Brake pad reveiws, please!! - BMW Forum

Wonderboy · 04-20-2006, 11:18 PM

I have a 98 m3 sedan. what kind of pads are you guys using? Cost, performance, Life, Warranty (if any), Squeeks, and Dust!!!
Thanks much...
P.S. brake fade?

Furious · 04-21-2006, 12:37 AM

ive tried PBR's personally they are ok for the price. im actually about to put a set of Hawk HPS's on the car next , the current reviews ive gotten regarding them , is that they are a very sturdy and good performing pad, dust is not a huge issue with them, not sure about squeeking.

however im sure they will get a good test this summer as my car is pushing almost 200hp more than when it was just a 325

Teh Prof · 04-21-2006, 12:58 AM

Stock BMW pads ain't too shabby.

BTW Furious I've been meaning to ask...with all that new power, did you upgrade the diff at all? How much power can a normal bimmer diff take reliably?

Cruzin 323is · 04-21-2006, 08:14 AM

i am a true believer that stock bmw pads are much better then aftermarket...

i have pbr ceramic pads.. and they squeek like WHOA! the only down side of OEM pads are the brake dust...

vwk · 04-21-2006, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M3UOND

Stock BMW pads ain't too shabby.

BTW Furious I've been meaning to ask...with all that new power, did you upgrade the diff at all? How much power can a normal bimmer diff take reliably?

Any diff has the same capability more or less..

Over here in holland there are 220bhp E30 325i's which use 4:10 differentials from E28 518i's, so there you go..

Ontopic: I don't know if they are available in the states, but I could recommend Hawk HT9 or HT10 Pro.

Really stops your car unbelieveably fast.. but you have to warm them up.

And yes they squeek. But doesn't form goes for functionality? :lol:

Teh Prof · 04-21-2006, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vwk

Any diff has the same capability more or less..

I have a very hard time believing that. The diff on a honda civic is 1/4 the size of the diff on a Ford F-350. That's because the Ford has to output a lot of power and work hard reliably. Same applies to more powerful cars.

WALSRU · 04-21-2006, 10:01 AM

I use EBC green stuff. They grab real hard and have only the occasional squeak. I won't go back to oem pads, I just don't like the soft feel.

Wonderboy · 04-21-2006, 11:44 AM

awesome. Thanks much. I've got to change them this weekend. BTW the brake light is on so will it auto shut off or do i need a service light reset tool?

tomctx · 04-21-2006, 01:13 PM

You probably will have to change the sensor for the light to go out. Not 100% sure, though.

vwk · 04-21-2006, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M3UOND

I have a very hard time believing that. The diff on a honda civic is 1/4 the size of the diff on a Ford F-350. That's because the Ford has to output a lot of power and work hard reliably. Same applies to more powerful cars.

I mean considering BMW, that what's the forum's about

If a 116bhp 518i diff could carry the power of a 220bhp 325i, I'm not seeing the problem

Furious · 04-21-2006, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M3UOND

Stock BMW pads ain't too shabby.

BTW Furious I've been meaning to ask...with all that new power, did you upgrade the diff at all? How much power can a normal bimmer diff take reliably?

no im still using my 3.15LSD, its just fine for now, i thought of going slightly closer (maybe 3.23 or 3.38) but money is tight and lots of stuff still left to do to finish my car off for this year.

WarNox · 04-26-2006, 05:39 PM

at the dealership a guy told me that the aftermarket pads are now made slightly smaller than they should be, that people keep on coming in and telling them there is something wrong because the pad is loose. but i suppose that would be with some cheap aftermarket ones. in a stock car there is nothing wrong with stock pads.

vwk · 04-27-2006, 01:45 AM

Stock is 0, after that is you buy good aftermarket stuff it just goes up to 1/2/3 to 10...

Some people still drive fast with a stock car.

The Hawk pads are somewhere in the 9 range in the scale from 0-10

bitcore · 04-27-2006, 11:38 AM

Hawk HPS pads are great, I loved them. They bit very well and didn't fade as bad as the OEM pads.

I have a set of axxis ultimates as of right now and I don't like them much at all for a daily driver. The bite is great, but not linear at all. Even after a line flush with ATE super blue, they arn't any better. They just feel a little "weird." They bite very hard, but don't bite much more when you depress the brake more. Compaired to the hawks, I have to press noticeably harder to lock my wheels up (or rather, to get ABS to activate). However, for track use, they wouldn't be bad at all for the price. I have yet to get them to REALLY fade when driving very hard. My tires heat up faster than the brakes fade. In fact, my left front rotor is cracked now, probably because I pushed them so hard, the pads didn't fade, the rotor couldn't handle the temperature, and cracked. Now I'm out 80$ for new front rotors (the right one has spider cracks all over it too so I need to replace both)

in short: if this is a track car, and *not* a daily driver, axxis ultimates are great. Don't fade, decent stopping power, but bad for daily driving or low speed.
If you are shopping for a daily driver, you will enjoy the hawk HPS's. High fade resistance, and work very well as a daily driver. I agree with VWK's statement, but I'd palce them at a 7.5 simply because I CAN get the HPS's to fade. Although, you can get on the track with them and do just fine if you plan on that, so I wouldn't worry about that. I ran them during BMWCCA driving school and enjoyed them, they did fine for the 10 laps around a 1.6 mile course. On the last lap, I started to notice a little fade, but it wasn't too bad 15 minutes of pure hard driving and braking and just a little fade- not too shabby for a day pad. They will be more expensive because they are carbon based, but I think you'll love the stopping power those things have.

As for EBC Green stuff, and PBR pads, I've heard good things, but I can't tell you about them based on personal experience. I'm more inclined to try the EBC green stuf on my next pad change. But if I recall correctly, they ain't too cheep.

EDIT: Ah, you have an M3. The pads & rotors on the M3 are signifncantly larger than a stock 3 series - which translates to better brake performance. So, fade and stopping power would be better than my car. HPS's ought to be perfect for you, unless you track your car frequently, in which case you may want to look into the HPS+'s.

97alpineM3 · 04-27-2006, 02:06 PM

Hawk HPS's are the way to go....

Les