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Front Brake Pads


Jesse_Bolt

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D1001MX these are the Mintex Xtreame X-1 compound. Yes I open track the car. Brake fade is not my issue with these pads and they do work fine on the street. I never open tracked with the stock Brembo pads so cannot compare. About the same on the street but with about 50% of the dust. Rotor wear is significant though. Not happy with that for a mostly street pad. Pad wear is not that great either. About 1/2 gone in 10k miles and a few open track sessions. Stillen recommended them with the drilled rotors I bought from them.

My rotors and pads are in great shape, my rotors have 20k on them with the AutoZone ceramics for 18K of that. Not all rotors are created equal, my Baer rotors are drill and sloted and they look brand new with minimal wear.

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D1001MX these are the Mintex Xtreame X-1 compound. Yes I open track the car. Brake fade is not my issue with these pads and they do work fine on the street. I never open tracked with the stock Brembo pads so cannot compare. About the same on the street but with about 50% of the dust. Rotor wear is significant though. Not happy with that for a mostly street pad. Pad wear is not that great either. About 1/2 gone in 10k miles and a few open track sessions. Stillen recommended them with the drilled rotors I bought from them.

 

Am I reading this right? You track your car, which is likely why we recommended the Mintex pads. The Mintex pads are doing their job and performing well at the track with no fade and less dust than stock, but you are not happy with the rotor and pad wear. You didn't track the car with the stock pads, so you have no reference point to compare pad and rotor wear to. Honestly, 10k miles AND track time with 50% of the pad gone doesn't sound bad to me. That equates to 20k miles and multiple track days on a single set of pads that perform well cold on the street AND hot on the track.

 

Do you have any idea how hard tracking a car is on the brakes? Especially if you are a beginner on the track, as novice drivers tend to use the brakes way too much while learning how to drive their car on the track.

 

My point is, you seem to want the best of everything....low dust, no rotor or pad wear, but still suitable for a track event. Unfortunately, that combination doesn't exist with any pad. As with most everything, you give up some benefits to gain others.

 

If you want the pads and rotors to last a long time with low dust, buy ceramic pads. Just don't expect them to stop you in an emergency or on the track. There's a reason why they last a long time....they don't produce much friction, which is what stops the car.

 

You guys putting these pads on 500, 600, 700+ hp cars just blows my mind. You realize that the SAME ceramic compound is used for 80 hp 2000 lb Honda Civic brake pads. That might be ok for a lightweight low power car that isn't likely to be driving at high speeds, but not for a heavy, high hp car that does see high speeds.

 

Dan

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Am I reading this right? You track your car, which is likely why we recommended the Mintex pads. The Mintex pads are doing their job and performing well at the track with no fade and less dust than stock, but you are not happy with the rotor and pad wear. You didn't track the car with the stock pads, so you have no reference point to compare pad and rotor wear to. Honestly, 10k miles AND track time with 50% of the pad gone doesn't sound bad to me. That equates to 20k miles and multiple track days on a single set of pads that perform well cold on the street AND hot on the track.

 

Do you have any idea how hard tracking a car is on the brakes? Especially if you are a beginner on the track, as novice drivers tend to use the brakes way too much while learning how to drive their car on the track.

 

My point is, you seem to want the best of everything....low dust, no rotor or pad wear, but still suitable for a track event. Unfortunately, that combination doesn't exist with any pad. As with most everything, you give up some benefits to gain others.

 

If you want the pads and rotors to last a long time with low dust, buy ceramic pads. Just don't expect them to stop you in an emergency or on the track. There's a reason why they last a long time....they don't produce much friction, which is what stops the car.

 

You guys putting these pads on 500, 600, 700+ hp cars just blows my mind. You realize that the SAME ceramic compound is used for 80 hp 2000 lb Honda Civic brake pads. That might be ok for a lightweight low power car that isn't likely to be driving at high speeds, but not for a heavy, high hp car that does see high speeds.

 

Dan

"Ceramic brake pads offer great braking performance, wear well over time and are very lightweight -- all of which are important for high-performance driving." http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/b...brake-pads2.htm

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Am I reading this right? You track your car, which is likely why we recommended the Mintex pads. The Mintex pads are doing their job and performing well at the track with no fade and less dust than stock, but you are not happy with the rotor and pad wear. You didn't track the car with the stock pads, so you have no reference point to compare pad and rotor wear to. Honestly, 10k miles AND track time with 50% of the pad gone doesn't sound bad to me. That equates to 20k miles and multiple track days on a single set of pads that perform well cold on the street AND hot on the track.

 

Do you have any idea how hard tracking a car is on the brakes? Especially if you are a beginner on the track, as novice drivers tend to use the brakes way too much while learning how to drive their car on the track.

 

My point is, you seem to want the best of everything....low dust, no rotor or pad wear, but still suitable for a track event. Unfortunately, that combination doesn't exist with any pad. As with most everything, you give up some benefits to gain others.

 

If you want the pads and rotors to last a long time with low dust, buy ceramic pads. Just don't expect them to stop you in an emergency or on the track. There's a reason why they last a long time....they don't produce much friction, which is what stops the car.

 

You guys putting these pads on 500, 600, 700+ hp cars just blows my mind. You realize that the SAME ceramic compound is used for 80 hp 2000 lb Honda Civic brake pads. That might be ok for a lightweight low power car that isn't likely to be driving at high speeds, but not for a heavy, high hp car that does see high speeds.

 

Dan

Dan, I respect your knowledge on this subject, but noone is saying that the Autozone pads will have equal stopping power to Mintex or the other name-brand high performance pads. I'm not going to track the car with these pads on. It doesn't matter if the cars have 700, 800 or 1000 hp, for everyday driving, 90% of us are not going to be making regular suicide stops from 150 mph. All I'm saying is that in my experience, these pads are a good, reasonably priced alternative if you quiet, no dust performance. I understand that you are a vendor and you have a finacial interest, which is fine, but I think it's wrong to put down a product because it doesn't have a name brand and cost $200 a set.

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90% of us are not going to be making regular suicide stops from 150 mph.

 

Speak for thy self...How do you think I can get an extra couple miles in when I have to "run" to the store!

 

LMAO.gif

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First I should be clear my only interest is the performance of my car and that of other GT500 owners, I'm not making a dime one way or the other.

I put the Duralast Gold Cmax Pads on my car this morning and drove it today, the brakes work great! Before today, even after a short drive I would have black dust all over my wheels and some black dust on my car. Not now, problem solved and the brakes feel at least as effective as before. They cost me $127.78 not including the price of a of tube of Permatex Ant-Seize, as you need a little for the shims on the front brakes.

Here a couple of pix of the Brembo next to the Duralast Gold Cmax. The quality looks good to me on both, just the darn dust caused by the Brembos pads is why I changed them. Seems like a good cost effective solution to the dust to me.

post-5223-1257025509_thumb.jpgpost-5223-1257025540_thumb.jpg

post-5223-1257025509_thumb.jpg

post-5223-1257025540_thumb.jpg

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First I should be clear my only interest is the performance of my car and that of other GT500 owners, I'm not making a dime one way or the other.

I put the Duralast Gold Cmax Pads on my car this morning and drove it today, the brakes work great! Before today, even after a short drive I would have black dust all over my wheels and some black dust on my car. Not now, problem solved and the brakes feel at least as effective as before. They cost me $127.78 not including the price of a of tube of Permatex Ant-Seize, as you need a little for the shims on the front brakes.

Here a couple of pix of the Brembo next to the Duralast Gold Cmax. The quality looks good to me on both, just the darn dust caused by the Brembos pads is why I changed them. Seems like a good cost effective solution to the dust to me.

post-5223-1257025509_thumb.jpgpost-5223-1257025540_thumb.jpg

the 127.78 thats for the front and rear, after 2 or 3 cycles the dust will be less ans less. Enjoy them.
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Dan, I respect your knowledge on this subject, but noone is saying that the Autozone pads will have equal stopping power to Mintex or the other name-brand high performance pads. I'm not going to track the car with these pads on. It doesn't matter if the cars have 700, 800 or 1000 hp, for everyday driving, 90% of us are not going to be making regular suicide stops from 150 mph. All I'm saying is that in my experience, these pads are a good, reasonably priced alternative if you quiet, no dust performance. I understand that you are a vendor and you have a finacial interest, which is fine, but I think it's wrong to put down a product because it doesn't have a name brand and cost $200 a set.

 

I understand your perspective on this subject as well. I'm not telling everyone to go with an expensive track ready pad, but I think it is important for people to know what they are giving up when choosing a chain store bought ceramic pad. Keep in mind that these chain store pads are made overseas with constantly changing compounds. How much make/model specific testing do you think goes into a pad set that costs $60 retail? If you must have ceramic for reduced dust, Hawk makes the best ceramic pad I know of that minimizes the performance loss inherent to ceramic pad compounds.

 

Again, everyone is free to form their own opinion and make a choice accordingly but I wanted to try to make certain that people at least know what they are giving up when choosing the chain auto parts store pads.

 

Me personally, i'd rather stop 1 inch too early than 1 inch too late.

 

Dan

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"Ceramic brake pads offer great braking performance, wear well over time and are very lightweight -- all of which are important for high-performance driving." http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/b...brake-pads2.htm

 

"So again, what's the problem with ceramic brake pads? They're very expensive." The next sentence in the article you quoted. $60/set is expensive? Someone following that article would certainly be in trouble on the track.

 

"Sports cars that are routinely driven hard -- as part of club racing, for example -- can benefit from ceramic brake pads" Absolute, complete BS. Any ceramic pads you buy that's suitable for a "sports car" is NOT suitable for the track.

 

The GT1 Compuware Corvette shown in that photo uses carbon rotors and pads. Apples to oranges comparison. This article is completely misleading.

 

Dan

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"So again, what's the problem with ceramic brake pads? They're very expensive." The next sentence in the article you quoted. $60/set is expensive? Someone following that article would certainly be in trouble on the track.

 

"Sports cars that are routinely driven hard -- as part of club racing, for example -- can benefit from ceramic brake pads" Absolute, complete BS. Any ceramic pads you buy that's suitable for a "sports car" is NOT suitable for the track.

 

The GT1 Compuware Corvette shown in that photo uses carbon rotors and pads. Apples to oranges comparison. This article is completely misleading.

 

Dan

Thanks for your input on that article. Kind of funny that the car they're showing as an example of an application where ceramic pads are used is not actually on ceramics. As I was often reminded in grad school, just 'cuz it's posted somewhere on the internet doesn't mean it's accurate or a reliable source.

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"So again, what's the problem with ceramic brake pads? They're very expensive." The next sentence in the article you quoted. $60/set is expensive? Someone following that article would certainly be in trouble on the track.

 

"Sports cars that are routinely driven hard -- as part of club racing, for example -- can benefit from ceramic brake pads" Absolute, complete BS. Any ceramic pads you buy that's suitable for a "sports car" is NOT suitable for the track.

 

The GT1 Compuware Corvette shown in that photo uses carbon rotors and pads. Apples to oranges comparison. This article is completely misleading.

 

Dan

If you don't mind, I would like to forward your comments to the author of the article and give him the chance to respond. If you would rather I didn't, no problem.

Yesterday I took my GT500 for some real time testing of a street driven GT500, a few high speed stops in a row with out noticeable fading, all in all, 170 miles of driving at somewhat normal speeds, I'm glad to report they worked great!

I'm interested in good products for a good price, these pads seem to work really good for the street. I give the Duralast Gold Cmax an A+.

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If you don't mind, I would like to forward your comments to the author of the article and give him the chance to respond. If you would rather I didn't, no problem.

Yesterday I took my GT500 for some real time testing of a street driven GT500, a few high speed stops in a row with out noticeable fading, all in all, 170 miles of driving at somewhat normal speeds, I'm glad to report they worked great!

I'm interested in good products for a good price, these pads seem to work really good for the street. I give the Duralast Gold Cmax an A+.

 

As far as your experience with these pads goes, i'm happy that you like them. Ultimately if they work for you and do what you want them to do, then they are a good match for your needs.

 

 

I'm not looking to start a war of words or opinions with the author. I wanted to note that some of the author's suggestions may not be suitable for the applications he suggests in the article. I certainly feel that this articale is misleading and suggests that parts used on full race cars can be used on "street cars" and "club racing" when in fact the opposite is true. Full race parts....brakes in particular, should stay on race cars and not street cars. The GT1/GT2 Corvette photo certainly doesn't help.

 

I looked up the Compuware GT1 specs, and in the process discovered that they did in fact build a new GT2 Corvette that made its debut on August 8, 2009. The GT2 class does use steel brake rotors and ceramic composite pads. In that aspect, the article is technically correct.....some race cars use ceramic pads.

 

However, suggesting that brake components found on a GT2 race car are in any way suitable for use on a "street car" is misleading at best, if not potentially dangerous to someone who reads that article and buys Autozone ceramic pads and runs them on the track. The same is true of someone who buys very expensive full race pads for his "street car" and finds out the hard way that they don't work at all until they are quite hot.

 

Here's the site where the GT1/GT2 specs are posted:

 

http://www.corvetteracing.com/cars/gt2-c6r...c6r_specs.shtml

 

Notice the comparison to the ZR1, which uses carbon-ceramic rotors, where the GT2 C6 uses steel rotors and ceramic composite pads. While both cars use ceramic composite brake parts, there is a huge difference between the 2 brake systems.

 

Dan

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If you don't mind, I would like to forward your comments to the author of the article and give him the chance to respond. If you would rather I didn't, no problem.

Yesterday I took my GT500 for some real time testing of a street driven GT500, a few high speed stops in a row with out noticeable fading, all in all, 170 miles of driving at somewhat normal speeds, I'm glad to report they worked great!

I'm interested in good products for a good price, these pads seem to work really good for the street. I give the Duralast Gold Cmax an A+.

I dont understand how anybody can put down a product with out testing them.
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I dont understand how anybody can put down a product with out testing them.

 

I dont have a dog in this race, but I am sure if you dont track the car the A-zone pad mentioned would be fine. "They feel good" might be great for just a weekend cruiser.

For me I have tracked lots of different pad compounds from different mfgs, and for this I think Dans point (I dont know Dan personally) is well made, you dont want to find out

you have the wrong pad at the end of the straight going a buck 40, I "think" he was just indicating that different pads work for different applications. I faded the stock pads on the GT500 after only 4 hot laps

at Putnam Park, so even if the A-zone pad is as good as stock, its still not a track pad especially with the weight of our cars being what it is. And believe me, the first time you brakes go away,

if you are lucky you can just have a class 10 pucker factor and laugh about it when you tell the story later, but have seen much worse happen to folks driving some very nice cars when the fade sets in.

 

Think there are pads to fit different driving styles, I only suggest you be sure you pick the one that fits your requirements.

 

Just my opinion guys,

 

 

Phil

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The stock pads realy suck for for a street driven GT500 because you can't go 20 miles without needing to clean your wheels or 100 miles and need to clean the car too. The Duralast Cmax work great and they are a huge improvement in the dust area. They are also priced well.

The link I posted written about ceramic pads was buy a person with an unbiased opinion and no interest in selling you or me a set of brakes from his company.

When I changed the original brake pads, I did a carefull comparison for quality, The Cmax seem to be every bit as good as the Brembos.

Promoting a product by publicly faulting a customer and slamming the competition doesn't earn my confidence. It would have been nice to hear a positive aproach and competitively priced alternative for the average street driven GT500.

 

Blayne

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I dont have a dog in this race, but I am sure if you dont track the car the A-zone pad mentioned would be fine. "They feel good" might be great for just a weekend cruiser.

For me I have tracked lots of different pad compounds from different mfgs, and for this I think Dans point (I dont know Dan personally) is well made, you dont want to find out

you have the wrong pad at the end of the straight going a buck 40, I "think" he was just indicating that different pads work for different applications. I faded the stock pads on the GT500 after only 4 hot laps

at Putnam Park, so even if the A-zone pad is as good as stock, its still not a track pad especially with the weight of our cars being what it is. And believe me, the first time you brakes go away,

if you are lucky you can just have a class 10 pucker factor and laugh about it when you tell the story later, but have seen much worse happen to folks driving some very nice cars when the fade sets in.

 

Think there are pads to fit different driving styles, I only suggest you be sure you pick the one that fits your requirements.

 

Just my opinion guys,

 

 

Phil

 

+1 I think this is exactly what this thread is about. It is all about what do YOU use YOUR car for. If it is a weekend cruiser an A-zone pad might be fine. If you track it, you need a performance pad. There is not one pad out there that does it all. You have to pick between brake dust, fade resistance, cost, braking power, pad noise, rotor wear, etc.

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Hahaha I love this kind of stuff...cheap sometimes works great...ask anyone who has ever bought $10 a bottle wine in Paris....

 

 

But anyone track those Autozones? I have heard first hand stories about the expensive brakes sucking as well...Hot Rod Mag did an article on this and guess what...big money brakes did not do much...more in most cases...

 

Ferrari and Porsche use Brembos stock....enough said.

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they usually take about 50 miles for a small brake in period, after that is going to be a joy every time you look at your wheels.

 

Please tell me you are at least bedding the pads in after installation. Brake pads are not meant to be installed and run without break in.

 

Dan

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Hahaha I love this kind of stuff...cheap sometimes works great...ask anyone who has ever bought $10 a bottle wine in Paris....

 

 

Ferrari and Porsche use Brembos stock....enough said.

 

SGT,

I would only point out that Brembo makes a host of products, and they are not all created equal, there are 4 piston, 6 piston, mono block, race versions and all sorts of pad / design variations based on what the customer (porsche / Ferrari etc) specified or required for the specific application vehicle weight, price point etc. Point being that just because we have brembos on our cars does not mean we have the best brembo has to offer.

 

As an example, I purchased a Volvo wagon in 2006 that came with Brembos from the factory, and even though its brake design is 4 years behind today, it would stop about 14' feet (182' vs 168' per C&D) shorter than a 2010 GT500 does today (yes our cars can be out braked by a wagon) even though it weighed roughly the same (3800 lbs) and it did so with a smaller 235 tire all the way around. Many things can help a car stop quickly, but swept area and quality brakes are key, and this car was slightly less in sticker price (42k in 2006).

 

Not saying Brembo is not a great product, because I really like what they offer, they have a proven track record, and I am glad we got them over something stock, but in my opinion like the pad discussion,

what is installed is application and / or customer specific.

 

Phil

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Please tell me you are at least bedding the pads in after installation. Brake pads are not meant to be installed and run without break in.

 

Dan

Does that apply only to aftermarket brakes? I've never bought a new car that I had to bed the brakes.

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Hahaha I love this kind of stuff...cheap sometimes works great...ask anyone who has ever bought $10 a bottle wine in Paris....

 

 

But anyone track those Autozones?

 

I hope not. They are absolutely not designed for track use.

 

 

I have heard first hand stories about the expensive brakes sucking as well...

 

Would you be referring to OEM "expensive brakes"? Please elaborate on your statement....not sure what point you are trying to make.

 

Hot Rod Mag did an article on this and guess what...big money brakes did not do much...more in most cases...

 

Again, what "big money brakes are we talking about, what is the application, what was the use, and please define "did not do much...more in most cases". I'm just not sure where you're going with this statement.

 

 

Ferrari and Porsche use Brembos stock....enough said.

 

Yes they do....and if you believe for one second that the GT500 uses the same Brembos as the Porsche or Ferrari, you will be massively dissappointed if you look into it further. Just because it's made by the same company doesn't mean it's the same part.

 

Dan

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The stock pads realy suck for for a street driven GT500 because you can't go 20 miles without needing to clean your wheels or 100 miles and need to clean the car too. The Duralast Cmax work great and they are a huge improvement in the dust area. They are also priced well.

The link I posted written about ceramic pads was buy a person with an unbiased opinion and no interest in selling you or me a set of brakes from his company.

 

I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that this sentence was directed toward me. My take on it? Sure, i'd like to sell you some brakes. But more importantly, I want everyone to understand some of the disadvantages of the named pads. Just like most everything else, there is no free lunch and you WILL give up performance in exchange for lower dust when using these pads. No ifs, ands, or buts...that's the way it is. If you or anyone else is ok with that, then by all means buy those pads and run them.

 

 

When I changed the original brake pads, I did a carefull comparison for quality, The Cmax seem to be every bit as good as the Brembos.

 

I'm curious as to how you did this comparison, and what your tests were.

 

 

Promoting a product by publicly faulting a customer and slamming the competition doesn't earn my confidence. It would have been nice to hear a positive aproach and competitively priced alternative for the average street driven GT500.

 

There were reasons that I stated my opinion. I have stated multiple times in this thread to buy these pads if you wish, just understand what you are giving up by making the change. I have also stated that there are other low dust pad alternatives that don't reduce the braking power of your car. To me, they are better options because you aren't giving up as much performance to achieve your goal of reduced brake dust.

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