Newbie Question: Brake Pads for daily drive NB with odd track day here and there

[ENGINR]

Hi All,

I have a 1998 NB8A which will be my daily driver and used for the odd track day here and there (mainly sprint days at Winton with the occasional Hillclimb thrown in).

I'm wanting to put fresh brake pads in the car but am not sure what to go for that would be the best compromise between road and track use. My previous experience has been with my EVO circuit car which was a no compromise track only setup, which made selecting hardware and consumables like this easy!

Am looking at the Hawk HP pads on MX5mania - just wanted to get peoples' thoughts before committing the funds to purchasing something though.

Any feedback/advice would be appreciated.

Cheers

[hks_kansei]

I've heard good things about Hawk Pads, as well as QFM A1RM, for moderate track use.

For more road use I've heard that QFM HPX , EBC Greenstuff, and TRW are pretty good.


I've personally got Bendix General CT in mine.
They're an improvement over my previous worn out pads, in that they arent gouging holes in teh rotors with the backing plate.
But they;re not a particularly good pad, and not even cheap enough to be worth it.

[Magpie]

Winmax W3's are more than enough for the occasional track use, not very dusty and work from cold!

These are more expensive than say A1RM's, but last longer (I have used both).

[rascal]

Personally I’ve found that dual duty pads (ie ‘designed’ for both road and track) tend to do neither particularly well.

Too dusty, noisy for road use, bad for rotor wear, and prone to fade when used on track.

Given it’s a pretty painless and simple job to swap pads over, I would buy a dedicated race pad and swap them in/out for the occasional track day, and leave normal road pads in for daily driving.

[ManiacLachy]

I was going to go with Winmax W3s when I changed pads recently, but couldn't find anywhere with stock.

I got Forza FP3s from Brakes Direct and they're excellent. Lots of bite, but no noise. They do dust up a little, but not a ton. I had Bendix Ultimate's before, and these blow them out of the water.

[manga_blue]

QFM HPX , QFM A1RM or Hawk HP Plus are all good street/track combo pads. HPX and HP Plus are more of a beginner pad, A1RM are more intermediate before you move to serious track focussed pads.

MX5 Mania sell the HP Plus pads. Lots of auto and brake shops are QFM suppliers and can order them in.

Beware: don't confuse Hawk HP Plus with Hawk HPS, HPS are rubbish.

I had Bendix Ultimate's before, and these blow them out of the water.

Pretty much every pad on the market blows Ultimates out of the water. High fade, crumble under heat, dusty and chew out rotors at an unbelievable rate.

[GR124]

I got Forza FP3s from Brakes Direct and they're excellent. Lots of bite, but no noise. They do dust up a little, but not a ton. I had Bendix Ultimate's before, and these blow them out of the water.

After speaking with Brakes Direct and doing some research I was convinced Forza FP3 pads were (for my purpose 500kg track car) a good pad for the price.
Sadly they have no stock and aren't expecting a delivery "for months"

[CrazyRacer]

Brakes Direct recommended FP3 to me too but said they wouldn't have stock for 2 or 3 weeks.

I tried again after 3 weeks and was then told that they won't have them for the foreseeable future!

[ManiacLachy]

Sounds like I got the FP3s just in time. They are good pads, IMO. Shame they're out of stock!

[Luke]

I gather your NB8A is pretty standard???

I'm hearing lots of QFM A1RM support all the time.
Tried them on my sisters Kia Procee'd GT based on all the forum(not only this one) hype about them. I have found them to be rubbish on that car. Lots of dust without the performance I expected for a so called dual duty track rated pad. Fade at lap 3 on South circuit at Eastern Creek, in the beginners instructor session when I drove it and at Wakefield when I had a 3 lap all out punt on my own. Plus I have to listen to my sister complain that it doesn't stop as good as it used to. KIA's/Hyundais factory pads were better and that is what is going back in next time. $130 for factory or $110 for A1RM.

I will concur with others here. Hawk HPS is rubbish. Avoid!!!

Hawk HP+ are good, but the only thing I don't like is HAWK's dust is corrosive when mixed with a little water and stubborn to get off. So if you care about your wheel paint, avoid.

I still can't go past Carbotech AX6 or G-Loc R6 as a dual duty lazy mans setup.
They work fantsacitc when cold (including wet skidpans) and I have not killed them on either a Standard NC or ND on track to date.
The info says they are not track rated, but I think 1'11's and Wakefield and for you 1'42s at Winton say others wise in a stock car.
They are pricey, but they last longer than Hawks and are much kinder to the rotors.
The other positive is the dust. You can literally wipe it off with a dry rag.
There are 2 main negatives.
The material is riveted to the backing plate, so on a softer compound like this you cannot go all the down unless you want score marks in your rotors. The rivets on their latest ones are much shallower than the past.
They squeal at low speeds with very light brake pressure especially when new. As they wear in it seems to go away. Never really found it a problem, I more made them squeal on purpose if the person in front of me on the road is annoyingly slow. Like having another horn.

[greenMachine]

I gather your NB8A is pretty standard???

I still can't go past Carbotech AX6 or G-Loc R6 as a dual duty lazy mans setup.
They work fantsacitc when cold (including wet skidpans) and I have not killed them on either a Standard NC or ND on track to date.
The info says they are not track rated, but I think 1'11's and Wakefield and for you 1'42s at Winton say others wise in a stock car.
They are pricey, but they last longer than Hawks and are much kinder to the rotors.
The other positive is the dust. You can literally wipe it off with a dry rag.
There are 2 main negatives.
The material is riveted to the backing plate, so on a softer compound like this you cannot go all the down unless you want score marks in your rotors. The rivets on their latest ones are much shallower than the past.
They squeal at low speeds with very light brake pressure especially when new. As they wear in it seems to go away. Never really found it a problem, I more made them squeal on purpose if the person in front of me on the road is annoyingly slow. Like having another horn.

Seconding Carbotech/Gloc.

I ran R10s/8s in my old GM2 (also stock NB8A), and it's predecessor GM1 (ditto). Those cars did stand-in duty for the racecar when required, and I NEVER got a hint of fade, first application when stone cold could be a bit squeaky, maybe a little grabby. Highly recommended.

I now have R12s/10s in the SE, this is a more serious race pad. Can be very grabby when cold (not such a problem with ABS) which can catch a passenger unprepared. Way overkill for a stockish NB8A, maybe even for a 140kw SE too, but they do work well on the track.

[Custardtart]

My car is daily dríven but gets abused at the track once a month.
I went with QFM A1RM’s because a) they were in stock, b) they were reasonably priced, c) they were recommended by fellow track drivers as a good compromise pad.

I’ve found them to bite fine from cold and on the track they don’t fade.

They produce a fair bit of dust.

They were rubbish until the old oem compound had been removed from the rotor face.

Things to consider:
I only do Sprints, so 5 fast laps at most.
I have fresh race level brake fluid.
I have braided lines.
I have oem rotors that won’t have great heat dissipation.

I was going to try the Hawks but they weren’t in stock. I considered both Carbotech and Project MU but they were too expensive for me and not in stock plus potentially more track focused.