hey guys

how are you all doing? so, I have 2/9ths left on my pads, 27k miles 06TL 6mt (brembo's) and I need to replace the front. I don't drive the car hard - but remember I live in New York with a lot of stop and go and many trips to NYC etc...

so what do you guys recommend? I will definitely have my mechanic do the install of the front pads but what should I get...is there anything else I need to tell him or just buy the pads and bring them to my mechanic?

I've done a lot of searching, there's a ton of stuff but no consolidated info on what are the best pads to use?

THanks!!!

 

The best pads are the oem Brembo if you can deal with the dust. I own a NBP so the brake dust does not bother me as my car is dirty only minues after I finish washing it. so I'm sort of numb to it now.

I just picked up a set from Acura of Escondito for $130 on ebay if that helps.

 

Rotora makes pads for the Brembos and so does Hawk
See vendors Excelerate or MrHeelToe respectivly for them

Have the rotors removed and resurfaced or at least cleaned with 130 grit sandpaper before new pads.
The old pad material does not co-exist with the new in friendly ways

 

I'm gonna give Hawks a try and see how they are on the 3rd gen. I am happy with the OEM pads except for the dust. I currently have Rotex gold pads and they are nice b/c lots less dust, but they don't bite as well (don't squeak either). I'm hoping that the Hawk pads don't squeak or else I'll take them off.

 

Properly greased and installed on clean rotors- then bedded in per procedure-
Hawks are awesome. Use ceramics if noise is the big concern

 

^ Wait, I'm confused...? I thought the Hawk Ceramics were the "low noise" pads and the HPS were are the squeak free?....

I currently have Hawks HPS and boy do they squeak! But I blame it on not resurfacing the rotors at installation time.... Although I'm starting to have second thoughts since other members have had squeaky hawks....

Rotora here I come...

 

thanks guys - I've contacted excelerate to find out what the costs are.
Shittown (Smithtown) Acura wants $370 for pads, resurfacing etc...RIDICULOUS

my mechanic will do it for 100$, install and resurfacing...the same one I've been going to for 15 years and the same guy who changed my fluid to GM Synchromesh PRO BONO

 

I recently installed the Satisfied Pro's. I bought them on Tirerack and had a local shop install them. They bedded in nicely, no noise at all.

 

The Hawk ceramics are closer to OE in the low noise area
The HPS are High Performance Street- some dust- low noise

The key to it all is properly clean or resurface rotors to remove all old pad residue form them
New pads like a fresh surface

Then bedding is critical
DO NOT come to a complete stop at any time during the bedding process
or you will hot spot the rotors
Stoptech has an excellent write up and explanation of why you do the procedure- its curing the pads and conditioning the rotors

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_bedinstock.shtml

Again- when directions say STOP from 40- that means slow down to 10mph and back on the gas
Where it says let the rotors and pads cool- that means drive on freeway without using brakes for 20 minutes- airflow is what brings them down slowly

Third key: DO NOT overtorque or unevenly torque the wheel lugs
That will destroy even brand new high $$$ rotors
Bring them up to 80 ft lbs in 3 easy increases-
50 (hand snug with tire wrench)- 70- 80
Some people use 2 steps- 3 is the ultimate in load sharing

 

01tl4tl and I disagree on some things...

Always follow the pad manufacturer's pad bed-in instructions if they exist. Hawk has it's own set of bed-in instructions on their own website. Follow them. Otherwise, I DO NOT recommend doing an aggressive bed-in as illustrated unless it is recommended by the pad manufacturer. Why? Sometimes aggressive bed-ins can cause glazing if not done correctly, or some pads may not be able to handle them. If no bed-in procedure exists, do a gentle 30:30:30 bed-in as Bendix suggests...this means 30 near stops, from 30 miles per hr, with a 30 sec (or 0.3-0.5 mi) cool down in between each stop.

If you just want a decent pad for a daily driver, try Raybestos Professional Grade semi-mets. They have a pad out for the 6MT now (as does Wagner under their ThermoQuiet line) and both run about $50/set.

 

OK- What I meant was: if you are running high performance pads (its my assumption that everyone here drives like escaped mental patients- maybe its just me)
then have a read of the StopTech article for its tech value
Few know why the bedding is important and pad technology

Follow your pad makers instructions and if you get noise- try the stoptech method

My thinking-If you have Brembo calipers- get better rotors and pads that will
allow full power of the calipers to interact with the pads and rotors-
resulting in favorable brake torque~

 

When I get the hawk pads and bed them properly and they still squeak I'm gonna be pissed.

 

Hey Mike - I actually think the raybestos has been out for a while. I seem to remember when I was shopping for pads about a year and a half ago my local parts shop telling me those were the only pads they could get. Regardless, you are correct in that they should work fine for a regular daily driver replacement.

 

subinf

If you follow the rotor cleaning or resurface or replace, and the new Hawks pads are greased correctly and bedded- if they make noise I will personally take you on a thrill ride to do a real brake bedding on them- and the noise will be gone
The Stoptech method worked for another member who had done everything by the book and had some noise
Do not come to a full stop while breaking in the pads, slowing to 10 and accellerate is the way to do it- this is for the special bedding only- does not apply to driving on street -
heres your sign!

 

I have my Brembos done at the dealer with the OEM pads. Granted, the dust drives me crazy, but so far I've found that only the dealer service depts have the lathe that resurfaces the rotors ON THE CAR. That way, their new surface is perfectly perpendicular with the car's wheel hub and spindle. I'd much rather have low dust ceramic pads, but that way of resurfacing remains THE ONLY REASON I have the dealer do the brakes.

Hopefully, I can find a brake shop that resurfaces this way next time around.
.
.
.

 

Get RacingBrake rotors and not have to worry about resurfacing-
can go thru 2 or 3 sets of Hawk pads and not warp, shimmy or do other strange things!
Thats serious metal technology at work
www.racingbrake.com for tech info
www.heeltoeauto.com for MrHeelToe

Attn subinf- do you need me to fix your brakes or did the bedding go well and no noise?

 

Theoretically, the on-the-car lathe is superior to the bench lathe as makes the rotor true to the hub. Runout is virtually eliminated or reduced to 0.001" or less. However, by doing a good bench lathe job and making sure that the hub surface is clean before reinstalling the rotor, runout will be less than 0.003" anyway, which is all that you need for Honda/Acura applications.

Think about it...if runout was really an issue with good bench lathe jobs, then we would have to resurface rotors out of the box. You don't. A lot of the runout issues are caused by an uneven/unclean mounting surface for the rotor and/or a poor resurfacing job.

 

The bench lathe is often in the hands of a marginally trained person at tire and brake quickie shops. They cut uneven amounts per side and make an out of balance condition
where now had been before

 

The bench lathe is often in the hands of a marginally trained person at tire and brake quickie shops. They cut uneven amounts per side and make an out of balance condition
where none had been before

Properly used by a skilled tech, not the 5 buck special, will result in good resurfacing

 

Which is why you need to do parallelism and runout checks after resurfacing...

 

You funny guy Soda!!

Like the average place even knows what that means!
Habla englese???

Next you'll tell me that all techs torque wheels to 80 ft lbs

 

Heck, watch the Bendix training DVD on www.bendixbrakes.com. It's pretty good info.

But yeah, a lot of shops cut corners and just hope that they won't have a comeback...

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news
BUT
As a back in the day mechanic and shop manager and overseer of
the techs-chief test driver and bottle washer
well lets just say that flat rate techs may be in a hurry- they may be the best tech,
or not, comebacks eat their time from earning money on another job

Paid by the hour guys could care less- if car comes back- they wont be working on it!
The real tech has to fix that stuff

 

http://brakeperformance.com/site/ind...d=1750&ad=ebay

I used pads from this place on my truck first and love them!!!!!!
I later purchased them for my IS then for my TL!!!!
There is little dust and work great!!!!! IMO

 

Haven't got them yet. And I'm not going to be able to install them on the car until end of July when I'm back in CA.