Let's talk about brake pads & fluid

[goofygrin]

I've come to realize that while the pads on the Miata have pad left, they suck. I don't know what they are, but they are not "confidence inspiring" when braking. I also need to flush the fluid. I'll likely just get NAPA blank rotors.

What do you guys recommend? I prefer a bit more "bite" for around town/autox (and a bit less bite at the track honestly).

[Jiggerachi]

Only thing I can reccommend is don't get the rear value pads from the dealer. They are not the same as OEM and they suck. The OEM pads I have on the front are good for what I need them for, much better than the noname pads they replaced, but I haven't tracked the car yet. NAPA rotors are good stuff too for TCBs.

[sammm]

A lot of us have been using Valvoline Synthetic brake fluid and OEM pads for years now. No issues for AX use, can't speak to track use.

[trickyrix]

I'm perfectly happy with the Valvoline Synthetic fluid and Hawk HP+ pads. They squeak some around town, but they've got a nice bite and feel sooooo much better than OEM. And they're not too "bitey" at the track.

[sxk122]

i too am running the napa blanks. as for pads, i have the wagner thermoquiets which i love for street driving. not sure how well they work on the track tho.

[jeff_man]

stanless lines, the cheapest napa rotors and motul (or other high temp fluid) are a must. for the street i like hp+ but they are loud unless you embed ever other month or so. the new hawk Performance Ceramic i like but leave blow dust but are quieter then the hp+ and hps. for track hawk dct 60/30

[cone-cerned]

I'm happy with my set up. NAPA rotors, Valvoline Synthetic fluid, Hawk HP+ pads in the rear and Hawk Ceramic pads in the front. It works great for AutoX and I have had no problems at the track days I have done. I have just changed to the Valvoline fluid, I did use Ford Heavy Duty. I like the Ford, but the Valvoline is less expensive and easier to find.

[Electro]

The DTC 60 or 30's have had issues from several people using on the track. Fade has been the biggest concern, and pad life is very short compared to HP anythings.
+1 for HP+ and NAPA blanks for track and street.

[Darron65]

+1 for HP+ and NAPA blanks for track and street.

Did I overspend? I used Brembo blanks from the Tire Rack. Too late now I guess. Anyway I used HPS fronts and HP+ rears. I would never say they are loud; every once in a while I hear a tiny little squeak out of them. HP+ pads certainly make a little dust but that's an acceptable compromise. Only been to one track day with this setup but they held up fine. I am very happy with this setup; there's 1 opportunity for extreme braking on the way to work and 1 on the way home and I usually take them both.

[aalvarez04]

I use hawk hp+ pads all around. Has been great at multiple autocross events and i like the squeak around town for some reason. lol.

[nealb]

Did I overspend? I used Brembo blanks from the Tire Rack. Too late now I guess. Anyway I used HPS fronts and HP+ rears. I would never say they are loud; every once in a while I hear a tiny little squeak out of them. HP+ pads certainly make a little dust but that's an acceptable compromise. Only been to one track day with this setup but they held up fine. I am very happy with this setup; there's 1 opportunity for extreme braking on the way to work and 1 on the way home and I usually take them both.

I too stopped using NAPA rotors when they went from being made in Canada to China, and now I get the Brembo from TR. For street, the Hawk HP+ is pretty good, but not enough for track. I have tried a lot of track pads, and really like the Performance Friction 97 compounds over Hawk and CarboTech.

The only dual purpose pads I've found (used on Z06) that really worked were Ferodo DS2500. Enough on the track for the Z06 and entirely streetable.

Some say EBCs are good dual purpose pads, but I've never tried them.

[sxk122]

I too stopped using NAPA rotors when they went from being made in Canada to China,

when was that? If i remember correctly, my rotors (bought in summer of 2008 ) were stamped italy, which surprised me a bit... i was expecting canada or china.....

[SirHustlerEsq]

The DTC 60 or 30's have had issues from several people using on the track. Fade has been the biggest concern, and pad life is very short compared to HP anythings.
+1 for HP+ and NAPA blanks for track and street.

I blew-up my 30's in about 90-minutes. I ran the 60's last weekend and I'm passionately in love with them with only 2mm wear at Hallett with 2-hours of seat time. I still ran the Carbotech XP12 in the rear and overheated the pad...again with 480* caliper temps, 370* front temps. I'm now using DTC-60 all the way around at the track. I would not use them on the street...but I'm tempted to try it out rather than buy more pads all the damn time.

I'm also now using the stock-replacement Racing Brake rotors and happy with those too. After 2-hours they have no heat-checks/cracks and they're straight with very little wear and very smooth to the touch...this is a new concept for me.

[miata_racer]

FWIW I have used EBC Yellowstuff on the 1.6 miata, the SSC Jetta (3350lb car) and the B Stock Boxster S. All 3 on track had no fade and good stopping power.

HOWEVER...I prefer the DTC-60 over the yellow and the Carbotech XP12/10 combo over the DTC60 :)

[Darron65]

I've noticed the guys who overheat good street pads (HP+) on track days, are the same guys running RA-1 or similar track tires. Go figure, street tires go with street pads and better tires go with better pads. Don't know why I didn't think of that before. These occasional moments of clarity frighten me.

[goofygrin]

FWIW I have used EBC Yellowstuff on the 1.6 miata, the SSC Jetta (3350lb car) and the B Stock Boxster S. All 3 on track had no fade and good stopping power.

HOWEVER...I prefer the DTC-60 over the yellow and the Carbotech XP12/10 combo over the DTC60 :)

I got a free set of EBC Yellowstuff's for the Evo and I wasn't super pleased with them (compared to the DTC-30's). There's no way I would have taken them to the track.

I'm still torn as to what to do.

[cwisenheimer]

Here's a pretty good general discussion of pads (courtesy of FM). Not a recommendation/warning about any particular pad but a discussion of how to chose: http://www.essexparts.com/learning-c...ose-brake-pads

Btw, things may well have changed but I had some EBC Greenstuff pads years ago and felt they would have been better named Brownstuff. They were horrible (they made uneven deposits on the rotors so it felt like they were warped, did it more than once) and I wrote off EBC in general right then.