Brake pads and fluid?

-Ad- · 15 Jul 2013 at 14:30

TaKeN said:
Skeeter and Muffin on here run CL Pads (Carbon Lorraine) RC5+, they like them, and they'll be going on my car soon!

As for fluid, Motul RBF600 gets good reviews, OR if you can afford it.. then buy some Castrol SRF. It's the best fluid going, Excellent Dry&Wet boiling points!

Ran RC5+ pads for 2 years and they are still hardly used. They have eaten away my plain Bembo discs though, but over 2years and £50 for a pair, that really is a moot point.

Forget wasting money on RBF600, pickup ATE Super Racing Blue. Excellent Dry/Wet boiling temps and much cheaper than the above. You can also buy it in blue/orange, so when changing your fluid you can alternate colours to be sure the system has been fully purged of the old stuff.

Clarkey said:
ATe Super blue for me, cheap and really good.

CL are good but they are a proper metal sintered pad hence they kill your discs, make a lot of noise and shower the sides of the car in metallic brake dust. Most drivers don't want that stuff for their road cars.

They might be noiser than other pads, but they stop like kings and make you sound like RACE CAR

The shower of brake dust over the car comment is also not true. The dust gets all over your wheels, but really doesn't pose problems with your precious paint. I hardly wash my car compared to others and even after 2 years my soft Honda paint is still fine!

RC5+ for me.

acemastr · 15 Jul 2013 at 14:36

I always thought the e46 330ci was woefully underbraked, single piston etc, I certainly wouldn't choose to put my brakes on a performance roadster

ScottiB · 15 Jul 2013 at 14:45

peterattheboro said:
Can you get Ferodo DS2500 for the Z4?

If so then they are epic pads.

I just got DS2500's for my 130i, pretty sure I saw them listed for Z4 too. Fantastic pads, not bad when cold but great when warm and unlike many "performance" pads that I've had before, plenty of feel and control. Ten times better than the BMW OEM that they replaced.

I've had EBC before & was disappointed.

rossk26 · 15 Jul 2013 at 15:02

paradigm said:
Surely that depends on how you drive it? When my LCR was "relegated" to being my weekend toy/throwaway vehicle, I only drove it in anger. Having the ability to stop me repeatedly over the course of a spirited drive required the installation of "performance" pads.

I found red-stuffs to be "ok", nothing more, nothing less. Yellows were better, but I couldn't deal with the mess they made, it was a LOT of dust, and mine squealed a lot too.

I found Pagid RS4-2-2s to be the best all round for my Leon, but obviously your usage may vary.

rG-tom said:
surely it depends a) how crap the brakes to begin with and b) how hard you drive the car.

325mm still isn't huge, its not like im fitting 6 pot AP racings here. The stock pads fade within a few miles on a very twisty downhil run that i regularly, and the only car ive had that they havn't faded on was when i had m1144s on my modified mondeo v6 (and even then after 6-7 runs they were starting to go).

this car is a LOT faster than that, and i will be tracking too. Can anyone find somewhere that stocks bluestuffs in my fitment?

I will look at those pagid 4-2-2 now para

Seriously?

There is only so far you can push your cars on public roads before you are getting dangerous to be honest. Even on a country road you can't push the car so hard that OEM brakes are insufficient? I've been on spirited drives before which have lasted >1hour and never thought I needed better pads.

This is only my opinion however, but I seriously think if you are pushing your car so hard on public roads, you probably need to address your driving style and determine if it is safe for public roads.

rG-tom · 15 Jul 2013 at 15:06

acemastr said:
I always thought the e46 330ci was woefully underbraked, single piston etc, I certainly wouldn't choose to put my brakes on a performance roadster

Well they're better than what it has stock

it also weighs about 200kg less so every little helps.

Next step after this is over a grand, I'm only doing it as it will only cost a ton over replacing stock discs and pads.

rG-tom · 15 Jul 2013 at 15:19

rossk26 said:
Seriously?

There is only so far you can push your cars on public roads before you are getting dangerous to be honest. Even on a country road you can't push the car so hard that OEM brakes are insufficient? I've been on spirited drives before which have lasted >1hour and never thought I needed better pads.

This is only my opinion however, but I seriously think if you are pushing your car so hard on public roads, you probably need to address your driving style and determine if it is safe for public roads.

surely the fact you ARE braking hard shows that you're not pushing that hard through the corners, which is where you're more likely to have a problem, shows that you're not being too reckless?

the fact that almost all people find the brakes on stock BMWs to be useless for any kind of spirited driving shows that its worth spending a little more on decent things....why do alfa/renault/seat put 4 pot brembos on cars that mainly never see the track if they're not needed?

Howard · 15 Jul 2013 at 15:23

rossk26 said:
Even on a country road you can't push the car so hard that OEM brakes are insufficient?

I managed to, quite easily, with the MX5 - had a very warm smell and lacking in stopping power after a particularly spirited attack of some local bends, and to a certain extent the old Pagid pads on my Mondeo.

Fixed that (in the MX5's case) by fitting larger 1.8 brake disks, appropriate Yellowstuff calipers, braided hoses and fresh fluid.

Fixed with the Mondeo by fitting Ford OEM pads..

If I constantly hooned it or took it on track I'd upgrade its brakes further but I don't really need to at the moment.

ScottiB · 15 Jul 2013 at 15:50

rossk26 said:
Even on a country road you can't push the car so hard that OEM brakes are insufficient?

I've found that it's actually quite easy if you have a car that allows it. A Z4 will easily push the brakes to their limit and past it.

On one occasion I was at the top of a valley in Cornwall on my way down a steep, single track road when my brake fade became quite extreme. I was lucky that there was nothing coming in the opposite direction and I managed to get to the bottom using a low gear, where there just happened to be an empty pub car park for me to roll into. A couple of drinks later and I was away again. This was with EBC pads and disks.

A decent "driving" road will have plenty of curves which require braking. I've had to deal with fade in my Civic (both OEM and EBC Uprated) and my 130i (OEM) which is why I spent the money on new disks, Ferodo DS2500, RBF600 and lines. The difference is very noticeable.

rossk26 · 15 Jul 2013 at 16:00

Fair enough then, you must have longer emptier country roads where you's live. Up here they are littered with tractors, cyclists, potholes, slow moving vehicles (car+bikes), blind junctions etc. Not many roads where I'm happy to fully open the ST to a point where the brakes will begin to fade...

-Ad- · 15 Jul 2013 at 16:09

rossk26 said:
Fair enough then, you must have longer emptier country roads where you's live. Up here they are littered with tractors, cyclists, potholes, slow moving vehicles (car+bikes), blind junctions etc. Not many roads where I'm happy to fully open the ST to a point where the brakes will begin to fade...

Come up to the real north you southern sassenach

Try the descent to Applecross then hit the coast road North with OEM brakes and see how far you get

Phil W · 15 Jul 2013 at 16:12

My friend had Yellowstuff pads on his Mini Cooper S works and it stops very well indeed.

pepsilol · 15 Jul 2013 at 16:30

Honestly, how can EBC be in a thread where someone needs good brake pads.

Housey · 15 Jul 2013 at 16:39

Howard said:
I had Yellowstuff pads on the MX5 and whilst I never took it on track, they were fantastic for road use. They bit well when cold and were pretty damn ferocious when warmed up.

I am running those on my wifes and I agree with all you said, but they do create a lot of brake dust which reds and the OEM's don't. I also don't think they are that much better than the OEM pads which were always very good I felt.

rG-tom · 15 Jul 2013 at 16:44

rossk26 said:
Fair enough then, you must have longer emptier country roads where you's live. Up here they are littered with tractors, cyclists, potholes, slow moving vehicles (car+bikes), blind junctions etc. Not many roads where I'm happy to fully open the ST to a point where the brakes will begin to fade...

the road we have the MM on has a downhill run that is about 6 miles with no ajoining roads, never seen a tractor on it, cyclists are very rare and has a lot of overtaking points, mixed in with a fairly steep descent and tight corners joined by decent straights it's not easy on brakes!

Can get an idea of the height there and you end up at the bottom

Matt82 · 15 Jul 2013 at 16:47

is that near the cat and fiddle??

rG-tom · 15 Jul 2013 at 16:59

nope!

http://goo.gl/maps/fv7ng

there

ScottiB · 15 Jul 2013 at 17:03

rossk26 said:
Fair enough then, you must have longer emptier country roads where you's live. Up here they are littered with tractors, cyclists, potholes, slow moving vehicles (car+bikes), blind junctions etc. Not many roads where I'm happy to fully open the ST to a point where the brakes will begin to fade...

The advantage of living on the edge of the Peak District

Firestar_3x · 15 Jul 2013 at 17:04

Matt82 said:
is that near the cat and fiddle??

Similar feel to the C&F but less chance of getting air.

rG-tom · 15 Jul 2013 at 17:10

Firestar_3x said:
Similar feel to the C&F but less chance of getting air.

Lol there is one part that is almost guaranteed that you will get air near the damn... Shows how long it's been since you've driven it

Howard · 15 Jul 2013 at 17:10

Housey said:
I am running those on my wifes and I agree with all you said, but they do create a lot of brake dust which reds and the OEM's don't. I also don't think they are that much better than the OEM pads which were always very good I felt.

See I had white wheels on mine and I didn't notice an excess amount of dust, I must admit!

Brake pads and fluid?

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