Buying new brake pads
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Almost pulled the trigger on those, but didn't want to buy new rotors right now. Just resurfaced mine since thickness was 33.5mm. Figured if I was going to get super aggressive Pads, new rotors were a must. I just went with stock ones by Brembo. Race season will be much shorter this year, probably try those R4-S next year.
Maybe I should also go with oem, i have 58xxx miles now and i doubt the previous owners replaced the rotors if the brakes need to now. They ones you went with were the ones in this thread?
After a few years I learned to stay with the factory pad. It's nice that they have all of these aftermarket pads, but I have no idea how they relate to what I am driving and no one could tell me anyway. I finally figured this out on my CTS V's. I now stick with the factory pad unless the factory pad cannot do the job. Sometimes it may be more expensive, but if they worked right, then stick with it. Dust is what car washes are for. The Brembo's on those V's went forever. My first V went 175,000 on the factory brakes without being changed. I totalled the car. My second V went 170,000 before the fronts gave way. I changed the rear at the same time. Why I don't know but that is just me.
I do not recommend Porterfield R4-S pads for track use. I tried them once and they only lasted 1.5 days at Laguna Seca and I was forced to do a change back to my old Ferodo pads in the paddock, causing me to miss a run session (I'm slow). In the photos, the R4-S pads are in the middle. I then tried Hawk HP+ (new pads at bottom of picture) which feel much like the OEM pads. You can see how thin the R4-S pads got in less than a weekend. My original Ferodo pads at the top of the photo lasted 7 1/2 track days and weren't as worn as the R4-S pads.
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I would stay with the factory pad or something at the same level like performance friction or Hawk. Please stay away from power stop. They do not manufacturer brake pads they simply buy pads from multiple Chinese brake pad manufacturers. Powerstop pads are entry level pads that shouldn't be considered on your atsv or any performance vehicle.
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TRW manufacturers quality brake pads for the aftermarket
I'm running Power Stop Z26s on my CTS-V, they're great for street driving - plenty of stopping power, low dust, and inexpensive. The past couple years I've also run the Power Stop Track Day pads on the CTS-V, front and rear. Again, I found they work great, comparable to the Hawks and Carbotechs I've run previously, and the price is absolutely unbeatable.
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Have you done a 150mph to 90mph semi hard brake? In my experience, they heated up quick & started to vibrate. Also don't like how soft they are when cold. Z26 do a great job 90% of the time & are low dust. I'm going back to stock, seem to have more bite especially when cold, but do have a ton of brake dust.....from the pads not rotor....LOL
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Good idea! Powerstop is an entry level daily driver brake pad/rotor. These pads are scary bad. The reason why the pads are so soft is because they use low end materials to keep the brake pad quiet. Your life is not worth saving a few bucks on cheap brake pads.
I said they're great on the street, so no, I haven't tried to do a semi hard brake from 150mph.
If that's what your street driving entails, then clearly a ceramic pad is not the right choice for you.By "soft" do you mean you think they don't feel as grippy when they're cold? If so, then no, I haven't noticed that. I find the grip to be pretty uniform - they don't get grippier as they warm up like semi-metallics tend to do.
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You mean ceramics.I said they're great on the street, so no, I haven't tried to do a semi hard brake from 150mph.
By "soft" do you mean you think they don't feel as grippy when they're cold? If so, then no, I haven't noticed that. I find the grip to be pretty uniform - they don't get grippier as they warm up like semi-metallics tend to do.
No, I meant semi-metallics. I was contrasting the temperature characteristics of the Z26s, which are ceramics, with semi-metallics. The latter tend to get grippier as they warm up (and also tend to have a higher useful temperature limit), but I've found the Z26s to be pretty consistent from the first stop when cold up through a little spirited driving on the back roads.
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The semi-metallic pads have a consistent feel regardless of temperature until they hit their temp threshold and begin to fade. This makes them more suitable for heavy vehicles and track use. Ceramics have a lower friction coefficient than metallics. But, they need to heat up to operating temps to to perform effectively. Ceramics are also harder on rotors as they do not retain heat well in extreme braking circumstances. The factory ATS V pads are semi-metallic. Why sacrifice the vehicles capabilities by choosing a brake pad that was not designed to be used for the braking system? I guess to each their own.
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116 Posts
Nicely put Blacksheep
These work great on the street. I've done some aggressive stops and never had any issues as long as you bed them in properly.
I think there needs to be a qualification on peoples comments about brake pads because driving on a track day is not the same, not even close, to street driving no matter how aggressive you drive daily. If you don't track this is not a concern.
Now I have to assume your aggressive braking from 150mph is on the track correct?
Everything has a trade off so for the benefit of little to no dust that corrodes and coats the wheels and side of the car with metallic brake dust you give up a little track worthy performance and durability. I'm quite fine with that and with over 5k miles on these pads I'm happy
I've heard they are excellent, but at the price point they should be.
I run the stock pads for the street. No point in running anything else for street driving. More aggressive pads will either need heat to work or increase rotor wear. You shouldn't be driving that hard on the street anyway. On the track, they are ok for beginner and intermediate speeds, but as you get faster, you'll start to feel the pads fade as they heat up, which is the tradeoff for good low-temp performance.
On the track, I've gone through a set of Performance Friction PFC-011's. They are freaking fantastic. They DO NOT FADE. The downside is that you will melt out your dust boots and discolor your caliper and heat check your rotor. They are also hard to find in our shape.
My current track set is Raybestos ST-43. Also very good for the track, slightly less aggressive. Wear has been good so far. I have a separate set of rotors for the track brakes so I don't have to mess with re-bedding pads when I swap back and forth.
On the track, I've gone through a set of Performance Friction PFC-011's. They are freaking fantastic. They DO NOT FADE. The downside is that you will melt out your dust boots and discolor your caliper and heat check your rotor. They are also hard to find in our shape.
My current track set is Raybestos ST-43. Also very good for the track, slightly less aggressive. Wear has been good so far. I have a separate set of rotors for the track brakes so I don't have to mess with re-bedding pads when I swap back and forth.
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This was a fun page to look thru. Do you use the OEM "brembo" rotors with these ST-43 pads as a Track Set? Seems like a great way to go... as with many auto-applications, you can't have Awesome Track & Awesome Street with just 1 setup.
Raybestos Racing Performance: Technical Specs
Raybestos offers eight different Racing friction formulations. Discover how each one performs and choose the brake pad that's ideal for your racing type.
The OEM brake pads are available for $280 per set. That is ridiculously high. Unfortunately gmpartsdirect has them on back order without any price listed. Autozone has metallic ones for $45. Is there much of a difference between after market pads and OEM pads? Apparently the pads on our cars are used on many different GM vehicles and are not ATS V specific. Has anyone used different pads and what is your experience with them?
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