Brake pads for street use

I was wondering what brake pad does everyone recommend for street use? Which have most dust and which brand have the best bite?

For street only use the OEM pads work great.

Personally, I use Hawk HPS (High Performance Street) pads. They work very well and don't give off too much brake dust. A friend of mine has the same pads on his '06 STi and they are the cleanest things in the world compared to the OEM pads. When I first installed the HPS's on my car, they did squeak a bit, but, after about a week of normal driving, that went away. I got my set on TireRack: www.tirerack.com

I just installed a set of Pagid Blue last night. Will report back later with opinion.

+1 Have them on both cars. No squeak, no dust.

Are you refering to the pagid "Sport" blues or the "race" blues? They are both painted blue but different compounds.

Sport, RS 4-2-1 compound is what I used. I may be wrong but I think there is only one blue but it's referred to differently by different sellers. The orange, black and yellow are all harder compounds for track use. I decided on the blues because I'm hoping it will be a good street pad but also usable for DEs. I'm doing my first DE in a couple of weeks so we'll find out how they hold up. I've heard good things about the Hawk HPS too for street use but I was told that I would burn thru a set in a DE weekend.

+1 on the Pagid Sport pads. I just got back from a 2-day DE and they were great, but I'm not the most agressive driver. FYI, the Pagid Sport pads are blue, but they are not "Pagid Blue" pads. The Sports are identified as the RS 4-2-1.

Mintex fronts (low brake dust, great performamce) with OEM rears.

I've used the pagid sport blues and they were no different than the stock pad for track use, do shriek a bit for street use early on and now it doesn't do it much. They were much less expensive than the stock ones, so they are ok. I'll definitely look for something else when and if I get back to the DE scenario again.

alex, red box?

jlx, Yes the red box. I puchased a set of aftermarket wheels with the mesh pattern. The last thing I wanted was a heavy dust pad up front which would required high maintanence. The Mintex red box has good stopping performance, low brake dust and inexpensive.

Alex, thanks again! To the users of the Hawk pads, did you have to resurface them or mod them in any way? The tire rack site says they do, unless they are referring to any possible wear sensor issue.

used hawk hps. think i had to drill a hole in them for the sensor.

when you guys say low dust, how much more is it "low dust" than the oem pads? i'm tired of the brake dust marring up the silver of my aftermarket wheels

Ben, With the Mintex I am able to get away with washing my wheels every two weeks. When I had the OE pads up front it was more like every week. The Mintex pads are very inexpensive and worth a shot. I dont track my 996 so do not have a need for extra bite on the street. The Mintex with the OE rears have made me a happy camper. Gun, I thought the mod for the HPS was referring to the brake sensor. If you dont want to mod them, just zip tie them (brake sensors) to the suspension.

hawk HPS is my favorite by far. i use hawk HT-10, pagid orange and soon carbotech on track.

I use Hawk HPS also. Good performance, low dust, and a barely audible squeek when cold. I simply tie-wrapped my sensors up. I understand Hawk is working on prepping the pads for the sensors. They're moderately priced as well.

Mintex Red makes pads for the rear as well right? Brake dust is bad on the front, but it also occurs on the rear with my OEM pads.

I concur on the Hawk HPS. I replaced mine last month. The pads on the car were Brembo and I must admit, they REALLY stopped the car and with no noise and not too much dust. The HPS produces less dust, though. As far as drilling the hole, I thought you had to do that on all the pads? Pretty easy to do, though.

i ordered the mintex reds from germanautoparts. i'll let you guys know how they work for my street 911.

My mintex reds go in next week. I'll report back as well

Hawk HP+'s. A little squeek every now and then but fantastic braking. Dusting does not appear to be nearly as bad as OEM but they are not dust free. You might look at ceramic pads for lower visible dusting.

I put on Hawk Ceramic pads about 2 months ago and will agree with Viper501 that the dust that comes off the pads (though still night and day compared to OEM) is a lighter color thus making the appearance that the wheels aren't as dirty - same thing, washed the car every 2 weeks or so and you don't need to clean the wheels inbetween. I got the Hawk ceramic pads from tirerack.

I like the idea of zip tying the sensors to the suspension. Who actually wears their brakes down to the point of having the car tell you the pads are worn to the metal?