Brake Pad Question

[2011KonaBlue]

What kind of milage are most of you getting on your initial set of front brake pads, Brembo equipped car? My car is just a hair over 20,000 now, and I have started hearing some squeal I believe from the wear indicators. I pulled off the wheels and inspected, seems to be ok for now, but getting pretty thin for just 20,000 miles. What are some recommendations for a good set of pads that want break the bank, but still perform pretty well for a daily driver, no track use?

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[Ballistica]

I pulled mine off and went with GLOC GS1’s. Mostly because of the dust but also because I used them for a few track days and was getting on towards 18k miles. 20k on OEM pads seems a bit low to me with no track days.

 

[Need4SpeedMotors]

What kind of milage are most of you getting on your initial set of front brake pads, Brembo equipped car? My car is just a hair over 20,000 now, and I have started hearing some squeal I believe from the wear indicators. I pulled off the wheels and inspected, seems to be ok for now, but getting pretty thin for just 20,000 miles. What are some recommendations for a good set of pads that want break the bank, but still perform pretty well for a daily driver, no track use?

Hey this is Junior from Need4speed Motorsports. On my personal car the factory brake pads that came with the brembos would give off a lot of brake dust it was bad. I swapped them over to the Powerstop Z26 Carbon Ceramic Pads along with their drilled and slotted rotors, performance feels great and they don't dust as much. Would highly recommend that brand or R1 Concepts too. I currently have the R1 concepts rotors on the car. That is what is shown in the picture.

 

[NightmareMoon]

How many millimeters of pad left? Stock Brembo pads can squeak sometimes, not necessarily because they're at the indicators.

I think I went to GS1 pads at 26k miles, but that was with autox and a few track days, and I'm not sure they were entirely worn out yet.

 

[2011KonaBlue]

To be fair, I haven't committed to taking them completely out yet to measure, just a visual. They could still have a decent amount of time left, although, they do look to be quite a bit worn compared to new. I will just have to pull the wheels again and actually remove a side and measure. I will definitely check out the Z26 pads though, thanks. Who makes the GS1 pads by the way?

 

[NTXChris]

2019 PP1 here, and I may be an outlier, but I just recently changed my front pads at 68,000 miles. I bought the car with 10,500, and am pretty sure the OE pads were on it then. I was just down to the wear tabs on the pads - exhibiting a faint squeal when stopping. I think they were around 2-3mm when I finally replaced them.

Before the replacement, I'd get the occasional squeal when stopping, but it was never from the wear tabs. A good couple of hard stops to get some heat into pads and rotors would get rid of the noise for weeks, if not months at a time.

I'm not hard on the brakes (as evidenced by the life of them), I downshift to engine brake quite a bit, and my 60 mile round trip to and from work is mostly highway.

Definitely check the pad thickness, but if there's any meat on them you most likely just need to re-bed the pads.

I have the Z26 pads front and rear, and really like their performance. Only slightly less grabby than the stock pads, but in my use, they feel much more progressive. Pedal pressure is more proportionate to the amount of deceleration compared to the stock pads. The lack of dust is a very happy side effect.

 

[NightmareMoon]

To be fair, I haven't committed to taking them completely out yet to measure, just a visual. They could still have a decent amount of time left, although, they do look to be quite a bit worn compared to new. I will just have to pull the wheels again and actually remove a side and measure. I will definitely check out the Z26 pads though, thanks. Who makes the GS1 pads by the way?

GLOC makes the GS1. They're decent street pads. Dust less than stock and good feel. They should not be used on track.. They don't tolerate heat as well as the stock pads FWIW. GLOC makes other pads for track.

 

[derklink]

I pulled mine off and went with GLOC GS1’s. Mostly because of the dust but also because I used them for a few track days and was getting on towards 18k miles. 20k on OEM pads seems a bit low to me with no track days.

How are they holding up on the track?

 

[Ballistica]

How are they holding up on the track?

The GS1’s are not meant for track use, I only use these while street driving. For the track next year, I’ll buy a set of GLOC R10/R12’s. The track pads are noisy but hold up much better. The GS1’s have been great for daily driving. No noise, very little dust, good bite and stopping. They were highly recommended in the research I did and I haven’t been disappointed.

 

[derklink]

The GS1’s are not meant for track use, I only use these while street driving. For the track next year, I’ll buy a set of GLOC R10/R12’s. The track pads are noisy but hold up much better. The GS1’s have been great for daily driving. No noise, very little dust, good bite and stopping. They were highly recommended in the research I did and I haven’t been disappointed.

Thanks. I thought you had tested out the GS1’s on the track. I have them for street use, as well, and I really like them.

 

[Farkel]

For street only, no track, the Powerstop Z23s are excellent. No dust, very linear progressive pedal feel, with less initial grabbiness than the stock PP1 pads.

 

[Bluemustang]

For whatever reason, I had noise issues with the GS-1 no matter what I did. At low speed they would chirp (off the gas pedal). I tried backing plates, no backing plates, installing 3-4x, break-in several times. Eventually I took them off the car. This was on Base GT 4-piston calipers before I upgraded to the 6-pistons. I liked the braking ability on the street. But, one time I was really pushing the car on back roads and I overwhelmed them. I could smell the brakes burning. And no I didn't ride the brake. Next day pulled the pads off and they were glazed over. Definitely DO NOT use them on the track. They will get smoked.

I honestly prefer the PP brake pads - cost, dust and all. I'm actually using Raybestos street performance kit now. Slotted rotors and brake pads. Pads have a temp threshold of 1200 deg F. So, similar to PP or GLOC R8. I could probably use them for autocross too.

 

[GTP]

You can see the front pad center groove without removing the wheel. The pad under the groove is 3mm which is probably the about the same distance from the rotor as the end of the scratcher.

The rear pad scratcher is at the inboard side of the rotor and not possible to view.

 

[NightmareMoon]

Thanks. I thought you had tested out the GS1’s on the track. I have them for street use, as well, and I really like them.

They glaze really fast on the track. GLOC doesn't recommend them for track use and neither do I. Stock pads hold up better if you're kind of new to track days and own a mainly street car, stick with the OEM pads.

GLOC makes a ton of pads for track use, and the compounds are compatible with the GS1, so all you need to do is swap pads (no resurfacing required), which takes <15 minutes. That's the way to do it.

Pads are also wear items, so owning a set of street pads and a set of track pads is really just a bit of upfront cost stocking up on two sets of pads initially.

 

[gtAV]

They glaze really fast on the track. GLOC doesn't recommend them for track use and neither do I. Stock pads hold up better if you're kind of new to track days and own a mainly street car, stick with the OEM pads.

GLOC makes a ton of pads for track use, and the compounds are compatible with the GS1, so all you need to do is swap pads (no resurfacing required), which takes <15 minutes. That's the way to do it.

Pads are also wear items, so owning a set of street pads and a set of track pads is really just a bit of upfront cost stocking up on two sets of pads initially.

How would you compare the feel of the stock PP1 pads and the GLOC GS1s? I quite like the strong initial bite of the PP1 pads and was wondering how different the GS1s are in that regard. I'm pretty gentle on brakes and mainly do street driving so in the end I might trade that bite for less dust.

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