EBC YELLOW or HAWK HPS PLUS
 

Hey guys,

I need a pad that can handle autocross/track but is still okay on the street. Ive been leaning towards the EBC but I would like to hear from anyone who have used them before. Any experiences? Thanks!

I ran HPS for a while, and wasn't all that happy with them (never felt their 'bite' was as good as HPS pads I had on other cars was). These pads have no business being on your car out on the big tracks beyond an introductory paced lead/follow or carefully instructed day.

HP+ is a totally separate pad compound that's lots better if you like pads with much stronger bite. But they're noisy, dusty, and eat rotors with a vengeance in street duty.

For any attempt at a dual purpose street/track car and not getting involved with pad swapping, I'm going to suggest Carbotechs in either XP10 all around or in a XP12 front/XP10 rear combination. They're still going to be dusty and they will squeak a bit, but they are closer to HPS than HP+ as far as rotor wear is concerned.

For street/autocross only, Carbotechs in either AX6 or 1521/Bobcat. Or use these on the street if swapping from XP series track pads (no special rebedding work is required, according to Carbotech, so you at least wouldn't have to swap rotors as well).


I have no experience with any of the EBC compounds, sorry.


Norm

Hey Norm!

Im actually curious to this, how come people tell me street pads are good for autocross but not for track. I feel like Im braking more with my mustang in autocross and putting harder stops on them.

Also Im trying to save up for cobra brembos or another Big brake kit, this is just to hold me over in the mean time.

I used HP+ (assuming that's what you are talking about; HP+ rather than HPS) on my 2010 GT for fast road driving in the twisties and they worked very well. But as Norm said, they are noisy (squeaky) all the time and dust like crazy.

I have EBC Yellows on my 2014 Brembo GT, and they also work very well and make zero noise once they are bedded in. They do dust a lot, but such is life with performance brake pads. A little less aggressive in bite than the Hawks, but I don't consider that a bad thing as it allows more of a range to modulate them. Now, on a downhill mountain road run they did smoke a bit and didn't smell all that confidence inspiring, but I didn't notice any fade and I suspect it may have been some of the pretty yellow paint burning off that was causing the smoke and odor since that was one of the first hard runs I had done with them.

Either makes a great autox pad, and the EBC is quiet for street use. However, I would also second Norm that for track use you really need a track pad. On track, you are stopping a heavy car from higher speeds which simply allows more heat to build up. Thus requiring more heat tolerant pads. You could try either on track and they may work fine if you aren't very aggressive with braking, but as you improve and start braking later I can about guarantee they won't be sufficient.

For most drivers, there is enough margin against fade in street pads to cope with most autocross situations. Keep in mind that after a 50 second autocross run, the brakes have at least 5 minutes cooldown before being beat on again. Usually more than that.


Track days typically involve speeds twice as high (meaning 4 times the energy that gets converted into heat), and you're subjecting your brakes to this abuse continuously for 20 minutes at a time. Sometimes longer. Having your pads overheat and fade away to nothingness when you're above 100 mph with a 60 mph corner fast approaching . . . is the stuff nightmares can be made of.




Norm

I run EBC yellows on my 2007 GT with 2012 GT rotors. Track performance is fantastic and they don't squeal on the road as long as you break them in properly. I suggest new rotors.

No fade after 10+ laps all-out