FredC

Imho, first thing you need to consider is to put on R compound tires. Then you can think about higher performance pads. Yellows with ps2s = useless.

himself

IMO, you will need to bed/re-bed them in at the track anyway - since your street driving might polish some/most/all the transfer layer off the rotor. That is, at the low temps of street driving, it is the abrasion quality of the pad that is at work to stop the car and this could eat the transfer layer off the rotor and also wears the rotor down. It might be different with certain pads, and maybe the Yellows don't eat the transfer layer away on the street, but I've used a re-bedding proceudre at the track anyway, just to be safe. Also, an uneven transfer layer will might result in some wheel vibration. [edit: I would guestimate that the squealing noise you hear on the street from your brakes is an indication that you have eaten the transfer layer off, and are relying on the abrasion of the pads. Meaning you should re-bed at/before the track]

You can defintely bed pads at the track, as I've done it a number of times [after changing pads, rotors, or both]. A few hard braking zones will heat the rotors and pads sufficiently and should allow a decent transfer layer to form - and presto - bedded all done.

[edit: Mike, check out this link - particularly Faq #3: "unbedding the brakes"]

-td

TrackDays247.com

Track pads tend to get a 'street glaze' (for lack of a better word) after a week or two of street use.

Abby Normal

I purchased my yellows from you on your recommendation over the oranges and I have no regrets..Thanks for the great tip!

mdrums

I do not drive with them on the treet except to the track and back home. 90 miles of highway and not much braking to the track. When I get home I swap out to street tires and pads.

Peter Carroll/Toronto

I think your shop made an excellent recommendation.

When changing brake pads, it's best to upgrade in shall increments. If you find the stock pads are almost good enough, you should next try the sport pads as your shop recommends. Sport pads will be just as easy to live with as your stock pads and they will perform quite a bit better on the track.

If you've not made substantial suspension or engine mods to your car, these will likely be plenty.

My GF and I are both instructors and have an E46 M3 with coil-overs. We run better rotors and a sport pad (PF-Z) and are very happy with it.

Track pads are a real pain to live with on the street.
- They don't work on cold days
- They create a lot of dust - sometimes corrosive.
- They are a pain to change not only because of the effort but because of the material bedding time.
- They are abrasive and can wear out disks prematurely on the street
- And the SQUEAL like a freight train!

So take one step and if that's enough you can be happy. If not, go up another step on your next set.

On my 930 I run Pagid Blacks. But I also have very stiff suspension and 600+hp. And it does squeal like a freight train around town.

Land Jet

I have used yellows front, blacks rear with good results. I leave them on the car all the time and have never had problems when they are cold, even during winter. They do squeal some on the street, but I have learned how to modulate them so I can eliminate it 99%.

Craig, after getting a "street glaze", is there any correct procedure when going to the track again? Do you need to re-bed, or can you just go for it?

TrackDays247.com

Go for it. The material has already out-gassed from a previous track day -

Land Jet

Thanks. Good to know.

Renn 951

Craig, info on your website says to not run these pads on rotors that have any other pad material already deposited. Is this true? You can't rebed the rotors with Pagid Yellows if you have run another street or track pad on those rotors before?

TrackDays247.com

In general that is good practice especially heavily used rotors with the cheaper track pads.
A note from the chief engineer at Pagid indicates that some pad makes present problems while many others do not.

PFC/OEM have never caused a problem that I am aware of, yet The H-brand pads create the most problems BY FAR.

Renn 951

Thanks, Craig. I've been running PFC 97's on the track for years, and I sometimes put Metal Master street pads on if I've got a while between track events.

I've been considering switching to Pagid Yellows this year because I hear they last a long time, and PFC 97 prices have gone up so much the last couple years that they are within about $50 of the Pagid price. OTOH, the bed-in requirements of the Pagids seem to be a bit problematic compared to the PFC's. And if there's a problem running the Pagids on anything except a virgin set of rotors that would pretty much seal the deal against them for me.

TrackDays247.com

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it.
Every case can be different, but IMO the Pagid compatibility is no different than any other track pad switchover.

If there is excessive pad deposition (not likely from PFC nor Pagid) then it usually isn't an issue ever.