Too much brake pad for the Street?

[clindahl]

I have used EBC Yellows on the track and they are an awesome brake pad. The normal street pads I have wore out, so I left the EBC yellows in around town.

In this picture the brake material looks like it is being pushed against the rotor like a block of steel, vs. wearing down. I'm guessing they are not getting hot enough?

They are also leaving some good deposits on my rotors, which is there any home to clean off with some mechanial means? I scrubbed the rotor with some 60 grit sand paper in the circled area -

 

[1993MTXSHO]

If you plan on reusing those rotors hitting it with 60 grit was a bad idea, to rough IMO. But regardless, it is possible they are not getting hot enough. FWIW I have street/strip pads on my 93 and have driven 100 miles on the street with them and they will be coming off soon. Stock style pads are plenty good enough on the street, and are also much safer, especially in cold weather. I almost plowed over a deer while driving down my road. I was doing about 30 mph after just pulling out my my driveway brakes cold, saw it plenty far ahead hit the brakes, car didn't slow, hit them harder, slowing but not like I expected it would, put them to the floor and I swear to god I thought I was gunna take it out, they really just suck when cold and the increased braking power you get from them is not worth it. Having track pads vs street pads really only comes into play when the brakes are getting really hot (on the track, this doesn't happen on the street) so just go grab a set of stockers and save the nice yellows for the track. Oh and stock pads won't eat through your rotors like the track pads will

 

[RonPorter]

Some SHO folks have been using the EBC pads, bith Red & Yellow. The Yellow are not a true "track" pad, but also can used on the street (as well as being sold for trucks), so using them on the street should be fine.

If braking performance feels fine after the first stop or so, you are good to go, as they should have enough heat.

To confirm my suspicion, I did a quick look at the EBC webpage and it was as I suspected, they have a bedding procedure. Part of the purpose of this procedure is to put a deposit on the rotors. Removing that deposit was a bad idea. The deposit is a GOOD thing. Go to the Popular Q&A section here:

http://www.ebcbrakes.com/

I have used various pads for street & track over the years, and I now use Carbotech AX6 (formerly called Panther Plus). As with all Carbotech pads, you have to bed them to make sure that there is a pad deposit on the rotors. Most good brake pads are this way.

 

[1993MTXSHO]

If braking performance feels fine after the first stop or so, you are good to go, as they should have enough heat.

IMHO track pads or any pad that takes time to heat up is not for the street. After the first stop or two my pads heat up and work great, but that initial stop where I almost plowed into a deer, and then when you're on the highway for a while and the brakes get cold again, you will need to get some heat back in them before they work 100%. So honestly I would stick with stock pads to be safe.

 

[RonPorter]

EBC Yellows are not track pads. They are pads for the stret and track, and are sold as heavier-duty truck pads for pickups and SUVs. FWIW, I run a similar set of pads on my truck, Hawk SDs, and EBC Yellows are a consideration for my truck (although I love the Hawks).

EBCs are like other street/track and track only pads. They highly stress a proper bed-in for them to work properly. As I mentioed, there are a few SHO folks (and a couple that now have s/c Marauders) that have been using Yellows for a few years now for 100% of their driving and love them.

To get the added performance of better pads, even for the street, there are compromises of noise and/or dust and/or rotor wear.

 

[Racer X]

I use Yellowstuff pads, and while they dust heavily, the trade-off for performance is well worth it.

I've yet to run them on a track that will see serious braking usage, but as hard as I've pushed them between Gingerman Raceway, and a little known road in the area that gives my brakes a good workout with repeatative high speed braking, I've yet to make them fade.

I'll be looking to get more track time next year on them, but so far I've been nothing but satisfied.

Oh, and my pads don't look like that.

My setup is Mustang Cobra (PBR) calipers on redrilled Mustang 13" rotors, EBC YellowStuff (new formulation), ATe SuperBlue Racing Brake Fluid, Earls SS lines up front. Full bias, ss lines, semi-metallic, vented rotors at the rear.

 

[somedude_001]

I have only run hawks on my SHO's. My previous pads were there HP+ serise. While they had a very nice bite I would over heat them on my turbo car on the street and loose them with 11.6/cobra setup. Now i'm using hawk HT-10 pads. They have a good cold bite as did the HP+ but good god they are nasty when they are hot. On 245/40/17 RS2 tires it will lock the fronts with relatively light pedal pressure even with 11.6" rotors. With my 13's it was insane. But at 200 bucks a set they are certainly not for every budget.

 

[RonPorter]

I have only run hawks on my SHO's. My previous pads were there HP+ serise. While they had a very nice bite I would over heat them on my turbo car on the street and loose them with 11.6/cobra setup. Now i'm using hawk HT-10 pads. They have a good cold bite as did the HP+ but good god they are nasty when they are hot. On 245/40/17 RS2 tires it will lock the fronts with relatively light pedal pressure even with 11.6" rotors. With my 13's it was insane. But at 200 bucks a set they are certainly not for every budget.

There are guys on the Legacy forum that also run Hawk and Carbotech track pads on the street. Other than a bit of cold balkiness on the first stop or two, they have not seemed to have a problem. Other than dust & noise, but that is an acceptable trade-off for many of us to get the better stopping power.

 

[SHOZ123]

I use the yellows year round with no problems. Maybe the first application they don't really bite hard but after that they are good to go.

FWIW the Yellows stuffs are advertised as being full race pads.

http://www.ebcbrakes.com/yellowstuffinfo.html

 

[NJSHO]

I use the yellows 100% of the time, track/street. Never had a fade problem on the track till they were almost completely gone. New set of yellows and no fade problem. Ive gone through an entire set of yellows and my rotors look like they have hardly any wear.

The deposit on the rotors is desirable IF you are going to use the same set of pads again on the rotors, ie. another set of yellows. If you move to a HP+ or HPS or some other manufacturer, the deposit may not be compatible with material on the new manufacturers pads, and you may feel like your stopping on ice. I remember the Hawk pads including a similar warning with their pads.

 

[clindahl]

So to add to this - I pulled the brakes apart because the rotors felt like they are warped, shimmying hard under braking - As posted by others it looks like the two brake pad materials weren't compadible and thus not too good for braking The rotors are turned down 13" to 12" rotors - so not off the shelf pieces.

Time to get a new set, and only use one set of pads on them. Lesson learned the hard way. The rotors have been turned once already, and the machine shop said this morning they won't turn them again because they will end up under the min thickness which is cast into the rotor.

Thanks all again for the input.