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Brake Pads R32

3K views 18 replies 5 participants last post by  JamesBaby 
#1 ·
I have been using Yellow Stuff pads for two years now and they are coming up to needing replacement. However the price seems to have shot up from £135 to £180 for a full set. This is way more than I want to pay this time round so I wondered what people would recommend.

I want good initial bite, but also the ability to take 30 minutes of glowing abuse occasionally.

ATE Pads from ECP are £108 for a full set after discount. Yet Pagid ones are only £51


Then there is Ferodo Premiere, has anyone tried these?

If we get some good info on this thread it could become a good resource.

Cheers
James
 
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#2 ·
I've used ATE and PAGID pads from Eurocarparts - they can't even cope with fast road driving, trust me been there, done that. I still have them in my garage with a few thousand miles on them.
Yellows have been the best fast road pad I've used on the R32 so far.

I wouldn't even consider the Pagids or ATE pads to be anywhere near upto the job of spirited driving, at least on the mk4.

Still think the yellows are the best for price and performance. Everything else performance wise is more expensive than Yellows - the old DS2500 pads cost like £150-180 for the fronts last time I checked.

Hawk pads seem to get a decent write up in America, but I'm not sure I've read anyone using them over here.

CarboTech XP pads are decent, but I couldn't find a supplier over here that would sell them for a price that was near the yellows either.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for your advice mate. I'll sack the Pagid and ATE then.

How about Red Stuff?. The compound is now ceramic based I read. Maybe it takes less warming up?

I assume I'm gonna have to shell out for the Yellow Stuff. What's the minimum depth I should allow before changing them out?
 
#4 ·
Red stuff - from my limited knowledge, they are a little lower on the ebc performance ladder right? in that case, probably going in the wrong direction - seeing as the yellows don't need any warming up, and work well even when hammered (on road at least), I'd still stick with what's known.. where do the new ceramic Red's sit in the EBC ladder?

I heard EBC have a more aggressive BLUE pad, which is supposed to be a more track orientated pad than the yellows. I'd be tempted in investigating those too, but I wouldn't want to loose the usability of the Yellows though. The yellows just seem to work very well on the r32 for some reason, at least for fast road use in my eyes.

So I'd suggest sacking off the reds, and investigating the Blues if they exist in our required fitment?

Failing that, if you can find anyone doing CarboTech XP (I can't remember if it's XP8 or XP10), might be worth a shot. I helped my friend fit some carbotech to his EVO9 (Can't remember if they were XP8 or 10), (stock factory brembo caliper and disc), and they were really immense - worked well from cold, and just got better the harder u pushed the car. Only downside was brake squeel (I guess we might get around that if we tried using some rubber shims??)
 
#7 ·
I heard EBC have a more aggressive BLUE pad, which is supposed to be a more track orientated pad than the yellows. I'd be tempted in investigating those too, but I wouldn't want to loose the usability of the Yellows though. The yellows just seem to work very well on the r32 for some reason, at least for fast road use in my eyes.
Blue is an endurance pad with a lower coeff of friction than even the green stuff, so not really suitable for the road.

What about Yellow Stuff R? That is stickier than the regular Yellow Stuff. 0.6 coefficient of friction vs 0.5.

How much are the OEM pads for reference?
 
#5 ·
Cheers for the advice mate.

I'll see how I get on, but I suspect it will be Yellow Stuff again. If it ain't broke....,
 
#6 ·
i have redstuff, and they seem ok, but the big selling point of them is less brake dust, and i have next to none,

my dad has yellowstuff and in my opinion i cant tell much difference to be honest, but yellows are for track which will accomodate the glowing action that you want better than the reds

i cant fully compare as i have the grooved discs and my dad has oem discs, but i cant tell any difference tbh, stick with yellows if theres nothing wrong with them
 
#8 ·
CorradoR32 said:
Blue is an endurance pad with a lower coeff of friction than even the green stuff, so not really suitable for the road. What about Yellow Stuff R? That is stickier than the regular Yellow Stuff. 0.6 coefficient of friction vs 0.5. How much are the OEM pads for reference?
The Oem pads are £108 from ECP after 25% off.
 
#10 ·
That's not bad for the OEM pads. I thought they'd be £200 or something crazy like that.

The blue is indeed a track pad but it's more for lifespan than outright grip. The kind of thing they'd use on the Lemans 24hr race so they last, which means a hard compound.

Agreed on the Greenstuff. They allegedly have a friction coefficient of 0.55, but where is this grip? I certainly didn't feel it


Brake pad makers are keen to boast about their coefficient of friction these days. It used to be a number only racing geeks cared about, but it's been brought into the public eye in the last 10 years. It's a friction measurement on a scale of 0 - 1. 0 being like ice on ice and 1 being like a land anchor.

OEM pads usually come in around 0.35 - 0.4 as they don't want customers head butting the windscreen when they tap the pedal.

Race pads are usually 0.55 - 0.6. I did try the Pagid RS15 (aka 'pagid grey') some years ago and that was 0.65 and was by far the grippiest pad I've ever used. I don't think it's available for R32s unfortunately otherwise I'd be all over it.

So look for the highest coeff of friction number. There's more to it than that though as some pads need considerably more heat than others to see that friction. For me personally, Yellow Stuff was always a pad that needed to be almost on fire to get any real bite out of it, but I keep hearing they work well on R32s. I last used YS about 5 years ago and was far from impressed with them, but they've since released the YSR and maybe changed the compound of YS too, so I am intrigued by them now


I do like the OEM setup though. I find them very predictable and consistent, which is comforting on a freezing Monday morning on the way to work. Some race pads can give you a very inconsistent pedal.
 
#11 ·
Thanks for the great info.

When did the yellow stuff r compound come out? I still have my box in the garage. I will dig the box out, I'm intrigued to see if I have the r compound or not, as I've always been impressed with these yellow pads I've been using.

They are now about 3 years old on my car, and although they are still plenty thick, I think they are now passing their best as I now have to candance (??) brake from high speed, where I didn't have to before
 
#12 ·
Not too sure to be honest. I stumbled onto this site when looking up the Yellow's friction coeff - http://www.k300performance.co.uk/ebc-brake-pads.php

Scroll down the page and you'll see Yellow Stuff R. It could just be what that site calls it, but I've seen other places show just "Yellow Stuff" at 0.5 friction coeff.

Maybe your brake servo hose is leaking a bit? I hear that's a common source of intake leaks on the MK4, which will also reduce the brake servo's efficiency.
 
#13 ·
Update. I've ordered some EBC Red Stuff Pads. The blurb suggests 0.5 friction coeff, and a new ceramic based formula.

I got them for a reasonable price too, £115 for a full set front and rear. (I just wasn't prepared to pay £180 for the Yellow Stuff.)

I've also ordered a set of TyrolSport Brake Caliper Bushes which I will review in due course.
 
#15 ·
I did think to but then I thought sack it, as some swear by them. My pedal feel isn't great so that why i was tempted.
 
#17 ·
#19 ·
Behave Ryan ! Lol.
 
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