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Old 09-20-2011, 09:44 PM   #1 (permalink)
wstar
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Default Brake Pad Advice?

I've been reading up here and everywhere, but still a bit confused on my choices. So for reference the basics of the scenario is:

The car is a DD (although I don't have a commute, so I can go a bit extreme on what "DD" means), it's on street tires (currently Conti DW, but lets say at the outer limit I might switch to Pilot SS or similar grade of street tire) which I plan to also use at the track, stock calipers, SS brake lines, Motul fluid, and I'm only using one shared set of brake rotors. The rotors are a bit upgraded from stock (they're Relentless 2-piece, better cooling vanes, slotted, thicker than stock in the rear). The rotors are brand new, and I have a set of HPS pads (what I've been using on the street) that I could bed in on them for right now on the street.

My driving skill level is still definitely in the novice category, but hopefully will improve soon. I have an instructor-led 2-day HPDE type thing coming up in about 6 weeks, on a 2.38-mile road course (MSR Houston). I plan to run on this and Texas World Speedway mostly, and in the long term we're probably talking once a month to once every 2 months.

So, I'm looking for one of two things: either one set of compromise pads that are streetable without a huge noise level, won't tear up the rotors, but will survive 20-30 minute track sessions on this street tire setup through several days of HPDE. I haven't yet seen one pad that looks like it can really do dual-duty like that though.

The other option is to decide on two sets of pads, one for DD and one for road course use, but again they need to be compatible for easy re-bedding switching on the same set of rotors, and preferably the race ones aren't too aggressive (seeing as again, I'm on street tires, I'm not an expert, and I'm not a fan of quickly destroying rotors either).

I guess at the upper end of cost, it looks like I could do say Carbotech XP10 + XP8 for track only, and swap back to another set of lighter Carbotech (AX6 or the street pad), since they say the CT pads aren't compatible with non-CT pads on the same rotors for swapping. Looks pricey considering the CT street pads too, and I don't know if I need that level yet.

Another option would be to try something like EBC Blue+Yellow, or all Yellow, (or similar, like Fedoro DS2500?), and again switch to something else for the street (but hopefully it's compatible with something cheap like my current HPS's)? Or are the Yellowstuff all they're cracked up to be and can be used dual-purpose on all 4 as a single-pad solution?

Thoughts?
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Last edited by wstar; 09-20-2011 at 09:54 PM.
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