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Best brakes?

L

LT1Vettepilot

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Well its about time to put new pads on my '96. OEM pads seem to be rather expensive in comparison to what I've found online at Ecklers and Corvette Central. Has anyone tried after market pads from either of these companies, or others? I looked at the Carbotechs, but those seem to be more race oriented than what I'm looking for. I just need a set that will be quiet on the road, give me strong and sure braking, and won't melt down when I decide to play:bu
 
I just ordered a set of EBC Green pads. An article was written about them in Vette or Vette Fever recently. They are expensive at almost $150 for the front and rear. The magazine praised the pads and one of the benefits with these pads is no black dust on the rims. I will be installing mine next week so I will have a much more informed answer on these pads.
 
Raybestoes...hands down....quiet...dustless...and stop on a dime performance.
 
If you are not looking to sacrifice your left arm to get brake pads, check out autozone... they sell carbon metallic pads for a good price, and they work well... (on my '93 I even used their cheepest set of pads for the rear, i think they were $20, and they worked great! imagine that... a cheap part that works) I currently have the better set on the rear of my '96, and they are doing fine
 
Im using a Kem Carbon Metallic pad. They were fairly competitive for price and they GRAB! WOW. I love how good they are. They do however leave a dust you gotta clean off and I'd like to go with a upgraded Baer unit because my rotors get HOT and stay hot. Not sure if it the pad causing that or not but they are excellent brakes.
 
I just installed Auto Speciality drilled rotors and VGX pads. To new to give a detailed report but they feel excellent. As far as dust my rims have dust shields on them.
 
Best Brakes for C4

I tried replacement pads from Pep Boys and they SUCK big time. Brake fade is constant and they wear out too quickly. So I installed OEM pads , they are expensive, but they work nicely, the hotter the better.:w
 
Raysbestos Quiet Stop (Ceramic Pads). Have them on my Aurora and will put them on the vet shortly. And no dust on the wheels.
 
Brake pad dust

I never notice any brake pad dust on my rims, The only problem is that I have no idea of what pads are on my car. I sure wish I knew cuz they are really dustless.

I guess that wasn't much help !!!!!!
 
c4fan said:
I just ordered a set of EBC Green pads. An article was written about them in Vette or Vette Fever recently. They are expensive at almost $150 for the front and rear. The magazine praised the pads and one of the benefits with these pads is no black dust on the rims. I will be installing mine next week so I will have a much more informed answer on these pads.
How's that install coming along? Are they worth they money?
 
Where can i find some Raysbestos Quiet Stop brake pads. I have chrome wheels and i have to wipe them every 3 days to get the brake dust off. How much do they cost also?
 
Remember that SOMETHING wears when brakes are applied. Harder, dustless pads use up rotors faster. Hard to beat stockers for all around performance driving. What's a little dust among friends?
:w
 
What about Hawk Brake Pads???
 
Got some pads

Well after much research and deliberation, I could not find my first two choices of pads, so I opted for the EBC Green Stuff pads. Install will take place this weekend. I have one front rotor I KNOW needs to to be turned, I haven't looked at the others yet. All four corners get the new pads, rotors will be turned as required. EBC recommends a 300-500 mile break in period, which sounds a little low, I was thinking 500-1000. I'll let you all know how they perform during both break in, and post break in.
 
Green stuff installed

Ok, I spent all day working on my brakes, and friend's brakes. First of all...any of you who have NOT done brakes on a C4, but have on other cars...it WILL take more than 15 minutes per wheel. I knew it was going to be a little more complicated than a regular car, but wasn't expecting such a hassle. Still, ripping apart cars entertains me...so no big deal.
First of all, here is what I did. I changed the factory pads out, well what was left of them anyways, the screecher on the right rear was even chipped from contacting so much. I replaced the stock pads with EBC Green Stuff street/competition pads. They were my third choice as I have stated earlier...Kem Carbon being my first choice, followed by a close second (price would have made the difference) Raybestos Brute Stop. Couldn't find/get info on either easily and didn't have time to do an indepth search...the screeching was driving me nuts (this is my daily driver...and only car). I ordered the pads from TireRack.com and they showed up a day later! Talk about service! Thats another topic however. Back to the brakes.
The front rotors were still in really good shape, just a little bit of a lip on the outer edge of the rotors, with the complicated removal process of the front rotors, I used a file and smoothed out the lip. Just rested the file on the caliper and held the file against the rotor while a buddy turned it. A minute later and it was done. The rear rotors however were in rough shape...those went to the shop and were turned proffesionally. Looks like this is the first time the back brakes have been off the car since new. Since I didn't know what kind of brake fluid the previous owner had used (probably just DOT 3) and I wanted to prevent the brake fluid from boiling...i.e. I wanted the fluid to match the new brakes performance capabilities, I flushed the entire brake system out and serviced it with DOT 5 fluid...good for 500 degrees. I don't anticipate getting the brakes that hot more than maybe once or twice a day...:bu so that should do it. Just kidding, I can't afford to go through pads that quick! It will ensure that on the occasion I do "play" I won't boil my brakes. The pads are good for 600 degrees before fade, so I should be able to stop with certainty. Installation of everything was straight forward. Now for a little performance review. Manufacture suggests 300 miles of easy braking to wear in the new pads. I'm looking at closer to 500 since I didn't turn the front rotors. However, initial brake performance is a noticable improvement over stock...and QUIET!!! WOW!!! I've never heard a C4 with such quiet brakes during applicaiton. Very impressed. The weight of my foot on the brakes is enough to easily bring the car to a stop where normal, planned braking is concerned. I can't wait to actually put them through their paces and start bouncing eye balls off the windshield! I did have a fairly rapid and more than normal application tonight while avoiding some merging traffic and it quickly and smoothly brought the car down from 70 to under 45 instantly...and that was hardly any peddle at all! I put about 70 miles on them tonight, both on the highway and around town and when I got home I checked the wheels out...not a spec of dust! Very impressive. That about sums up the initial review...after I get some more miles on them and driving time with them installed, I'll post again. Probably after I've gotten 500 miles on it so I can drop anchor and see if the body leaves the chassis!:crazy
One more thing...eventually I'll be installing steel brake lines as well. I want my stopping performance to be better than my acceleration and speed capablities before I start adding more ponies. Once those are installed (not ordered yet) I'll follow up here with another review.
 
Update

So far so good with the new pads. After the first 100 miles, there was no dust on the wheels, however by about 150 miles the dust was starting to accumulate. Now at 350 miles, they are dirty. It seems to take just a little longer to build up dust on the wheels with these pads as it did with the OEM pads. Performance wise, I can't complain...these things stop quick. Although I haven't tried a max effort brake yet, I have put my foot down fairly hard and the car stops straight and right now! It will be interesting to see how it performs after several hard brake applications with some sporty driving involved. I'll update that as soon as I have the chance...all week without playing has really got my foot twitching!:bu
 
I just put Wagner semi metallics on my 96 coupe. Stop real smooth. I've always had good luck and long endurance with wagners. about $150 all around
 
update

Well it occured to me that I haven't updated this! So here's the scoop. The pads put off a little more dust than OEM, but not too much. As for braking performance...OUTSTANDING!!! I brought it up to 117MPH (not really intending too...back road, nice steep down hill run...a little over 1/8 mile) and hammered the brakes at the bottom. I didn't put the peddle all the way to the floor because at that speed on the particular road, ABS would have kicked in and made the car unstable, however from WOT accelerating past 117mph to hard braking, the car stopped extemely smoothly...and NOW! Had time to clean the eye ball prints off the windshield and still make the 90 degree corner at 17mph (I didn't bring it to a complete stop because I was on my way somewhere...and had a passenger) No fade, even after that abuse. I'm not sure what the stopping distance was, but I would guess I only had the breaks on for maybe 2 or 3 seconds...but you know how time flies when you're having fun...could have been 4 or 5 seconds. Anyhow, I'm impressed with the sport application. For daily driving, it stops smoother and just as quiet as OEM, with less vibration. Just have to deal with a little more dust is all. I would rate them at about an 8 over all on a scale of 10.
 
I considered going with the Hawk pads:

front-$86
rear-$54

But I'm not really sure because they advertised for aggressive drivers, which I am not.

I thought about Bosch pads since I do use their +4 spark plugs and I am pleased with those so I thinking about giving Bosch more of my money.
 
TerryD said:
What about Hawk Brake Pads???

I run Hawk HPS pads on the street and for autocross and a couple track days each year. They have very good cold bite and don't squeal. For track use, they work fine, but I try to be not too hard on them. I use stock rotors and toss them when they start to show wear. I have stainless lines and use the Ford HP fluid for street and autocross and change to ATE Super Blue for track days.

Performance Friction pads are another good choice for street/performance use. They should be available at AutoZone or from online Corvette suppliers. The NAPA pad is supposed to be another good street pad.

Hawk pads do generate some dust, but I guess I consider that a trade off for braking performance. Like any pad, the important thing is to follow the bedding-in procedure.
 

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