User 52121

Ok I've tried some random set of PBR pads (no idea what they were but the previous owner gave them to me when I bought the car...) and they were awful. I have Hawk HP-S pads in my GTI and they work awesome... but when I put a set in the 951 they also sucked.

Sucked = very poor initial bite, lots of pedal effort to get the car to really stop aggressively, and very difficult (practically impossible) to get the car to lock up the tires when stomping on the brakes. It never felt like it "STOPPED" as much as just "slowed quickly." Honestly I was starting to think that perhaps I had something wrong with the master cylinder in the car and was debating doing a replacement this past winter, but got sidetracked with the motor re-seal. (Rebuilt the calipers last summer.)

When I *first* brought the car home, it had Performance Friction PF97's on it. I took them off after about a day due to the squeal and dust, and the brakes have sucked ever since, and I eventually just learned to live with it (especially since I see so many people complaining about how the 951 brakes suck.) I did a DE a few weeks ago (after owning the car ~2 years) and swapped the PF's back in... and HOLY CRAP I don't know how I managed to put up with the Hawk's or PBR's for as long as I did. Even when they are ice cold they work better than the Hawk's and PBR's. I actually had to re-learn the car a bit to avoid locking up the brakes at the last auto-X I went to.

So I need a good street pad recommendation as it's clearly a pad issue. If I can get "cold PF97" performance I would be ecstatic. Nice bite, good feel, not a lot of pedal effort required. I don't care about heat/abuse, I'll swap back to the PF97's for track use - but I want something that doesn't turn my rims black after a trip around the block (or orange with rust if I drive it around the block in the rain.)

Anybody have any experience with any of the PF street compounds?

EDIT - 8/16/2011 - just to close the loop so folks don't have to read through 3 pages, here's my conclusion...

Ok - to close the loop on this from a few months ago: OE Porsche pads get two big thumbs up from me! They are EXACTLY what I was looking for. Finally ran them through an autocross yesterday and they were GREAT! NO pad-related braking issues. Much easier to modulate when cold than the PF97s (no warm up time needed at all), still responded VERY well when hot. Not quite as easy to lock the tires as with the PF97s but still needed a bit of threshold braking to keep from adding to the flat spots on my tires

Not a lot of dust at all, and they started to squeal a tiny bit at the end of the day yesterday when they were hot.

Don't mess around - I'm a fan of the OE pad from now on. Brakes exactly how I'd expect a Porsche to brake. (I'll stick to the PF97s for track duty of course... but for street and AX - OE is the way to go.) Paid the same for a set of OE's from Sunset as what PF97s go for... so fairly reasonable on price too. $115/box.

pettybird

PF Z rated on a 5.0 Mustang--ok but not great. ate them at my first track day. wouldn't go out of my way for them.

PF carbon metallic on my '99 ranger...'slows' rather than stops like you said above, absolutely killing the rotors.

URG8RB8

Here is my 2 cents worth:

Just put a set of PBR Ultimate Ceramics on all fours. No dust and bite is very good, but they squeal like a pig, and I mean really loud. If that doesn't not bother you, you might want to give them a try. They are the most reccomended street pad on here. I researched street pads for a couple days. They were supposed to be quite, but on my car they are not. I do have cross drilled rotors though. One thing I can attest too is that they are great bang for the buck, less than $100 for all four shipped from Paragon.

Techno Duck

I highly recommend you give the Porterfield R4S a try. They will survive DE but you will probably start getting fade towards the end of a 20 minute session depending on the track. If you dont mind swapping pads, use the R4 compound for the DE, then switch back to the R4S. The R4S isnt bad on dust and they are quiet.

User 52121

Yeah I don't care about track use - I have been a PF97 fan for a LONG time (I swore by the same 97 compound back when I was still racing bikes.) So when I hit the track, I will definitely swap pads. I have separate rotors as well so no issues with "transfer layers" or pad bedding.

What I need is something for the street. Really if the 97's didn't dust so bad I'd just leave them in, as even when cold they work so much better than the other 2 sets of pads I've tried.

Extra bonus points if they work well for Auto-X.

docwyte

Just get a set of OEM Textar pads. They have awesome brake torque, good initial bite and are quiet.

mudbuddha

I am also looking for a nice street pad- no squeal and lest dust. Forget what the current ones are but the fronts definitely squeaks on initial bite at low speed so can't recommend them anyway. FWIW, I use EBC Red pad on my honda DD (front brembo rotors) and really like them- no squealing and lest dust too. Thinking of trying the Red ones once the P-car needs a new front set.

docwyte

I HATE the Axxis pads! They're by far, the *worst* pads I've ever had the displeasure of running. Little to no brake torque, feels like you're pushing an ice cube against the rotor.

Suck on the street, suck even more on the track.

Not to be a broken record, but don't try to re-invent the wheel here. Use the Porsche OEM pads! They're cheap and are by far the best street pad out there.

Scott H

I loved the Ultimates on my E36 and I don't mind dust or squeal so I ordered a set for the Porsche today along with some new lines. Now to resist the temptation to paint the calipers and wheels while they're off and I'm waiting for the parts to come...

gregeast

I recently went to the Textar pads. Good initial bite but very, very dusty and they squeal like Ned Beatty on a fishing trip, even after spraying the back of all the pads with anti-squeal spray and then trying the anti-squeal pads from Pelican...

Tedro951

I've got 500 miles on PBR ultimates on new rotors. I've managed to get them to squeal a little after being heated up, then making some light, low speed braking. Its a weekend street car, but the initial bite and overall braking is great....meaning I can lock the extreme summer tires using what I consider moderate force. Too early to tell on dust, but with the amount of miles I drive it, I don't really care.

For $40 bucks a set, I figured I'd throw them away if I wasn't happy.

User 52121

A little pricey but I think I might cough up the cash to go this route. The brakes, when new in '86, could NOT have sucked as bad as what I experienced with the PBR's and Hawks. No way. I'm very tempted by the PBR Ultimates for the price, and haven't quite ruled them out specifically for that reason. But I'm fairly confident the OE pad will do exactly what I want - the PBR Ultimates might, but might not. Feels like a gamble.

DLS

I have the PF97 at the front and metalmaster at the rear.
The PF97 are great but so much dust........

what about ferodo or pagid pads?

Crackership

There doesn't seem to be many Ferodo fans around here, but I can say, without any hesitation, that Ferodo DS2500 are the absolute best all-around brake pad I've ever used. I mean, you can drive on them every day (like I do), and they're an awesome, hard-biting, relatively quiet fantastic pad.... and then you can take them to the track and they'll perform excellently there too. The only real trade off (aside from price) is that they dust quite a bit, but I'd rather have dirty wheels and have great brakes when I need them.

Just as an example of they're awesomeness: When I first started tracking my Alfa GTV6, I had PBR pads on it, and by the end of my first day on a .75 mile road course, I had boiled my brake fluid, and cooked my pads to the point that no amount of pedal pressure would do more than slow the car down some.

then I did a brake flush with ATE Blue (which is what was in there before), replaced my heat-soaked rotors (with stock units) and, at the recommendation of several respectable Alfisti, went with Ferodo DS2500's. The difference was night and day. The next time I went out to the track, same course, the last time I hit the brakes was just as good as the first. No fade that I could detect ever occurred. and the GTV6 is notorious for cooking the brakes (rear brakes are inboard, not ducted and the rotors are solid). A while later, I was forced to drive the Alfa daily for a while and I couldn't have been more impressed with how well the Ferodo's did on the street too. So, ever since then, I've been sold on them. And I put them on every car I own.

Tedro951

Jim, if you happen to be at the fest, or passing thru Indy anytime, let me know and you can take mine for some stops.