legacycentral bbs

As much as I love my car, I gotta admit the brakes kinda suck. Recently I needed to change the rear pads and rotors and figured that I might as well upgrade the fronts a little too. So I ordered some stainless steel lines and EBC Greenstuff pads. I had heard that some forum members had used these pads before so I figured I would give them a try.

A couple of months later I can reflect on them a little. Lets start with some pros and cons.

Pros:
Better cold braking over stock/generic pads
Decent stopping when hot
Never any brake fade
Can trigger ABS at almost any speed
Greens my favorite color
Seem to be wearing well

Cons:
Dust like crazy
Squeak sometimes when cold
Expected better from pads of this price
My old generic pads seemed almost as good for 1/2 the price

These pads are okay but I dont think I could have justified spending $80 for them. Also make sure you bed in the pads properly, I dont think I did very well so that might be why they squeak.

In retrospect, I really should have saved my money and purchased some WRX wheels and brakes. The route I am taking this summer is 16" wheels and a brake kit. Hopefully this will make the car brake like I want it to.

The WRX upgrade with Hawk pads on mine outstops my Kumho tires. Highly recommended.

Steve

what fluid are you guys running?

that makes a HUGE difference.

i've found that ebc products are very abrasive on rotors

I haven't, but I used cryo-treated rotors. Then again, they were the most worn rotors I'd seen (usually the warp unbearably way before they get pad-grooved that deep), but that was about three years later.

Steve

greg, what brake fluid would you recommend?

It's not about locking the wheels, it's about the modulation of power.

Stock brakes with some shit pads, will lock the wheels at speed.

A great setup would be WRX front brakes with good pads (bobcats), ATE Superblue fluid, SS lines, and maybe a BF prop valve.

I have a set of WRX front calipers and brackets in my room. From what I've heard, bobcats sound like the best choice, and I think that's what I'll get when I do my brakes this summer. The problem is I don't see them available for the rear of my N/A. I'm also considering the BF prop valve, and if I've got the money, I'll call the guy I got the front brakes from, buy his rear calipers if he still has them, and go H6 rears. Although I suppose I could always go turbo or wagon rears. It seems to me like H6 would be better for more pad options and better brake balance.