Performance Brake Pads - Bendix Inquiry

[CeramicND]

So been looking at performance brake pad options and it appears most MX5's I have seen with upgraded pads are using Hawks or Carbotechs. I emailed Bendix about their Street/Road/Track pads for an ND specifically and their response was "No plans at the moment, it will depend on demand". So I am interested to see if any NA, NB, NC or ND owners would consider Bendix Street/Road/Track pads if they were available. Please register you interest here if interested.

[NitroDann]

They dont make any compounds that dont suck anyway so...

[aladdin96]

I bought the Bendix Heavyduty pads couple weeks ago for my NA. Im really impressed with them. They were great especially when I pushed them on Mountain runs.

[hks_kansei]

Bendix General CT are crap, don't waste your time.

The bendix ultimatea are supposed to be a quite nice pad for fast-road
But for the price there are better out tthere.

[manga_blue]

I wondered who supposed the Bendix Ultimates were OK. I had them on a couple of cars. Big mistake. Incredibly dusty, with 99% of the dust being iron stripped from your rotors by these very abrasive pads. Also prone to fade and overheating, with the pad material itself crumbling alarmingly when overheated. Carbotech, Hawk and QFM (and probably many others) make far superior performance road pads.

[hks_kansei]

A friend of mine had them on his na6 and said they were ok.

But he doesn't really do track days etc.



For my money I'd go the qfm, and I was all set to do so.... Until I found out they no longer do the hpx in na8/nb8a fitment.
And the shop wasn't able to get me any TRW pads in a timely manner either



Which is how I ended up with the godawful bendix General CT. (At least they're not just a backing plate grinding into my rotors like my last ones)

[hks_kansei]

Incredibly dusty, with 99% of the dust being iron stripped from your rotors by these very abrasive pads..

Oddly on an mx5 I'd prefer pads that are harder on rotors, since rotors are cheaper to replace than the pads are.

[manga_blue]

I suppose it depends on the rotors. $25 cheapies are one thing but I ripped the Bendixes out when I saw how they were chewing out high spec DBAs at $400 per set for my tow car. It didn't help much that they couldn't get me down Clyde Mountain safely either. QFM HPX were ten times the performance at lower price. It's possible that QFM would make up a set if you asked them directly, otherwise as you said TRW are a good value capable street pad.

[Magpie]

A1RM's or Winmax W3's for light track duty/daily use. However cost wise the A1RM's.

Winmax W5's for track or w6.5's however these are not 'cheap' options. On T3 rotors (front) you will use 6 sets of w5's and 4 sets of w6.5's.

Forgot to add NO to the OP's question.

[Guran]

Hawk are already doing HP+ for the ND. Don't waste your time with Bendix. Just buy HP+ on ebay from the states (or HPS if it's only for street).

[Roadrunner]

From personal experience Carbotech XP10 on plain face rotors are brilliant for the track. (But squeal like mad on the street)
For a cheaper option Hawk HP+ did a very good dual purpose job for street and track for me (but dust like crazy.)
If your just getting into track stuff, my vote is HP+

[Luke]

If you value the paint on your wheels stay away from Bendix Heavy Duty or greater pads and Hawk HPS and greater pads as well. I'm sure you will want to keep your fluorescent green looking good.
They both are carbon metallic pads with lots of iron so create hot metal fragments from your rotors and really corrosive dust. Get a little water on them and it just bonds to the paint work.
I have not tried SRT pads and never will as they are a rip off and they have limited applications.
Hawk HP+ and up do work well, but have high wear and high dust.

I have to say I am hooked on Carbotech.
Carbotech don't produce much Iron in their dust as they are a Carbon/Kevlar composite and are gentle on the rotors so you don't get any corrosion on your wheels once they get wet.
On the standard NC I am just getting away with AX6 on the front and 1521 on the rear. I had Hawk HPS before the AX6 and the AX6 kills it on Road and Track.

On the SE I am using XP12 up front and XP10 in the rear. I get about 12 days out of the front pads where as Hawk Blues I was only getting 6.
Slotted rotors are another issue with their pads. I had nothing but trouble with XP10 and DBA 4000 T3's. Others have had success. I just stick to plain rotors as they are cheaper and they work well with the pads.

[RS2000]

A lot of posters aren't comparing apples with apples.
Bendix CT & Ultimates are advertised by Bendix as "passenger" pads. Bendix SRT are advertised as "performance" pads, but I haven't tried them.

I'm another who likes Carbotech (XP10 on track only car). I wouldn't run Hawk Blues again because they are very hard on rotors & the previous mentioned bonding of the dust particles to the wheels. Once wet, the only way to remove is by scraping. The XP10's are very dusty, but wipes off easily
To compare Bendix to XP10 or Blues, you would probably have to try their "Race" pads.

[Magpie]

The OP asked about Bendix Street/Road/Track pads for an ND, of which Bendix have replied 'No'.

Is it a question of what pads for Street/Road/Track are available now for the ND?

Off topic I think Winmax pad usage needs to permeate down into NSW

[NitroDann]

A lot of posters aren't comparing apples with apples.

If we compare price rather than what the box says, then yeah these are fair comparisons.

The bendix heavy duty is an acceptable cheap hillclimb pad, because it trades demolishing your rotors and themselves for very quick heat up, but has little resistance to fade.

The rest of the commonly available range have no such place on any performance sports car.

Dann