What are the best brake pads to buy?

This is always the question when new brake pads are needed. Before you ask the question of what brake pads to buy for your car, you must first ask yourself what you want to do with your car? Is it only a daily driver that takes you from point A to point B? If this is the case you can fit whatever the shop is offering you. Most brake pads out there does what it is supposed to do on a daily driver.

If you say that you do spirited driving with your car, it all depends on how spirited the driving is. Is it only straight-line acceleration and then slowing down or do you take your car out on twisty roads? There are a lot of performance discs and pads out there and most of them will do the job. You must just know your car and if you notice sluggish brakes or brake fade then you know you need to go a step up.

Here are just some of the brake pads out there

1.) Ferodo

The Ferodo pad out there is fairly good pads and this brand comes in different levels. The performance versions of these pads are called the DS range. They have a DS2000 which is a good sport road pad. The DS2500 is a top-end road pad and a good entry-level trackpad for track days. The DS3000 is a full trackpad but this pad is not road legal as the pads need a bit of temperature in them before they start to brake properly.

On a race track brakes never get time to cool down below a certain point so that is good. If you have a full track car then the DS3000 would be the pad to get if you are a Ferodo fan. I have run DS2500 on sports and GT track cars and after a few laps, the pads were cooked and had to be replaced although there was a lot of lining left.

When getting to the DS3000 pad the price does get a bit steep.

2.) ATE

ATE brake pads are a good brand of pad and have been around for a while. I personally would run these pads on a daily driver but not on a car that is modified. This is my personal opinion.

3.) Endless

The Endless pads I don’t have any experience with, I do have a friend that had it installed on his Golf 6 GTI 35 Edition, and he reckons that the pad work really well. The Endless pad is a good all-rounder. These pads may be a bit on the pricey side but at the end of the day if you what them you would pay the price.

4.) EBC

EBC pads have been around for a while. They have done extensive development on the pad for different applications. Below you can see the 4 groups they have.

My personal opinion is to go for the EBC yellow stuff. This is a really great pad and offers you the best of everything. The best of all is you can race with this pad or you can drive on the public roads. Doesn’t matter what you throw at them they will do the job perfectly! What is nice about the yellow stuff pads is the hotter they get the harder they brake without fading. I have run the EBC Yellow stuff on three of my project cars and never had an issue and always stopped on time.

Above you can see what the temperature ranges are on the EBC pads.

Brakes for big power

When you are planning to go for big power on a road\track car then don’t think the standard brakes just with upgraded pads will do the job. You will get to the point that you need brakes and it will just not be there for you. Going big power will mean you will have to go for big brakes as well. There are a few companies that bake bike brakes kits out there. Below you will find some links to companies that do big brake kits.

Conclusion

If you are busy building a project car or already have one, please don’t forget to look at your brakes. Depending on what you want to do, choose the best option to stop your car. I have seen so many people spend money on making their cars faster. They never make the car stop quicker and in the end, they can’t stop the car or the brakes fade at the point you need them the most.

Here are some links you can check out:

EBC Brake Pads

ATE Brake Products