EBC yellow stuff opinions

[Gmi]

Just want people's opinion on Ebc yellow stuff pads. The price seems very reasonable from mx5parts uk.

The consistency, track and daily use opinions.

On another note. Where do nsw people get their rotors? I have DBA 4000 slotted rotors in mind. Since they are from Australia.. Would imagine local distributors would be cheaper than importing? * I searched in google on reviews and some have said they crack? Is that true for our cases? * these people are mainly from skyline and supra forums.

Cheers!! Any input would be appreciated.

[Steampunk]

I've never used EBC, but know a few people on here who have/are used/using Green & RedStuff as well as the Kevlar (black ones) and they really like them.
Before deciding on Hawk HPS years ago, I did a lot of googling and found EBC pads to have the most varied opinions, mostly favourable, and I found the only plausible explanation for the love/hate relationship is that EBC tended to experiment with slight changes in compound through the years.

There was a couple of guys over in the UK on some sort of Cosworth forum whom have been loyal to EBC for decades, changing pads often on their road/rally cars, and the times when they found the pads to be sub-par coincided with other peoples' low opinion on them and vice-versa.

If YellowStuff was around when I bought the Hawk HPS, I would have gone YellowStuff, and it's the next set for my other car.

[Lokiel]

http://www.mx5parts.co.uk sell these pads for track work so that should tell you something.

As quoted from the above site:

When considering full race use, Yellowstuff has been a strong favourite, having been used for two years in the Swedish Camaro Cup and at numerous other race events where a stock caliper system is fitted.It is also the choice of 90% of the Mazda MX5 Miata competitors in the UK race series and has an unblemished record as rotor friendly track pad for vehicles up to 2000 lbs weight or 200 BHP.

Much of the negative opinion about EBC pads comes from earlier generations of the pads, as 1red5 pointed out. I have a set of Yellowstuff pads ready for when I get to the track (yes, I WILL get there next year!).

Currently I'm driving around with EBC RedStuff pads.

[deviant]

The cracking rotors you read about will be the cross drilled rotors which are not reccomended for anything more than normal road use. Cross drilled rotors are never suitable for track use.

Order slotted ones and you will be fine. I just ordered a front pair through GSL Rallysport for a good price.

[project.r.racing]

EBC dont like high abient temps. Somerhing Uk and Sweden dont need to worry about.

[Gmi]

Thanks guys! Will probably give it a go. And see how they perform in Aussie heat

[kris]

Hi GMI,
I've been researching and asking these questions during the last few weeks. Advice i have been given is:

1. The stock braking system is very good as is. OEM pads are very good but expensive. Car stops like 6 figure exotics. keep this in mind.
2. When and only when pads wear out: go Hawk HPS for fronts for daily. swap these out for EBC yellowstuff for track days.
3. ebc red stuff for rears daily and track.
4. no noticeable improvement by using slotted or vented discs if anything they can be more likely to fracture.
This is what i'm going to try running and see how it goes.

Cheers

[Gmi]

Kris!!!!

Cheers for the info. I agree stock pads have great breaking power!! But as you would know, on the track they fade after 3 sessions and 5th and 6th sessions u start to loose confidence. Well for me that was the case.. ):

Carbon demon ran front and rear yellow stuff. He said no fade for those odd track days!! And so cheap for them!!! I think I'll give it a go!! Give u an update when I do track them next!!!

[Charlie Brown]

EBC dont like high abient temps. Somerhing Uk and Sweden dont need to worry about.

Where did that come from? 20 degrees C difference in ambient temp won't have any effect at 600 degrees plus brakes get to.

Kris has listed what I run. Yellows on the track for the front. They're too dusty to run on the road and too abrasive if you like too keep your rotors for a year or two.
Drop back to Reds or Hawk HPS for the road. Don't use these on the track as they are not designed for it.

[Gmi]

EBC dont like high abient temps. Somerhing Uk and Sweden dont need to worry about.

Where did that come from? 20 degrees C difference in ambient temp won't have any effect at 600 degrees plus brakes get to.

Kris has listed what I run. Yellows on the track for the front. They're too dusty to run on the road and too abrasive if you like too keep your rotors for a year or two.
Drop back to Reds or Hawk HPS for the road. Don't use these on the track as they are not designed for it.

Ohh..!!! Cool cool!!! I still have 50% on my stock pads, I'll put them on for the road!! Maybe that's why Coffeeboss has gone through so many rotors!! Carobtech xp8s would be even more abrasive I presume..

[Sailor]

Agree with CB although I used the stock pads for my first trackdays without any fade.
I wouldn't bother changing them out if they have decent meat left for the first few trackdays.
After that they'll be ready to change anyway.
Slotted DBA are my choice and they do actually stop better than the solid rotors...I put mine on when the stock rotors needed a skim for new pads.

Oh and just quietly, I left my yellows on after the last trackday and they are perfectly suitable for daily use requiring no warm up.
They just dust like all hell and I haven't looked at rotor wear as yet.
If you like nice shiny wheels DON'T run them.
I'm considering moving back to OEM pads for daily use but importing them at a lower cost than they are available here.
There is some talk that the locally available OEM is not the same and not as good as those available overseas.

[Charlie Brown]

A few things I forgot to add last night about what I’ve found with the Yellows.

You can use them on the road unlike Hawk Blues as they do not require to be warmed up to actually work for that first stop.

They are very good at the track. For example, you dive into the braking area at Turn 10 Wakefield, hit the brakes about the 80 metre mark and slow the car as expected, then half way through the braking distance they bite in HARD leaving you thinking that you could have started your braking a few metres later. (**** see below note)

As I said above, they dust a lot. This then translates into fast wearing. My last set did 2,000 kilometres on the road and three track days before they were gone. The set before lasted a lot longer but if you jump on them like I do at the track they’re not going to last long.

NOTE: ****A very important point I didn’t mention is to remember is that I use R-Spec tyres that increases your braking ability and therefore higher pad temperature. If you are running street tyres with these pads your wear rate will not be as high.*****

You must bed them in properly before you head to the track, otherwise on that second and third hard application at Wakefield you will find there’s not much slowing you down. They will feel fine on the road but you don’t get those big high temperatures generated at the track on the road.
The Yellows come with a bedding material on the face that prepares the rotor. It will grind away some of the blemishes on the rotor to give a smoother surface.
Drive around for a couple of weeks bedding them in at normal suburban speeds, then head for a freeway or quite country road.
Take it up to the 110 speed limit and making sure no one is near by, jump on them HARD and drop your speed to 30kph. Accelerate back to 110kph and do this another three times and then drive home normally and let the brakes cool. After they are cool go through the process a second time, then on the way to Wakefield do it again. Now when you get to the track you shouldn’t experience fade.

[manga_blue]

You might be overdoing the bedding, Phil. With Hawk HP+ I've found that only 4 or 5 hard pulls from 50 down to 5 is enough to bed them and get a good boundary layer.

As far as rotors go, slotted ones stop faster and drilled ones crack. I've just changed from slotted DBA 4000s at the front to slotted RDAs and I'm not noticing any difference in performance. Interesting what happened to the DBAs. They were on their 5th set of pads from the same box. As they got close to their wear limit I started getting lots of overheating problems. I think it comes from there no longer being enough metal to dissipate the heat.
I've run slotted unbranded cheapies at the back for years and they work fine there.

[Lokiel]

I bought the RedStuff pads specifically because of their low-dust formula - when you have Ni 6ULs, you want to keep them as clean as possible.

I'm considering leaving the RedStuff rear pads for track duty and just swapping my front pads with YellowStuff pads since the front Wilwood brake kit makes it so easy to change pads (remove cotter pin, slide out old pads, slide in new pads, re-insert cotter pin). Since the front pads do most of the work and the RedStuff pads can handle some track work, is this crazy? (or am I just being lazy?)

[Charlie Brown]

You might be overdoing the bedding, Phil. With Hawk HP+ I've found that only 4 or 5 hard pulls from 50 down to 5 is enough to bed them and get a good boundary layer.

Not with the Yellows. I've been through three sets.
The first set I did a series of four 100 to 20 - 30kph pulls plus a couple of weeks daily driving. At Wakefield T1, first flying lap, ooops no brakes.
The second set I doubled the wear in period and the 100 to 20 pulls. T10 second lap of first session, no brakes again. On both occasions after the firsat session the brakes worked fine.
Third set, bedded as per second set plus added some heavy stuff on the way down to Wakefield and this resulted in no fade at the track during the first session.


Lokiel, Red Stuff is fine for the rears but I found the material ripped off the backing plates when used on the front. Swapping pads is easy on the NC also. When I pull off the wheels for track day it’s just two bolts to remove the calliper and slip in the new pads, check the slider pins and do it back up.