Penguinracer

The Pagid pads seem to be significantly more expensive than EBCs and other "trackday" pads. Are they worth the extra cost - more than double. I'm tempted by the Pagid RS29 Yellow for my DE/trackday machine running Big Blacks, but the price has me thinking twice. How do the stock textar pads hold up on the track if you have the factory brake cooling scoops?

azmi951

Be leery of cheap track pads.

Ski

I'm a huge fan of Pagid Blacks and yes, I think they're worth the extra $$, just my .02

Euro951

I have pagid yellows on my car and they are ok. I would go Hawk race. Not to say the pagid yellows aren't good but I felt the Hawk race had better "initial bite" once warmed up. Both squeal like pigs...

tritone75

I have Pagid blues on now. First track event is Sunday so I dont know yet, but they throw a ton of dust.

Oddjob

Two things you should never cheap out on for a track car - brake pads and tires. And I consider brakes the #1 priority. You always want to know the car will stop when you need it to, and that it will do so predictably.

Do not use textar pads on the track. Any of the street pads are not suited for track duty. Their operational temp range is not high enough. Friction coefficients drop way off when pads are run above their temp range which creates the brake fade sensation. Also the pad material can start breaking down and either chunk off or start smearing onto the rotor surface (feels like warped rotors). Max temp range on street pads is probably 500-800F. The max temp on track pads will range from around 1200-1800F.

I have not priced big black pads, but typically equal compound pads are priced similar regardless of brand. Look at the pricing on Hawk DTC60 or 70s for comparison to Pagid Blacks or Grays - these are the real race compound pads.

Probably about the cheapest pad (which also equates to lowest performance) I would personally use on a DE car is a Hawk Blue. The older carbon compounds like the Porterfields, what use to be Cool Carbon (now maybe the same as KFP) are ok for DEs on easy breaking tracks, but just dont hold up on high speed heavy braking tracks like Road America.

Pagid, Hawk, Performance Friction are the bigger names in track pads for p-cars. I have also heard good things about Carbotech and Cobalt Friction, which seem to be more recent players.

Nader Fotouhi

You will have to bed-in the Pagids right or you will experience brake shudder similar to warped rotors. Pagids are good pads. They are likely easier on the rotors than Hawk or PF, although you will get various opinions on that. Another major issue that adversely affects brakes is cooling. Heat build up is the primary reason for brake issues on the track.

pontifex4

I have run both Pagid and Jurid pads on a mixed-use car, and was FAR happier with their performance in every respect than with the Metal Master street pads I'm currently stuck with. Never again.

rlm328

I run pagid orange and like them, as every one states you are going to generate some serious brake temps at the track. Another pad that people have had good luck with is the PFC pads. While a DE entrance fee is anywhere from 250 to 300 depending on where you are, it is only about 1/3 to 1/4 of what you are actually going to spend. Besides pads you will also be running through tires, gas, and oil to just name some of the obvious consumables.

User 52121

While I don't have much track experience with a car yet... I do have plenty with bikes. Oddjob has it right - #1 is brakes. You need to make sure that, regardless of anything else, you can always get your car slowed down/stopped. Don't cheap out on pads - last thing you want is to be cooking into a hot braking zone, hit the pedal, and have nothing there. Cheap pads will overheat, fall apart, have a short lifespan, be inconsistent.

I did a DE a few years ago in my GTI running a Hawk street pad (the HP-S.) They worked great for Autocross, and I figured they should be fine for a DE (I'm pretty humble when it comes to driving and figured I'd go easy enough to not have issues.) Tech guy asked me what kind of pads I was running, and when I told him, he said, "Be careful - you'll have fade issues." He wasn't kidding. By the 3rd lap it felt like I'd lost 50% of my braking ability. Even when you drive it easy, you'll get a LOT of heat going in your brakes.

Spend the money. Buy decent pads. Then you don't have to worry about it.

Van

Pagid Black or PFC 97s. Both are very expensive, but are 100% worth it. How do you put a price on safety? Either of these pads will stand up to the hardest abuse with no issues.

I refuse to use a lesser pad. When I want to pull 1.2Gs braking and need to slow my speed from 140 MPH to 70 MPH, repeatedly, in moments, I want something that's going to work.

User 52121

+1 on all counts.

I ran PF97's on all my race bikes. They were excellent pads. Good bite, great progressive feel, fade free, and long life.

docwyte

I run Hawk DTC70's on the track and street pads on the street. It's not much effort to swap between the two...

DanR

I run PFC 01's and 97's and really like them (although the 01's seem to squeel more than the 97's)

JDS968

Just get Performance Friction, I can't see any reason to get anything else. They never ever fade on the track (or at least I've never seen it happen), they bite hard and consistent, and they even work on the street, if you can put up with the noise and the relatively high rotor wear (although nothing on the order of, say, Hawk Blues). I just got a full set of 8 new PF 97s, 4 fresh rotors, and 4 new Dunlop Z1 Star Specs on the car and it's an amazing feeling, car stops like nobody's business. Can't wait to get back on the track and stand on the brakes with the Hoosiers.

Hawk Blues WORK, not really as well as PFs, and they sound like you're dragging granite boulders across your rotors, and wear them as hard as that, too. I understand they have newer compounds that are maybe better...

Pagid kind of sucks :\