Hey guys, I'm wondering what is a good brand of brake pads for the WRX? I've been lookin at EBC's Greenstuff but am looking for input. I would like strong bite with little fade and NO SQUEEKING!
I am running carbotech bobcats and they work good, and I think my next set may be some hawk pads. Russ
How bout for an STi? I'm looking at something with less dust and slightly better performance cuz these stock suckers are ridiculous, i clean my wheels and i drive 5 miles and they're dirty as hell.
I recently slapped on a set of Hawk HPS and I dig ‘em so far. Much less dust that the bobcats I replaced (I think that’s what they were).
I'm running Axxiss Ultimate street pads, they perform nicely but if you want low dust stay away from these.
Hi perf pads squeek. <font size="3"><font color="red"> DON'T GET EBC'S</font id="red"></font id="size3"> I like Axxiss Metal Master or Ultimates. PBR pads are the same brand just different name.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Substeroo Hi perf pads squeek. <font size="3"><font color="red"> DON'T GET EBC'S</font id="red"></font id="size3"> I like Axxiss Metal Master or Ultimates. PBR pads are the same brand just different name. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote"> <font color="red"> Why no EBC? </font id="red">
I guess the choice depends on what you want to do with it. Is it for track use? Is it just for daily driving with a little spirited jaunts in between? How much do they have to do? I'm not sure what the WRX(assuming what you have) comes with stock. I'm not sure if it's a generic pad or if it's something a little better like a ceramic compound. If it's the later, then maybe a semi track type of pad would be the next step. However, if it's just a basic pad that's nothing special, like 99% of production cars have, a high end automotive ceramic pad may be a nice upgrade over the stock product, something simple like Napa's Ceramix pads. I've just used Napa's "performance" pads in the past on my old cars. From the generic stock or cheap stuff that was put on before I got it, they're a big jump up. Braking got a lot more linear, although the bite wasn't there, just nice smooth progression till lock up, a little more effort for light work, less effort for heavy braking. They also didn't show any fade issues like cheapy pads exibit. For daily use and spirited driving short of track work, they're a very good trade-off from a semi-racing style pad where you'll begin to get into issues of warming up the pads to get full braking ability. The auto store ceramic pads did plenty good stopping my old boat of a Lesabre for 4 years of untroubled efficiency, never a problem, never a noise, stopped like new every time. I didn't fear a quick stop from 80mph or repeated hard braking during sucessive corners down the back roads around my house. I like to have fun with my cars, and the ceramic pads proved well. That car was over 1000 lbs heavier than our Subbies too. Using them for track duty though will probably exibit overheating and fade issues. Every compound has its purpose and optimum operating sutuation. You just have to pick what's right for your use. I'd suggest doing a little research on brake pad types. See what compounds and designs are available. Then see what matches best to your braking needs. For anything I did, a generic auto store ceramic pad will do. For you, I don't know.
No EBC because they are a poor quality pad. I drove on mine, regular street driving for a part of a summer and they were doing well. Then I post saying how these pads aren't so bad and the next month or so, the pads wore down to nothing! I also read about a guy tracking his car with them and he felt some serious fade so he pulled out to check. When he pulled out the calipers the pads crumbled out literally. So obviously, they can't take the heat and that's not a good thing when you're talking about a brake pad.
Don't get the Axxis Ultimates if you're worried about dust. You'd think my front wheels are powdercoated black with the amount of dust those throw. The Matal Master throws some dust, probably as bad as your stockers, but the Deluxe pads have some grip and are supposed to be nearly dust-free. I also second the Napa performance pads if you're looking for something local. I used to run them on every car prior to this one (since Napa doesn't have pads for the old STi 4-pots). They used to have a lifetime replacement deal on them too so when the old ones wore out (which I never wore out a pair of those pads) you could get replacements for free. I don't think they do that anymore though now with the bigger, more aggressive brake kits out there.
Bumping an old thread, but I have 20k on my Metal Masters including some rally working miles and they're holding up great. I even managed to find them at my Goodyear dealer with a replacement warranty. Paired them up with Proslot rotors for some fade-free braking.
Anyone have any suggestions for track pads (02 WRX wagon)? Wanted Hawk HP Plus, but hard to find for rear. Carbotech is another option, but having a hard time finding them.
Dude, you found them for the front? Hawk Doesn't even list a front fittment on their website. but if your looking for rears, Tire rack has them.
since were talking hawks. who has these, and what do you think? i wanna get hawk HPS for my next set of pads.
frozenrotors.com, tirerack.com and subydude.com all have the HPS. If you want to buy them locally Pepboys is the place to go. The HP+ is a little more difficult to get for an 02 wrx for some odd reason. Because I couldn't find the HP+ rear's, I'm going with Carbotech Panther +...seems to be a similar pad. Mike
02 and 04 pads are different. It looks like for an 02, it's easy to find fronts, and for an 04 it's easy to find rears...to find the other is almost impossible for both.
If you are looking for track-only pads, I will highly recommend Porterfield R4. I run them on the track and I am very happy with them. I run the R4S compound for AutoX (and the to-from events driving). Unfortunately, they don't make rears for the RS so I have been using Metal Masters for 5yrs, but I think they make rears for the 02 WRX.
