[TheShaddix]

Anyone notice how bad the initial bite is on the stock pads? It takes way more effort to stop than some other cars. This is mostly due to the pad compound. I have about 600 miles on the car now and the pads have not improved one bit. Is there an alternative option to these pads? I know hawk makes awesome pads with great bite, hot or cold, but not sure if they have anything for this car.

 

[Voodoo Idol]

I think EBC has pads for it already.

 

[R1600Turbo]

Pierce Motorsports said they are releasing some soon.

 

[killertek78]

Quite the opposite here, I find them to be quite good and grabby. It took me a good 500Km of driving to really get used to them. They have held up well on my 'spirited drives' on the local less traveled twisties. I am a bit more of a momentum type of driver, so maybe I don't lay on them hard enough to notice? But in and around town they are very good, and predictable. Then I get in the wife's 07 Santa Fe AWD and have to get used to that mushy heavy beast.

..or my 91 Yota SR5 pick up, might as well be using my feet like Barney Rubble, but it's a **** of a wood truck!

 

[grinsaplenty]

I find them very good as well. May have a different opinion after some harsher use. Just got break in over so in the next week or so will push the car harder. Glad to hear others find obscure roads to push their cars on. (killertek 78). A time and place for everything. One of many good reasons to live in a rural area.

 

[TheShaddix]

I think my brakes have broken in finally. I find them way more grabby now than before. At the time of my first post here my brakes were pretty sketchy. I would be coming to a red light and the brakes felt like they were not slowing the car down much at all, so at the last second I'd have to apply way more pedal. Now it's more responsive even when cold. The initial bite has improved. Also, I did contact Pierce motorsports and they have some good street pads available now that fit this car, but the price is a bit high (around 150 for fronts). I am hoping there will be other options once the time comes to change the pads.

 

[Voodoo Idol]

I have about 2500 miles on mine and I still think they're poo. The VTs pads were terrible, too.

 

[Dandufunk]

I'm agree... braking ability in the Australian delivered model is average at best. Have been reading up on this and improvements can be made by pad change (EBC green stuff) or optima turbo caliper swap
.

 

[Racer1ab]

Mine feel pretty good, but I always like to bed in newer pads with 5-10 hard stops from 60 down to around 5 mph and get them nice and hot, then run about 15 minutes or so with minimal brake use to cool them down.

 

[kdetlor]

Mine are SUPER grabby first thing in the morning, get 'normal' after 15 minutes of city driving. I haven't had the chance to track the car yet. My experience with stopping distance is...ok...I guess. I would have thought that 'emergency stopping' would be a lot quicker due to our small size of car and decent tires (albeit all seasons).

 

[R1600Turbo]

I've had to emergency brake a couple times to avoid dogs and people crossing a highway and the car went from 60 to **** near 0 in the blink of an eye. No complaints here.

 

[ray32]

Based on my experience, just changing the tires to a stickier type made the braking quite a bit better. Decent bite and pretty linear, but starts fading quite fast if you start using it hard on long stretches of windy roads. Definitely not adequate for track use stock.

 

[echobravo]

Stock pads and stock rotors went with me to Road America yesterday.

The car worked great, both on a small autocross course in the paddock and on the big track, where I took one session (I was an instructor--so I spent most of the day in the "right seat" helping others).

The brakes got a little soft a couple of times going into T5 and T12, which did not surprise me--I was expecting it.

However, after the session, once back in the paddock, I noticed the rotors were groved noticeably on both sides--nearly an identical pattern frome left to right.

The pedal felt a little soft--I think we boiled some fluid a little and will need a bleeding.

Not sure what to do about the rotors--car is at 8K miles. I'm wondering what a dealer would say if they saw that. Thoughts?

 

[Voodoo Idol]

Dealer will call it normal wear & tear.

 

[echobravo]

Dealer will call it normal wear & tear.

Yeah--I am not going to risk opening up a can of worms. Rock Auto has Powerstop Evolution Sport pads and a bunch of rotors. I'll bleed the brakes and drive the stock stuff through winter and upgrade in spring.

https://www.powerstop.com/product/z23-evolution-sport-brake-pads/