Brake pad reviews
Standard Pads[edit]
Bendix standard
Very Standard, these pads are the bottom end of the Bendix range, the last time I bought a set, they were around $100 an end. Quiet pads, not inclined to squeal, not much dust and what there was was easy to clean off. Soft on the rotors but inclined to glaze up. Initial bite on brake application is fair, but there is not a lot in reserve after that, prone to fade, cold performance is OK. Good pad life, the set on my first R31 had done 50,000KM or so when I bought it but I do not know how it was driven. A moderate performing pad but not all that cheap.
- 6/10, I would not buy them again myself but other may disagree.
Bendix Premium
A step up from the standard. Not sure of the current price. Still quiet and easy on the rotors without a lot of dust. Initial bite is OK, but not a lot left after that, Prone to fade if used hard, Cold performance is good. A better pad than the standard and I would recomend them over the standards. Pad life?? Did not like them so I took them off before I could tell.
- 7/10 I would not personally buy them again.
Race brakes road standard pad (Part number to be confirmed)
About $120 an end. Quiet pads that are easy on the rotors and make little dust. Good initial bite and a reasonable reserve when you get into them a bit. Still able to be faded out with hard use but suitable for normal driving, no real difference between performance cold and at normal temperature. My own pick of the standard type pads. Pad life??? Had a set on the back of my Magna for 25,000KM and heaps of pad left.
- 7/10 OK pads, but I will probably run RB74 pads and put up with the dust when they wear out.
Update, now at about 50,000 KM and still hanging in there with a fair bit of material left, I think they will probably give me 70,000 KM or so life.
Bendix Metal King
A much better pad than standard and premium if you are looking to work them. Price ?? I have not bought a set for a while. Moderate amounts of dust and what they make is fairly easy to clean off. Cold performance is poor, no real braking at all until you get them to warm up, I have had a set that went cold between applications in heavy traffic in Melbourne in winter. Frightening, every time you applied the brakes it was about 1 second before the car started to stop properly. Fade resistance is good for moderate to heavy'ish use. Hard on the rotors (Expect not to get more than 100,000KM out of them) and fairly noisy, can squeal occasionally and sound like sandpaper on the rotors until they warm up. Fairly long pad life, up to 50,000KM or so on the fronts, more on the rear.
- 7.5/10 in warm climates.
- 5/10 in Melbourne winter for giving a heart in the mouth moment every time I applied the brakes. I would not buy them again because of the cold performance, but in a warmer climate than Melbourne, it would be less of a problem.
Hot road/track pads[edit]
Race brakes RB74
Relatively expensive pad about $180 and end. Loads of black dust, needs to be cleaned off quickly or it stays put. Fairly noisy, inclined to squeal and sound a bit harsh. A bit hard on the rotors unless they are up to temperature, like the metal king, don't expect to see more than 100,000KM out of rotors, fairly good pad life the set on the front of my Magna gave about 40,000 KM of mostly city traffic driving. OK performance cold, good initial bite, heaps of reserve if you lay into them, great feel through the pedal, very progressive. Very good fade resistance (I drive on a part time runway circuit at Sale RAAF base, fast straights with slow corners, lots of hard stops, these are the first pads I have run in any of my cars that stood up to it, I used them in my R31 coupe while it was still fully trimmed out and heavy) Love them, recommend them to anyone who is prepared to pay a bit and clean off brake dust.
- 9.5/10 for the purpose, only reduced from 10/10 because of dust and rotor wear. I would buy these again any time, dust washes off, rotors wear anyway.
Track only. Or very high performance road[edit]
Race Brakes Comp9
Relatively costly pad (about $200 an end of the car if they are off the shelf, add $40 or so if they need to be made) High dust pads. Buckets of black dust, hard to clean. Not well suited to road use as they are very hard on the rotors unless they are hot. Cold bite is average, not much happening. Once warm, great initial bite, heaps of feel and loads of reserve, very fade resistant, consistantly pulled up from high speed at Sandown, very reassuring, only sign of fade was from boiled fluid. Very noisy.
- 10/10 for the purpose 4/10 on the road for normal driving. Great pads, I will be moving to these on my coupe soon as road use is no longer an issue.
New info on these pads, not sure if they have changed the compound, but cold performance is quite good. They feel a bit like they are not working but actually stop fine cold, probably because of how effective they are once warm, my comments above that they are not too good cold are probably because of this. I am now using a set on my Magna road car and Datsun 1200 compettition car. No sign of fade in the Datsun and they work well right through the temp range in the Magna but are still fairly hard on the rotors and hose out the black dust. Price has dropped, $165 for fronts for the Magna (Actually for a Falcon with about 1 minute on the linishing belt to clean up the inside edge of the backing plate to fit them) and $180 for the 1200 which has been modded and now uses the same pads as a Datsun six cylinder car. Still very noisy with the Magna occasionally making people look over in traffic because of squeaks and squeals.
Links[edit]
Also see the Car parts and accessories section.
John Stamnas Pty Ltd Distributor for Goodridge brake line in Queensland Ph: (07) 5447 7411
Melbourne 44-68 Racecourse Road, North Melbourne Ph: (03) 9326-6088
Sydney Unit 6/79 Newton Road, Wetherill Park Ph: (02) 9604-0708
Brisbane 4 Darnick Street, Underwood Ph: (07) 3341 9911
Compiled by
Blue, R31Heaven, R31_BB, th30d0r3