Brake pad choices.

[cyclecamper]

I'm shopping for aggressive pads for my TLR front. I'm pretty confused, and I'd appreciate input from racers.

First of all, I have the early really smooth sine-wave-like original Braking Wave rotors (nice and flat with plenty of thickness, and bought used). What are they made of? They're not rusting so far whereas cast iron may have, so are they stainless? Some pads can't be used with cast iron, others are recommended to be used with cast iron.

There don't seem to be good independent test results easily available for motorcycle brake pads from different mfgrs.

I had good results in 1997 on my old TLS with Ferodo pads on transplanted TLR 6-pots so I'm looking at Ferodo again, instead of Carbon Lorraine (new kids on the block??).

Ferodo has more than 12 different pads for the TLR brakes. 6 compounds in two different pad thicknesses. Forget the organics. Their track day sintergrip ST/STAc pads sound good, but they're phasing them out. Sintergrip SG seem to have about the same specs. I can't find good info about the difference between Comptition 211 versus competition 111. Looks like the SinterGrip XRAC may really chew up discs. Looks like anything with Competition in the name doesn't work wet and is really noisy too.

I'm inclined to try the Competition 211. Then there's some options for whether they have holes in the friction material (for cooling and de-gassing). In some pad materials the "feel" is better with the thinner pads because they don't compress as much, but for the street I'm inclined to get the thicker pads, which should still have good feel with a very metallic compound.

Anyone have any real expereince?

[Patch11]

just stick with oem not many peeps can out ride them. probably the best pads for street and the odd track day unless your 100% track then that's different.

Yoshi are the best pads I've ever run but replacing them every quarter is a bit much.

ebc HH are good
carbone lorraine sbk5 are better

new >>>> ebc extreme pro pads http://www.ebcbrakes.com/exprobrakes.html
Vesrah Super RJL Front Pads


All depends what you want to do ole boy

[Rifleman]

Re: Brake pad choices.

I have Galfer rotors and they require the use of Galfer pads to keep the year long warranty. After that I have run EBC HH pads... For some reason I go through the rear pads pretty quick, the front pads are 3 years old Galfers.

Only problem I have had is running them down to the backers and scratching the rotor... plenty of stopping power.

just don't replace your rear AND fronts at the same time. Replace on end, run for a week and then replace the other... it sux not to have any brakes

[Toledo]

Re: Brake pad choices.

I agree with Patch............ OEM's both ends

[cyclecamper]

Re: Brake pad choices.

just stick with oem

Oh gawd no. The stock or stock-replacement EBC suck. Changing pads made a HUGE diffference on the previous bike, a lot more difference than lines, master, or even caliper. I might have some EBC HH around here somewhere. But I want much more bite and much better control during hard stops. Admittedly, this is mostly not track so fade isn't a huge problem.

[thumpthump]

Re: Brake pad choices.

For the front pads (all that matters) I went with the Ferodo SinterGrip XRAC's. Heard the same about disc wear but so far so good. They have been great and are wearing good and the rotors are fine. Can't really comment on the actual improvement of just the pads since they are running in AP monoblocs on AP stainless narrowbands. I did all the front brake mods at once, so hard to evaluate just the pads, but the whole set-up offers more than I can handle. Just a little improvement over oem

Picked the Ferodo's up at Braketech

[dio50]

Re: Brake pad choices.

Try PFC.You never regret.

[rufer]

Re: Brake pad choices.

Road or track use?
For track use, I can recommend AP Racing CRR pads. By far the best pad I ever used! But they need heat to work, no way you will like them on the road or in the wet. Initial bite with new pads is bad, but after one lap they work excellent and constant until the pad is over. When cold you have to brake a bit earlier for the first corner, so I always pay attention to keep them hot before a standing start.
The base plate of these carbon pads is thicker, so don't use any additional heat spreaders like they ship with some EBC pads.

On track I also tried EBC HH (very bad, fell apart after one track day), different Brembo compounds (range from OK to extremely "sharp" depending on compound), Lucas CRQ (OK, but not as good as the AP racing CRR), and AP racing SRR (sinter) pads. All that on stock stainless rotors.
In the wet I always used OEM pads.

For the road I use OEM equivalent carbon lorraine pads. Nothing special, they just work good in every condition.

Greetings
Rufer

[Sam]

Re: Brake pad choices.

OEM Sintered Pads on OEM Discs

If your running 4 pad GSXR/ZX radial calipers with 320mm TL discs then even better

[Mikey75702]

Re: Brake pad choices.

Brakes are a personal thing, everyone will have a different opinion. That said, when I was riding street, I really liked the ebc hh pads, but once I got them on the track i found they fade really quickly and easily, then were hard pressed to stop. I replaced them with the galfer equivalent, their white pads, and have been much more impressed. The initial bite on the galfers are even better then the ebc, and they don't fade near as easily.

[cyclecamper]

Re: Brake pad choices.

For the front pads (all that matters) I went with the Ferodo SinterGrip XRAC's. Heard the same about disc wear but so far so good. They have been great and are wearing good and the rotors are fine. Can't really comment on the actual improvement of just the pads since they are running in AP monoblocs on AP stainless narrowbands. I did all the front brake mods at once, so hard to evaluate just the pads, but the whole set-up offers more than I can handle. Just a little improvement over oem

Picked the Ferodo's up at Braketech

Sounds like an incredible setup! I'm inclined to go in that direction too...just won't get as far LOL.