atb

Curious to hear from anyone that has run these.

I'm going to give them a try in a track prepped 928 that I'm building.

The 928 is a '79, but I'm putting the larger S4 brakes on it.

Any comparison comments to the Hawk Blues, Pagid Orange, etc?

Thanks for any CONSTRUCTIVE input.

spieln

I like the people at Porterfield but did not care for the R4s on my Cayman S. Very low dust and easy on the rotors but not much intial bite. I am now running the Pagid yellows and really like the intial bite with them.

All of them are very loud.

garrett376

I have a set of used R4 "Big Red"/GTS sized pads that are almost new if you're interested...

They don't have much bite at all (less than Yellows, much less than PFC97's), are quite noisy on the street, easy to bed in like PFC pads, don't transfer as much heat to the caliper as PFC97's, and are a slower wearing pad that doesn't eat the rotor (comparable to the PFC97's on wear rate) - this is all on a 3200lb 964 race car. They're my least favorite pad vs. Pagid Yellow, PFC97, thus they're my backups. They are a less expensive pad, though.

DaveM993

I run the R4. Have run PFC97 but have not run the yellows. I "like" them. They did not eat my rotor as much as the PFC97. LOTS of dust. My car is 3200 lbs soaking wet. The PFC97 did have a 'little' more bite. Since I have not run Yellows cannot compare, but I am going to in Sept at Mid O..so we wil see, but the R4 have done the job I need of them so far...and you cannot beat the price.

Matt Romanowski

I've run lots of R4 on 914's. Great pad on that car.

If you really want GREAT pads, talk to Porterfield about the Raybestos pads. They are far and away the best pads I've ever used. They will take abuse like no other.

schwank

Pretty much all of us in the PNW use the R-4 on our 944 Cup cars. They are durable and easy on the rotors as others have said. They do dust quite a bit but it is a racing pad.

atb

It sounds like the Porterfields work well, and are a good value - perhaps the "Kumho Victoracer" of brake pads.

So that being the case, what is the no-holds barred, cost is no object, Goodyear Racing Slick (thought I was going to say Hoosier didn'tcha?) brake pad?

mhm993

exactly what Dave said: R4 are VERY rotor friendly, very dusty, reasonable stopping assuming you bed them correctly. Not as much grip as pf97 but sure cheap enough.
Use 'em on the 993, which has the same brakes as the S4 if I recall.

Hawk blues are sandpaper. In fact, I use them to clean deposits off the rotors.

atb

Thanks for the offer, haven't gone to the big brakes (yet). The S4 fronts are going to be a big improvement over the postage stamp size stockers I've got now.

What is the best way to bed in these pads. I can do it on the track or on the street.

I think you're right on the 993 comparison. I've got 993tt brakes all the way around on my S4. It's taking all my self control to not move them onto the track car.

Thanks for all the comments everyone, very helpful to a track car newbie.

mhm993

Web page says a series of increasing speed stops with the last couple at 100 to 10mph, or something like that, and then put the car away for a bit. Best I can do is about ten stops with the last few at 75-10 on rt 16 outside the glen (don't tell anyone). Your nose can tell when you've got them nicely toasted and out-gasing and you can see the pad surface nearest the rotor gets a lighter color when you look down at the caliper.
PF97's definately stop better, and hardly need bedding, but you can't beat the porterfields for value for DE.