So, obviously my car is not very competitive for AutoX being a 98' Honda Civic DX without even a tach, but it is the perfect "learning" car for me. I have done a few races and have been improving a lot and now I am looking to replace the front brake pads and back shoes and was wondering if anyone could recommend anything that would be good for me.

I was also wondering if anyone could recommend any good tires? I currently have stock wheels and horrible all season tires that I am killing. The tires are 185/65/14. I am thinking about these Falken tires http://www.discounttiredirect....ar=60
I do want to stay in H stock class and keep road tires on the car. Suggestions or experience with these tires would be appreciated.

I like to drive the car as hard as I can and my little Civic seems to enjoy it too. I am trying to make small improvements to the car that won't cost me an arm and a leg, but will help me. So, any help/suggestions would be appreciated. (outside of buying a new car, that will happen in 2 years)

Thank you!

Andrea


Modified by drea111982 at 12:01 PM 7/31/2007

 

I had the EBC greenstuff pads for about a year. They stopped great, but they were very noisy and dusty. Probably be good for Autocross. They actually almost had too much stopping power for my 00 EX: it was VERY easy to lock them up, even on new tires and dry pavement.


I've heard a lot of good things about the Hawk pads, but never tried them.

I honestly wouldn't worry too much about shoes. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but most of your braking comes from the front, and you're not going to get any gains from better shoes... assuming that you can find performance shoes, which I couldn't when I was looking for them a few years ago.

Case in point: My car has 169K on the original shoes and drums. I pulled them off about 10K ago, and they still have plenty of pad left, and no groove in the drums. I put them back together and let them be.

I've heard good stuff about the Falkens too, but I've never tried them... I've had good luck with the Yokohama avid H4 series, but it's not really a track tire since it's all-season.

 

What size wheels do you have access to? 14's? If so, Azenis will be your best bet. If you had 15's, there would be some more options.

On brake pads, I've ran EBC for a couple of years and my only complaint is how dusty they are. Another good option is Hawk. They make a number of different types of pads, and some of their street performance ones are a real nice balance of grip, dust, and noise.

A big thing to check is just how fresh is your brake fluid, and making sure your hydraulics are in good shape. Make sure you've got good movement on the calipers and that they're not sticking at all.

 

Thank you, I found Hawk pads at PepBoys for $59, but then I found Brembo Sport Brake Pads for $69 and Hawk HP Plus Race brake pads for $73 at TireRack. So for $10-14 more I am most likely going to go with one of them. Do you know which one might work better on my car?

My wheels are also 14", limiting my tire choice a bit more.

Thank you!