perform well below a safe limit and have no legal come back if they have this statement on them.

 

The important question: 'Can I use non R90 approved pads on the road?'

The answer is: Legally? Who knows.

 

Its a bit of a gamble should something happen and your brakes and brought into question.

Even if you fit non-R90 pads that perform better than OEM pads I highly doubt any manufacture would want to be involved to fight your corner.

 

At the end of the day the choice is down to the individual. You are ultimately responsible for the maintenance and legality of your vehicle.

 

Clear as mud...

R090r3e_01.pdf

ECE-TRANS-WP29-2012-4e.pdf

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Good thread !

 

I'm thinking for my next pads to try, either CL RC5+ (or RC6?) - or PF01

I just couldn't find some specific details on the pads, coefficient of friction, temps etc.

 

I'm currently on DS2500 which have tons of life in them for now, just thinking ahead later.

Note - my wheels are plastidipped, matte grey, cleaning them is rare and I'm used to the squealing from them :lol:

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Ok so about 12 months ago I was looking for advice on a fast road pad that would be good on track too. I was hesitant to use DS2500's as previously had issues with pad transfer on my old 200SX after track use and ''warping'' the disks, but the advice here was that nobody really experienced that and they are the best all rounder - so I fitted a front set, stoptech braided hoses, Stoptech slotted disks and ATE super blue fluid.

 

The result was the same as what I experience before - fine for fast road, good bite, not much fade on track, a good deal of dust, no squealing but disappointingly the pad transfer to disk was abundant on track and over the 2 trackdays I've done (Mondello and Anglesey) I've come away with wobbly disks that I had to have skimmed afterwards. I leave 1 - 1.5 laps for cooling down and would push the brakes fairly hard (as they should be) on track for up to 6 or 7 laps. My hub surfaces are true and clean, all suspension tight, wheels balanced, tyres even (F1's on Ray's).

 

So the DS2500's have gone in the bin, I've skimmed the disks again (still like new thickness) and am currently running a spurious pad for the road until I buy a better set of track pads for a trip to Spa, Stelvio, Rooute Napoloen this summer.

 

I've read lots of threads on here but struggle to find a comprehensive road / track review of a pad better than DS2500 that uses the same objective criteria I've outlined above.

 

I'm leaning towards Carbone Lorraine RC5+ as I have used them before on the 200SX to good effect, they were better all round than the DS and they didn't cause any abrasive issues with the wheels after they revised their initial compound. Can anyone on here report on their usage with these pads?

 

Carbotech sound like they have abrasive dust issues (I ruined a set of wheel before with pads like that)

 

DS3000's - no thanks, not going Ferodo again.

 

Pagid's ?

Edited by Kingers
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So much ink and no result. I have used Performance friction 01 compound and pagid RS15 on my now mainly track zed and perfomance friction 11 compound on my BMW M3 V8 (which is superseding the 01 compound) mainly road use and I trackday and all these I would highly recommend. My new car will be having RS29 as the have slightly better endurance.

All these pads are race pads but work well for road use with good cold bite and modulation. Disc wear is acceptable and they do no squeal in my experience. The RS29 are known to squeal. They are slightly more dusty but not more that the DS2500 or yellow stuff which I was once fooled 10yrs ago to purchase for my E46 M3. Rubbish!!

PFC or pagid will get my vote anytime. I'm sure the carbotech, RCLs will be similar but one can only give their experience rather than what they heard or were told👀.

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So much ink and no result.

 

Yep. Wasted a lot of time on this to get no concrete answer.

 

 

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Well there are plenty of recommendations that YOU have to try out to see what you think bud.

I don't think it was a waste at all, it shows there are plenty of options to try out.

 

Too much winter negativity at the moment :lol:

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Please Rob don't misunderstand me. Nothing negative was said. The op had not got concrete response to his query after extensive research and I've I recommended PFC and Pagids which I have used extensively.

You mentioned carbotech and RCL which I suspect will be similar to PFC/RCL but you have not used them yourself.

In an ideal world one would like to try everything before settling with one but unfortunately real world limitations and costs means relying on the manufacturer claims and subjective reviews or feedback from real end users. I'll take that over hearsay everyday.

 

 

 

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Sorry, how is it no result when people who actually use them have repeatedly recommended the RC5+, RS29 and PF01's and said that DS2500's arent as good but are cheaper??

 

Page 1:

 

Stuff.

 

I wouldnt usually big up a trader but every time Ive spoken to Ewen about pads (4 different cars now I think!) his advice has been spot on, even down to the Brembos I picked up being very similar to the DS2500 that he didnt have in stock.

 

If you want to spend money then Carbon Lorraines are the best Ive used on anything and would be fine for the road, if you wnat to save some money then DS2500/Brembo would be fine. I dont like EBC, at all - dusty, not particularly good bite and not cheap for what they are either.

 

ETA: CL's > RS29's, Ive got both on two different cars at the moment ;)

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  • 3 weeks later...

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