refresh951

Anyone here using Porterfield R4-S pads. They are suppose to be pretty rotor friendly. I am looking for one pad to work fairly well on the street, AutoX, and the track.

gpr8er

I use em. Big Blacks on C4 rotors. Very rotor friendly, no fade at the track. But...squeal like crazy if used on the street. I change back to Mintex cheapos for the street.

edit: opps, I'm R4 track pads

Techno Duck

Also used those for a while and really liked them. Moderate dust but I thought they were quiet. Rotor friendly also. I switched back to Hawk because I couldn't find the R4S (street compound) anymore; Stable Energies used to carry them but stopped. Good street and auto-x and will survive about 3/4 of a 20 minute DE session before they overheat.

I have an old set of R4's on the car right now and they have been great on the track but are super dusty and very loud.

gpr8er

One of the reason I use them is they're in Costa Mesa, I can stop by on the way home and pick up a set.

Stable Energies

Actually if they are for a 944 Turbo, they should be the pad # 102, and we do have them in stock.

refresh951

Thanks for the input!

arthropraxis

I use the RS4 street pads, they work well but lack cold initial bite on the street.

Arominus

I just put a set on the s2, i got them from pelican. I like them so far, they don't have the intial bite, but thats ok since they take the heat better than the PBR ultimates i had. Those couldn't take 1 100mph stop without nuking themselves. Be warned if you order from pelican, use the 968 listing and not the S2, they sent me NA pads when i used the S2 listing, it may be the same for the Turbo.

AP345 is the correct porterfield part number for front and back pads.

superloaf

I've used R4S pads for a long time on the street but for the track, I would highly recommend something more able to deal with the heat like the R4. My R4S pads will fade pretty quickly on the street when racing around the canyons so I can't imagine they would last longer than a few laps on a track before the fade set in. And to clarify my experience, I'm talking heavy brake fade smell and pedal going to the floor and I even remember seeing black smoke/dust coming up from the front wheels when driving and getting on the brakes hard. Nowadays I will drive fairly fast until the first hint of fade and then I have to back off severly. They never completely failed or put me in danger and although the pedal went to the floor, they would still stop the car but with much longer distance. And since I was aware of the problem, of course I backed off.
That being said, they are pretty nice for normal street driving to slightly spirited and I admit that the canyons out here are pretty severe and hard on the brakes. Also, I agree with what others have said and would like a little more initial bite from them but I always feel that way about any pads I use.
And finally, Porterfield folks are great people to deal with and I do like the R4S much more than it sounds like here but still think these pads are not suitable for track at all other than maybe autocross or DE event where you're not really pushing too hard and there's no major braking areas.
Happy stopping!

dmcampbell

Shawn: This is a great street pad, but not adequate for the track. Swap out for a set of Hawk Blues and you will experience real braking! I have tried all brands and Hawk Blues are the best for the money. Mike

fejjj

How are the Hawk Blues on the street in terms of noise?

Oddjob

I have an unused set of Turbo S/M030 R-4 track compound pads on the shelf - I don't use these for racing anymore. If anyone is looking for a set, make me an offer.

refresh951

Really appreciate all the input. In the end I went with two sets of pads. Porterfield R4-S pads for the street and Hawk Blue's for the track. Used the R4-S pads this weekend on a mountain run and they are awesome street pads. They do dust quite a bit. I am going to put the Hawk Blue's in this week and bed them in. Plan on practicing threshold braking on some old tires.