BrokeAss

I'm in the market for another set of front brake pads. I've gotten 5 track days (all at Sebring) of my Pagid Orange pads. ...the fifth day was really pushing it - the pads came out looking wafer thin!
A friend of mine recommends the Yellow compound. He's gotten 8 track days out of 'em in his GT3.
Anyone else care to share their personal experiences with the two?

JCP911S

Not your exact quesiton, but don;t rule out Hawk Blues. I have had better luck with them than the Pagids and they are about 30% cheaper. BTW if you are trackinhg your C4 Cab, that is a pretty heavy car.... weight equals alot of brake wear. 5 Days may not be that bad. Also you should not let the pads get below about 2/3 wear. As they get thin they exponentially lose ability to deal with heat.

BrokeAss

She's a hefty girl - tipping the scales at 3,224 w/ 3/4 tank and no driver.
I agree, I thought I was doing pretty good to get 5 days out of those pads. I really should have changed 'em before this last event but you know that goes. You're standing in your garage a day before the event w/ your pads in hand going, "can I get another day out these, yeah....."
I just added brake cooling ducts to the car. I don't think I would have made it through the weekend without them.
Hawke Blue's sound interesting. I'm all for getting a few more days for my money.

GrantG

I use the Yellow RS-19's in front and they do last very long (and have great modulation properties - and work pretty well even when cold), but I think they may give you a bit more rotor wear than the Oranges...

Stuttgart

I dont have any first hand experience witht the yellows but I love the blacks, more initial bite and they last longer than the oranges. The blacks do tend to wear rotors more, but they're cheap compared to the price of pagid pads.

Dbltime

I agree with Phil. I ran orange & yellow for the last few years and tried black this past weekend. The black have a much better feel for my car.

coryf

The Orange pads are the most agressive of Pagids "Sport" RS4 compounds. They are easy on rotors and wear pretty well until they are overheated. When they overheat, they imbed brake pad material into the rotor, making it feel like it is badly warped.
The yellow RS19 compound is a legitimate Racing pad with a much higher maximum temperature and slightly better friction coefficient across the temperature range compared to the orange. Yellows are slightly harder on rotors than the orange, but rotor life is still very good for a race pad. In this year's Rolex 24, we used RS19s and need to change all the pads, but the rotors lasted the whole race easily. This compound comes stock on the GT3 Street car.
The Black RS14 compound is the higher friction racing pad. The friction and maximum temperature are significantly higher than yellows. Pad and rotor life are expectedly decreased.

Oranges are typically fine for DE, but when you really start to use the brakes, you'll need to go to the racing compounds. Yellows feel virtually identical to the Orange, but won't "melt" into the rotor. People with heavy cars tend to prefer Blacks because of the higher friction.

jford

coryf,
This has been my experience with the oranges. I had bad vibration through the steering wheel from buildup. I had driven the Glen and Summit Pt. were there was quite a bit of heavy braking (for me at least). They were only about 1/2 gone but I ended up changing them out for some Pagid blue's I had as back ups. 5 1/2 hrs. of DE at Summit Pt. later and no vibration. I guess the Pagid yellow or black (or maybe Hawk blues) would be a better fit for me.

Jamie

forklift

I went from Orange to Black about a year ago and really like the Blacks. I do have a spare set of Hawk Blues I bought to scrape off the Orange residue when I was using them...and it worked perfectly.

Greg Fishman

Cory,
are you sure that the yellows you used are the stock GT3 street car pad? I could have sworn there were more than one yellow pagid yellow compound.

My vote is for the Hawk Blues, I have ran them and the Pagid Black and noticed very little difference in feel, rotor wear or pad life. But the Hawk's were significantly cheaper.

GrantG

Greg is correct - the yellows on the GT3 are not RS19 nor RS29, AFAIK. They are an aggressive street pad - but not trackable with a GT3...

BrokeAss

This sounds like good advice. I think I'll give the yellows a shot.

Now for the twist. The front's are shot and need to be replaced before hitting the track again. The rears are in great shape. Am I asking for a ride on a flatbed if I run a mixed set till the rears wear out? I've got an adjustable bias valve installed in the car and should be able to dial out an differences in clamping force. ....that is if my rear end is sensitive enough to tell me there's a problem.

DrJupeman

Fwiw, I ran oranges, had the warped feeling problem, switched to yellows and loved them. I now have a set of Hawk blues that I'm going to try simply because of cost. I love the yellows but they are friggin expensive.

jford

Terry,
I just ran two days with the Pagid Blues in the front and the older Pagid Oranges in the rear. I had no problems. Like I said earlier, I was at Summit Pt. and there is some heavy breaking in turn one and the bottom of the chute.

Jamie

macfly

I've done around 2K track miles on a set of RS19's, and really loved them. I'm now over 1K into a set of RS29's on the front, and loving them too. They are both yellow, as were the OEM pads, so I've only ever run yellows. NB: I'm doing open lapping & DE, not racing, so my track use is a little gentler than most.
FWIW I'm finding a set of front pads & MPSC's last about 3.5K including getting to & from the track. The rear pads and discs have to be replaced about every other set of tires.