Best replacement brake pads - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Thinking about getting back to an OEM pad for street use and Pagid for track--since the material is compatible. After searching the various pad sources on the net, there are a lot of names (textar,ATE, Mintex,..) and a wide range of prices. Would appreciate a recommendation on which one works best in a street environment and a good source. thanks

Hello Mike. For the street and daily driving, I just use ceramic pads from O'reilly Auto (Brake Best Select Ceramic). They work well for me and are much much cleaner than OEM. I like EBC Yellow Stuff for the track. My only gripe with the EBC is the tapered edges (loss of braking surface area) on the pads. They grip very well with little or no noise after the break-in period. I also have a set of rotors for each set of pads. Street rotors/street pads and track rotors with track pads.

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You change your rotors out also when switching to a track pad? Boy that sounds like work. I'm trying to go with street/track pad setup that will help avoid that.

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It is a little more work but then I have pads that have mated surfaces with the rotors. It may be just me, but I think different pads will wear the rotors differently. My track pads are harsher than my street pads and have cut fine grooves onto the rotor surfaces. My street pads would definitely not make full contact with my track rotors after a track day. Switching back and fourth on the same rotors may be fine but I'm kinda anal. I've done it enough times this summer that I've gotten proficient at it. Getting tools, supplies, jacking the car and lining up the jack stands probably takes more time than the actual removal of rotors for me.

I recently got some Mintex pads, they are the cheapest OEM. I used them on the track and they worked great, better than the expensive Brembo pads. When new, I got just the slightest occasional squeal, but lately no sound at all, dusting is about the same as the Brembos. They are co-efficient of friction rated GF, which is approaching track pad specs. Very good value at about $ 110 front and rear.

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Do these pads squeal much?

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EBC Yellow stuff squealed randomly for the first 150 miles. Not often but often enough to catch you off guard. They have not squealed after they were fully bedded (around 500 miles). The Oreilly's ceramic street pads did not squeal at all and they produced very very little dust.

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I might try some of those then. I have Pagids & they are pretty dusty. I like my Sport Classic wheels a lot, but they are chore to keep clean. Thanks for the input.

I would personnally recommend Stoptech pads, which are much cheaper than OEM, quiet, can be driven year round, and don't fade at the track. The only downside I've found is that they are dusty... Very, very dusty. But, the ability to run the same pad year-around and still run fade-free at the track makes the dust livable.

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+1 on the Mintex red box pads for street and autocross. In my experience they brake as well as the stock pads and dust a lot less. No noise.

+1 on Mintex for the street. Long lasting, quiet, clean, great stopping power and brake feel. For AX, I use Hawk HPS Plus. The stopping power feels like the car is doing a nose wheelie! They do squeal on the street, though, and the wheels get dirty pretty quickly.

A question for those of you with squealing pads - did you chamfer the leading edge of the pads slightly when you installed them? Did you use the stick-on anti-squeal pads that Pelican sells? I ask out of curiosity as I did both and have not heard a hint of a squeal since I put them in. I have the Brembos on the front and Textars on the rear. I get a bit of dust on the front and none at all on the rear.

I have started using Pagid RS-14 (black compound) front and rear for track / street / auto-x. Before I installed them, I chamfered the leading and trailing edges, and I installed some anti-noise adhesive shims that I purchased from Pelican Parts. I am very happy with these pads - they hold up well to high temperature and heavy braking, they have a very high coefficient of friction even when cold, so no worries on the street or in a first run on autocross. However, when they get a little warm and under light braking in street use, they squeal pretty loud. I don't think there is anyway to overcome this noise, but it's not too objectionable for my taste.

I am looking to improve the breaking on my 97 and plan to replace all rotors and pads. I don't track, just want really good street brakes. Has anyone tried the Eline cross drilled rotors and ceramic pads-on eBay for $312 all in? Thanks

The factory brakes ARE really good street brakes. What exactly is it you are doing on the street that you are finding the original Brembos inadequate?

Good question. I ride a Harley and it stops very fast which has saved more than one accident with all the distracted drivers out there. So I suppose the answer to your question is increased accident avoidance due to shorter stopping distance. thanks.

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Then you want sticky tires. Stopping distance in these cars is all about weight and tire grip, not brake compounds. Add in a performance driving school to sharpen your technique and you may cut another 30 ft off your stopping distance.

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I have read many articles comparing cars with motorcycles. All state that the car can brake and corner better than motorcycles. mototcycles can out accelerate cars. I've also ridden motorcycles for over 40 years (be it not on a track). it's interesting that you are implying that your motorcycle stops quicker than your Boxster. have you braked hard enough for your ABS to kick in?

I have not yet set off the ABS so I'll check that out. From the comments so far it seems that for street use the OEM setup is more than adequate. Thanks for the input-that will save me a few bucks. This is a very useful forum. 97 Guards Red/black with 23K miles

I checked my OEM pads...they're Textars. I've been more than happy with them, but if the Mintex are as good ( better? ) and significantly less expensive, I'm tempted to switch. Has anybody made the switch to Mintex and regretted it?