Rate your brake setup!

[driftzilla]

Ok, rating is a little subjective, but I'd really like to hear other people's inputs as far as braking is concerned (an EXTREMELY integral part, especially for our cars).

I just upgraded quite a bit myself and I must say that I'm very pleasantly surprised at the benefits it has afforded me

for myself:
drilled/slotted rotors all around
PBR semi-metallic fronts
project mu NS rears
DOT 5.1 fluid

The D1 specs were very tempting, but I want to run a pad that's good enough to be flexible in all sorts of situations and not meant for just locking the hell out of my brakes. So far I've tested them out a few places and I can follow MUCH closer now. very very even setup that's sensitive without being too sensitive.

[ninjlao0]

Ive driven on many different brake setups. So here is my feedback on what I like and don't.

I love the Porterfield R4 pad. They barely fade and their initial bite is really good even when cold. The problem with these pads are that they are pretty much race pads so they are incredibly noisy. Also they are very harsh on the rotors especially when they are cold. But I also love the feeling of pads destroying my rotors. Anyways I also runebay slotted rotors. I do not ever run the crossdrilled because they crack way too easily.

To daily drive I run the lifetime warranty pads by autozone or pepboys. These guys are awesome. I bought the pads about 4 years ago for like 30-40 dollars and I have changed them out for brand new one about 3 times already.

Stainless steel lines are a must for our cars: first because these cars are so old, but one of the main reasons why I would absolutely buy them is because we have a lot of rubber hoses for our brakes, because of the solid rear end.

As for Brake fluid, I use Valvoline brake fluid for my cars, but I have 2 cases of Neo synthetic DOT 610. I dont use high DOT brake fluid regularly though because they dont last anywhere near as long as the off the shelf DOT3-4 brake fluid. Anything above DOT4 lasts 6months max, before they are trash.
The 610 that I use I have to switch out in 3 months.


Now for Brake pads that ive tested,

-Hawk HP+ - I used these pads for an event on my s2000. I hated these things witha passion. These are supposedly Hawks top of the line before their race pads. They faded so fast on me that I threw them out and swapped back the stock honda pads. The Hawks have no initial bite and then they fade. I dont understand what this pad is good for. Anyways people have told me that I might have bedded them in wrong, but that is unlikely because I am careful about the bed in process. Also the fact that I have driven on other vehicles with the same brakes.

-Axxis Ultimates- These pads are supposed to be street/autocross pads. In other words street pads. but here is the problem with these, I have to warm them up in order for them to stop, on top of that they fade in a second. I was driving through a parking lot with these guys and a speedbump came up, well.....it looked like I didnt even stop for it with these pads. Also I was driving up statecollege in fullerton at about 50mph when the light turned red, I stomped on my brakes to stop and all of a sudden I felt them overheat. These pads are the craziest things ever. I don't know how these guys make money.

I will continue with the review Im going to go grab a cigarette/

[driftzilla]

hahaha, so HEATED ninjlao0! I like it

I've heard from a few people about some product called "red stuff" and "green stuff" or something along those lines. anyone used these pads before?

[ninjlao0]

I've never used those parts before. But I know what you talking about EBC makes them. I'm sure Ill try them out though. What I really want to know is has anyone tried the Autozone Karbonkevlar pads. Those have lifetime warranty as well, Dude if those are anything near half decent I'm gonna run that **** for life.

[driftzilla]

they're very decent! i work for autozone... haha. worth the money for a ceramic compound and lifetime warranty. only unfortunate is that they haven't come out with one (I'm assuming you're talking about the CMAX with the carbon/kevlar/nitrile shim??) for our corollas yet... I've actually called to tell them to make them. I just got the run-around. basically, "we're getting to it, alright??" :/

[ninjlao0]

so wait what do you mean..... They dont make them for the hatchi. And also does that mean we get autozone hookups. which one do you work at.

[driftzilla]

no, they are not available for the AE86 chassis. only semi-metallic regular Duralast pads. And I think im quite a far distance from most of you guys. haha, you'd waste more gas than I'd be able to save you money-wise.

[SgtRauksauff]

On my recent build (spring 2009), I did new brake and clutch master cylinders, and anew vacuum booster, and anew clutch slave cylinder. Rebuilt calipers all around, standard autozone rotors. Goodridge SS brake hoses, and ATE Super Blue brake fluid.

I used Hawk HP-plus pads.

For AutoX use, they are fine. For street use, they are wonderful.

For HPDE/track days, they're MOSTLY good, until about 15 minutes into a session. They get overheated, and the compound breaks down a bit. I think much of this is due to the small rotors: since they have such a small thermal mass, they do NOT dissipate heat very well, which just retains the heat until things get too hot and stay that way.

I put on some brake ducting, some 3" dryer vent from Home Depot, and took it to the next track day at Milwaukee Mile. With the vents working, I had no problems whatsoever with the Hawk pads.

I will be moving on to some Carbotech XP8's in back, and XP10's in front, soon.

Overall, the hawk HP-plus pad is a GREAT pad for the street, a GOOD pad for Autocross, and an Okay pad for High-Speed track days, WITH Appropriate Cooling!!!! (I've actually noticed this on other cars other than my AE86 as well.

--sarge

[driftzilla]

thanks for the input sarge. that's on standard blank rotors, correct?

update as far as my brake setup is concerned: I don't know if anyone else has had this problem, but my PBR pads broke on me. one of steel tabs just crumbled away when I took them apart to see what this clanking noise was when I was braking once in a while. :thumbdown:

moved on to regular semi-metallic Autozone pads for 20 bucks, lifetime warranty and they're performing surprisingly well. they're no performance pad. but they'll have a great initial hold until they heat up after a single run. give or take.