Brake Pads

Axxis Ultimates, on all four corners.  Overall, great street/autocross pad.  Little dust, zero squeal.  No noticeable fade found at street and autocross speeds.  Smooth, confident pedal feel.

Hawk HP+ pads, on all four corners.  My initial impressions were WOW!!  Amazing pad.  Braking was really improved.  Not only did it require little effort, but it seemed it was easier to hold the car near the threshold of locking up the tires without actually locking them up.  In other words, they put the car DOWN!  I used these pads on the street for a few weeks then had them at an autocross and a lapping day at Putnam Park.  After this workout, things began to change.  When I first put these pads on, there was some squeal and dusting.  It was enough to live with as a tradeoff for the great braking.  After the set-in period, the squeal increased dramatically.  I finally got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore.  So, off they came.  I'm keeping them for a lapping day in the future.

I have used Porterfield R4S Sport pads from Flyin' Miata on the FRONT and Mazda OEM pads on the rear.  Dusting has been relatively low, performance on the street has been good.  No squeal.  Pricey pad, but works fairly well for the street.  On the track, they are "ok".  Overall - great street/autocross pad.

Before going to the Porterfield pads which I currently use, I tried a set of EBC Greenstuff pads from Serious Automotive on the FRONT with Mazda OEM pads on the rear.  Overall, I was dissappointed.

I installed the front EBC "Greenstuff" pads with new Max-5 Slotted rotors from Performance Buyers Club. After about 1000 miles of use, I felt I had a pretty fair review of the pads and how well they were going to work for me.  Overall, I was disappointed.  Here's why:

EBC claim: "EBC Greenstuff pads exhibit ZERO brake squeal ... period.  If they do, send them back to us."  Guess what?  They squealed considerably.  At first, I thought it was because I left the brake pad shims off (as shown in the images above if you look at the pad backing plates).  Well, I put the shims on and it made no difference.  So... this was one argument to challenge their "return policy" so I did.  No problem...full refund.

EBC claim: Low dust on street conditions.  Well, if you don't brake with much effort or never come down from high speeds such as 70-80mph on the interstate down to a stop on an exit ramp, then these pads don't dust too much.  Otherwise, keep a rag handy 'cause there's lots to clean.  I will add that the dust does wipe off real easily; at least some better than other pads I've dealt with.

Some other dislikes about the pads:

Uneasy feeling: Stopping under any condition, but especially from high speeds gives a not-so-confident feeling at the brake pedal.  It's not a fade feeling but more of a gumming-up, chewing away at the pads feeling without a ton of solid brake power.  They just did not feel right.

Stink: One other thing, if you get 'em hot which I'm sure I did when really testing them hard at times, they STINK!  Smells like dead fish.

So... after this brake experience, I sent the pads back for a refund.  So far, no objections in the refund process, but I'm still waiting.

I followed these pads with Porterfield R4S sport brake pads from Flyin' Miata.  Definitely an improvement.  Squealing is 90% gone.  Dusting is considerably better and the braking feel has improved dramatically.  These are my second set of Porterfields and I'm sold on them.  I had a set before trying the EBCs and I'll buy them again.