Brake ideas for Erik!

[trnsfrma@ix.netcom.com (Shawn C. Meze)]

>Hi everyone
>
>Since the brake topic comes up, I want some advice on brake pad. I have a 87
>16V and need new brake pads soon. Currently I'm using Repco Master pad. Is
>Ferraro pads better than Repco? What about carbon brake pad? Any info would
>be appreciated.


Hi Erik!

There was a half-assed written article in EC mag a few months ago that kinda 
went into detail on this topic. The way I see it, there are 3 kinds of drivers. 


1) the basic soft on equipent and easy going driver that doesnt care what brake 
  pad is on the car. Typically can get 8 years out of a set of stock brakes. 

2) The stop N go in traffic daily commuter who is somewhat hard on the brakes.  
 Still, doesnt care about what kind of brakes are on the car. (This is my     
girlfriend in my GLi)

3) The hard as hell on equipment driver who is practicing the late breaking and 
  apexing everytime they drive (where possible), kind of driver. Brake pads are 
  important to this persons driving needs. (This is me in my Scirocco!)


My experience with brake pads:
I have had stock pads with stock solid rotors. They were ok at the time but 
once I started upgrading the car and autoxing, they soon became less than 
desirable. These pads are just fine for drivers of the #1 and #2 description. 

I then bought a set of Porterfield Carbon fiber brake pads. I thought these 
pads were the ones to have in brake pads, since I had not had a real 
performance brake pad. I really liked their performance, especially the one 
night I was going home from work at 2am and being me, doing 100+ on an empty 
freeway. On my right getting on the freeway was my local CHP officer. I stabbed 
the brakes as hard as I could physically push and I swear I went from 100-55 
mph in less than one second. Whoa! Another plus on the performance side was 
they never faded. (I use Castrol GTLMA fluid, which is a necessity.) I have 
taken temp readings from my rotors after a hard autox run and got temps from 
the rotors at 514 degrees, still (Smoking!) with no fade. They also were great 
cold or hot, it didnt matter.  
The down side of these brakes were they were $119 a set! The second thing bad 
about them was that they were dirty as dirty can be. I was constantly cleaning 
my 15" wheels. Even then, after cleaning them I could drive one mile and the 
wheels were nasty looking again. Long trips would leave black powdery residue 
streaks all along the side of the car. Another bad thing was that they lasted 
me only 6 months! When I bought them the guy told me that they would eat 
rotors. Fine with me since my solid rotors were $10 each I dont mind replacing 
rotors once every 4 months or so. I never got through my first set of rotors! I 
gave up on the Porterfields. Overall, I rate them a waste of money for general 
street use. If you have a dedicated racer, spend the money. 

A fellow racer turned me onto Ferrodo pads (Race/street compound *3466*) which 
is what I currently have on my Scirocco with the exception of having recently 
put on a set of vented rotors. I felt these pads were just as good if not 
better than the Porterfields(even better with the vented rotors). Great hot or 
cold, they also dont fade. They behaved much like the Porterfields but were not 
nearly as dirty and cost much less. When I replaced the rotors, I measured the 
thickness of the pads and after 7 months of hard driving/racing, I have only 
lost .016 thickness from each pad and since then, I have had the vented rotors 
for 2 months. Id say that the Ferrodo's are quite good for the money I spent on 
them. (@$80) 

Now the for the Repcos you have, I have no experience with those but I have 
been told by a few people that have "had them all" that they're cheaper and 
basically, you get what you pay for. Nobody complained about them, they just 
went on to say that they just werent as good or lasted as long as the Ferodo's. 
Most everybody I know uses the Ferodo's on their cars. 

Unless your a real performance nut and know the exact moment something changes 
on your car, performance wise, you will feel a deference with Ferodo's. Im sure 
there will be lots of other testaments to the other pads i've never used. 
Hopefully, somebody will fess up with a few good ideas for you. I'd like to see 
some other opinions as well.



Shawn
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