bhvrdr

Ive been inspecting my pads over the past few thousand miles and they are about done. Looked like 3-4mm left on them and the rotors have a ton of meat gone. The car is at 67,000 miles. I am unsure if this is the original set on the car but they are OEM.

Brakes are not something I like to try and skimp on as far as performance but I also dont buy OEM parts just to buy OEM parts unless I can be assured the OEM part is better. In this case, after shopping around I settled on the following replacement parts....

Rotors:
ATE SP34101 - Left Rotor - approximately $82
ATE SP34102 - Right Rotor - approximately $82

Pads:
Pagid/Hella - T1291 - Front Pads - approximately $65 for the pair

Parts Description:
The rotors are made by ATE which is a very well regarded brake manufacturer. They are "coated" rotors which may help the non pad contact surfaces stay more free of corrosion. Time will tell on that. Overall they are what they are. They are OEM like rotors with a coating on them for rust prevention. The perform as OEM on the limited use I have put them through but only time will tell as they wear over time regarding their durability. I have no reason to suspect this will be an issue but will update if anything is noted.

The pads are a joint Pagid/Hella venture and are advertised as having an "OE" compound. I take this to mean it has similar temperature ranges and somewhat similar compound as OEM but I cant know that precisely without knowing those exact specs for OEM and for these Pagids which I do not have. Regardless, they are the same pad shape and do come with the wear sensor slots as the OEM ones do (which was not important to me but may be for you).

PERFORMANCE

Bite/Modulation
Once bedded, these pads appear to offer slightly increased initial bite than the OEM pads. This is very slight. Otherwise i'd say the modulation and bite is extremely similar to OEM which I would consider extremely linear. The OEM pads are not high biting pads. They appear designed more for easy modulation (the harder you press, the more brake you get). I'm actually a driver who prefer a bit more initial bite so I wouldnt have minded a pad with high bite but these are fine. Slightly more than OEM but otherwise extremely similar and still very easy to modulate.

Dust
I found the OEM Textar pads to be surprisingly limited in the production of brake dust. Over 200 miles the dusting is pretty light and easily cleaned off. These Pagid replacements appear extremely similar thus far. Although i've only used them for a bit now, I have been hard on them for bedding and evaluation of them and no huge mess has been noted yet. Brake dust is also not something I was concerned with since I prefer performance over having a clean caliper and wheel but for those who are interested, its dust is pretty mild in production like OEM.

Fade
The old fluid that was in the car had clearly been changed out by the prior owner as it looked very fresh. Regardless I replaced it with some RBF600. I had not experienced fade issues with the OEM setup doing "normal" spirited driving such as canyon type runs with repeated braking from approximately 90mph down to 20mph.

With the ATE and Pagid setup, I similarly have had no issues with fade doing back to back 100mph to 20mph stops. I am not endorsing this as track pad setup of course but for the normal aggressive street driving I have had no issue at all. I actually wouldnt hesitate to at least try them out at my local track, PBIR, just to see how they hold up but I would not be expecting them to work as a dedicated track pad.

Noise
I live in south florida where we have no winter but in the 60-95 degree weather we get I never had noise from my OEM pads. Likewise I have yet to hear a peep out of this new Pagid / ATE setup. Both have been silent.


Summary
Overall I am pleased with this setup. It is behaving extremely similar to OEM with perhaps a slight increase in initial bite. I'll update as we get a few thousand miles on them.

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Mike

scottiemac

bhvrdr

I have a 2007 997S.

mike

mbatarga

Thanks for the write up on the brakes - I'll consider those products when the time comes for new brakes on my '06.

What wheels are those? Are those Turbo but offsets for NB?

bhvrdr

Exactly right. Option code 404

Mike

bhvrdr

Just to give an update these Pagid/Hella pads have been on for about a thousand miles and I'm pretty impressed. Its very hard to tell the difference between them and the stock pads in almost all scenarios if that is something you are looking for. There is minimal dust (again, not something I cared about but maybe you do), very similar bite to stock and they hold up just fine to aggressive street driving and canyon carving (100mph down to 20mph consecutive stops). I'll probably buy these again.

Mike

cosm3os

subscribed

bhvrdr

Just to update. Around 2K miles now on this setup and my impressions are extremely positive. The ATE coated rotors are resisting corrosion well on the hub area as they should. The Pagid/Hella pads are performing very well. Almost indistinguishable from OEM.

When the rears are due for a rotor and pad change I will be picking this combo for them as well. So all in it was about $250 for front rotors, pads, and good RBF600 fluid and it performs every bit as well as OEM.

mike

3Series

ATE rotors have performed flawlessly for me and they are used hard. I replace the fronts once a year and have no complaints. I use them with PFC 08's.

bhvrdr

Right on! Thanks for the feedback brother.

mike