Brake pad options that fit between "street" and "track" pads; ever tried PFC Z-rated?

[MineralWhiteF80]

I signed up for a three day rally next year consisting of driving fast mountain roads, top speed runs on an airport runway, 1/4 mile drag strip, and I'd assume other unintentional high-speed encounters in between. No formal road course driving during this event.

I'm trying to decide which brake pads to run for the event. Currently on my garage shelf, I have Akebono Ceramics I run on the street, OEM BMW pads for blue calipers, and Performance Friction 11 I use for the track.

I'm trying to decide if I should add another set of brake pads to my collection that fit between OEM BMW and dedicated race pad, or if the OEM BMW pads will suffice for this event.

The Akebono pads definitely wont work since I can fade them in my driveway. The PFC11 would work, but overkill. The OEM pads will probably be fine but I feel I could use something with a little more heat tolerance since I will be doing a good bit of high speed braking.

Has anyone tried the Performance Friction Z-Rated pads? They exist but I havent seen much talk about them.

I'm thinking of the following brake pad options to use for this 3-day rally:
Ferrodo DS2500
Performance Friction Z-Rated
EBC Yellowstuff

Any opinions or options I should consider? I'd consider myself an Intermediate track day run group, been driving fast mountain roads for 25+ years, confident driver.

[SYT_Shadow]

Z rated are really nice, if you can find them

[NYG]

DS2500 fit that description perfectly. They're meh on track and meh on street but decent overall.

[D_SheerDrivingPleasure]

If you already own PFC11s then use those and save the $. They work great on the street unless it's freezing and wet.

[vrptstyly]

Run the PFC11s you already have. I’ve run several sets and they run quiet on the street when they’re bedded in nicely.

I ran the Akebonos on a trip to the Smokey mountains in October. Driven aggressively on the tail and surrounding roads. They held up well, better than expected. Wouldn’t do a single session on track with them. PFC11s we’re my backup in case the Akebonos couldn’t handle it.

[MineralWhiteF80]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Z rated are really nice, if you can find them

The only place I've seen them is BestBrakes.com for 260 bucks for all 4 corners, which seems cheap to me. And they seem to be in stock...
https://www.bestbrakes.com/1609-10pe...rake-pads.html

Originally Posted by D_SheerDrivingPleasure

If you already own PFC11s then use those and save the $. They work great on the street unless it's freezing and wet.

Originally Posted by vrptstyly

Run the PFC11s you already have. I’ve run several sets and they run quiet on the street when they’re bedded in nicely.

I might just run the PFC11 and be done with it. I daily drove with them between two track events this year for several months and I can get them to be 99% silent by using the brake pedal differently than I would with street pads. I was just trying to skate around the freight train squealing through the mountains when the PFC11 aren't cold but aren't quite hot either... and the massive amounts of brake dust in general

[skier_du]

@MineralWhiteF80 I’m a similar driver to you, judging by your description. Have you considered CarboTech pads? I really liked my Hawk pads before. But now I’m a convert to the CarboTech. I love how they feel and function.
Previously I was running the Hawk 5.0 on street and DTC30 on track. I liked their feel, linear torque and price point. Plus I had few options for the sliding rear calipers on my 335i. This year I upgraded to a BBK in the front, but held off on the rear while the company had a track kit for the rear in development. The issue was finding a company that produced street and track pads for that combination. CarboTech was on of just a couple, including Hawk.
I’m currently running the CT 1525 for the street and XP10 for track. Both have great initial torque, but never fall off. Good temperature range for their categories, and fairly flat curves. Combined with the bbk, the XP10 pads allowed me to break just about as well as the Porsche GT3 cars on track. Despite having a high initial torque, they are surprisingly easy to modulate. Better than the Hawk DTC, I feel. Price is a little more than Hawk, but not much. Further, they have a firm pedal and low brake dust because of their Ceramic Kevlar design. The street pads have very little brake dust. Even the XP10 track pads only dusted a little more than the Hawk 5.0 pads. However, the XP10, while working even when cold, were a little noisy on the street. Low speed is were most of the noise was. When coming to a stop, there was a buss type squeal. Reasonable for a track pad, though. If I got lazy I could live with it. My wife probably couldn’t. 😆 But the 1525 are silent. Pad wear is good so far. I don’t have the exact number, but I had 6, 20+ minute sessions and the pad wear is pretty good. Shouldn’t be much more than a few mm wear. I do have a new set I can compare them too gets number, if you like.
If the CT 1525 isn’t enough for your needs, they have the AX6. That’s an auto cross compound with a little more temp range than the 1525. This and all the XP compounds say not suitable for street. But that may be more due to the increased brake dust and noise.
If you’re interested, here’s a link to their compounds.

https://ctbrakes.com/choosingcompounds/

Good luck with your rally. Happy new year!

[MineralWhiteF80]

Originally Posted by skier_du

@MineralWhiteF80 I’m a similar driver to you, judging by your description. Have you considered CarboTech pads? I really liked my Hawk pads before. But now I’m a convert to the CarboTech. I love how they feel and function.
.....
If the CT 1525 isn’t enough for your needs, they have the AX6. That’s an auto cross compound with a little more temp range than the 1525. This and all the XP compounds say not suitable for street. But that may be more due to the increased brake dust and noise.
If you’re interested, here’s a link to their compounds.

https://ctbrakes.com/choosingcompounds/

Good luck with your rally. Happy new year!

Thanks for you input! I've thought about carbotech pads but I've never tried them, and nobody within my circles have tried them either. Most of my friends are using the PFC, Hawk, Ferrodo brands.

I think a pad in the autocross realm might fit best, and Im planning on doing an autocross in two weeks so that might be what tips me into buying new intermediate pads and not running my PFC11 on this street/strip rally.

I know I'm probably overthinking this brake pad choice, since I'm sure most cars at this event will be running OEM pads anyway lol

[skier_du]

Originally Posted by MineralWhiteF80

Thanks for you input! I've thought about carbotech pads but I've never tried them, and nobody within my circles have tried them either. Most of my friends are using the PFC, Hawk, Ferrodo brands.

I think a pad in the autocross realm might fit best, and Im planning on doing an autocross in two weeks so that might be what tips me into buying new intermediate pads and not running my PFC11 on this street/strip rally.

I know I'm probably overthinking this brake pad choice, since I'm sure most cars at this event will be running OEM pads anyway lol

The thought with that, if most will be running oem or similar pads, an autocross pad will give you an advantage over them.

[alpinefd]

has anyone tried wet sanding track pads, (get them wet, and then rub the 2 pads against each other on the friction surface side)

[Andi-M2]

Endless MX72(+) for daily use and MA45B for track.
I'm loving this combo in several cars, in the meanwhile.

[North.E92]

Thoughts on Ebc pads or anyone running them? I hear they are a good in between street/track pad.

[MineralWhiteF80]

Originally Posted by North.E92

Thoughts on Ebc pads or anyone running them? I hear they are a good in between street/track pad.

This is a good thread on EBC pads. It's focused on the RedStuff compound but there is talks of all red, yellow, blue options and peoples experiences.

https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...hlight=EBC+red

[North.E92]

Originally Posted by MineralWhiteF80

This is a good thread on EBC pads. It's focused on the RedStuff compound but there is talks of all red, yellow, blue options and peoples experiences.

https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...hlight=EBC+red

Have you decided yet? Report back if you do I’m interested in running yellow also

[Grandeur]

Originally Posted by North.E92

Have you decided yet? Report back if you do I’m interested in running yellow also

I did a track day with the Yellowstuff pads. I would not use that compound for the track ever again, and I believe EBC even has a disclaimer about them not being suitable for track use anyhow due to the change of compound. With Yellowstuff I experienced brake fade pretty early on, and this is driver-specific, but I feel they wore through a lot faster compared to the OEM pads when used on the track.

Overall, I think they're a significant upgrade to OEM with less dust and a better bite, in my experience. But I would definitely keep it on the street.

For the track, I have a set of EBC RP-1s that I'm looking forward to using once the rainy season is over up in the PNW.

If you're looking for a "street/track pad" specifically from EBC, I would look into their Bluestuff NDXs. I now run those as my daily pads and could not be happier with their performance.

[slowturbo]

I also run bluestuff ndx. The feel is great and they behave very much like oem pads with increased performance. I have not tried them at an hpde yet so I cannot comment on how they perform under significant stress.

[Carfreak70852]

Originally Posted by MineralWhiteF80

Thanks for you input! I've thought about carbotech pads but I've never tried them, and nobody within my circles have tried them either. Most of my friends are using the PFC, Hawk, Ferrodo brands.

I think a pad in the autocross realm might fit best, and Im planning on doing an autocross in two weeks so that might be what tips me into buying new intermediate pads and not running my PFC11 on this street/strip rally.

I know I'm probably overthinking this brake pad choice, since I'm sure most cars at this event will be running OEM pads anyway lol

I ran Carbotech XP12 front and XP10 rear. They lasted ~4 days which is not good. I switched to PFC11 and they've lasted multiple days (like over 10 days). I have always run Carbotech, but definitely switched to PFC for this platform.