Never had any issues with my reds on the Suzuki even on tarmac rallies. I had them nearly on fire at one point with no fade. For the Mini I'm using yellows.
Green Stuff Failure My right front inboard pad separated last Saturday night with a loud bang, the sound of tumbling parts and a brake pedal that went to the floor. Luckily no one was in front of me as I was moving pretty well and had to come to a stop at a traffic light. When I started moving part of the pad was jammed between the CV joint and the spindle. We stopped and removed the wheel and the pad was off the backing plate entirely, the rotor is toast as well with a chunk taken out. The brakes only had 18,000 miles on them.
I have a set of greenies on my Miata. Don't plan on changing them out as I'm sure this isn't happening to all EBC greens & reds. I sure will not be buying any more of them. Hope mine hold together. :fingerscrossed:
The carbotech Bobcats were really a nice pad--gentle on the rotors, low dust. I use the brakeman pads now, simply because it's easier to stick with their street pads and switch to their track pads as the compounds are variations of the same theme. They are dustier than the carbotech's though. Performance Friction is another great pad by report, although I haven't used it--supposedly low dust and rotor friendly, similar to the carbotech's. I just ran into this thread--I have a friend running EBC's on the track, passed this on to him, on a JCW coupe, which is kind of crazy--although he is a fantastic driver (actually an instructor), and doesn't have any problems,despite the fact that they're really not track pads. He's switching to carbotechs now, as they make pads for the JCW 4 pot brakes.
I'm doing a bit of research on buying the right brake pads for my driving habits, thing that bothers me the most about the OEM pads is DUST! What percentage would you say the Carbotech Bobcat versus the stock OEM pads as far as performance and dust? I'll be running Mini brand sport (drilled and slotted) rotors.
The bobcats are waaaaaaay lower dust - almost nonexistent But the bobcats have very progressive bite Meaning that they do not at all feel like the OEM brakes With the OEM pads, a little bit of pedal and "OMG BRAKES!!!!!" With the Bobcats, the brake resistance increases very linearly as you apply increasing pedal pressure, from light pressure to heavy pressure - so you can modulate the brakes more precisely, it's less "binary" - but you also will perceive it as having to "push harder" to really stop the car. In a panic stop, you always push hard anyway, and the car stops. But it takes some getting used to in around town driving. I stopped using Bobcats and went to EBC Reds and LOVE THEM because they have more bite than the bobcats, which is what I was looking for. Even with the warnings about the EBCs, I won't take them off yet because I haven't found another pad that has the red's combination of all ceramic low dust, quietness, and all temperature bite. If someone can find one for me, I'm all ears.
Put the rally Mini through the Costa Rica tech brake test with yellows . Passed with no issues, actually the braking force was more than the machine could handle as I flew off the rollers under braking! hahaha Mini 1 brake tester 0
If you want really good brakes forget EBC, Cool Carbons, and Hawks get the street or race pads from the brakeman. Better that Brembos and Williewoods. Checkout his whole site and really learn about brakes. The Brake Man - pad compounds 2013
Had the Carbotech's on my old EVO literally on fire! They still got me stopped at the bottom of the canyon. Didnt last for **** though. Just sayin.
Looks like this is freakin out a lot of people. So I don't think you all need to be worried like you are. We exclusively use EBC pads on EVERY brake job that comes in the shop unless its a track car and never had a problem with them. The only time anyone had an issue was the guy that didn't have them broke in and the bed in coating was still on them making a little noise, it went away after they finished bedding in. Also we have sold hundreds of sets of these and only seen this when a customer took some greens to a track day. SO DON'T FREAK OUT AND CONDEMN THEM, they are really good pads.
Whoa Way... No need to freak out, 90% of MINI owners these days are happy paying the dealer $800 for factory brakes!