well i'm getting back into doing hpde's again and i'm wanting to step up to a better brake pad.

Brake setup: s2000/rsx front calipers-11.8"rotors (factory pads current)
ep3 10.1 rear brake upgrade (hawk hps pads)

I was looking at the cobalt xr1's. Kind of up in the air because the bigger brake upgrade as is. Any help would be appreciated!

 

Hawk dtc60 are a good place to start if you are on an r-comp. But brake pads are preference.

 

I will be running street tires, dunlop z1 star specs.

 

qft
From experience, any aggressive 'track pad' is going to work well for you. I would stay away from anything label "performance street" as these will feel good at first, but will not hold up to 20-30 minute sessions of heat buildup.
Likewise, anything labeled "racing pad" are designed for super sticky tires and usually sometime too aggressive for HPDE's and will wear quickly on you.

I have a big brake upgrade in the front, and stock ITR in the rear. I run an aggressive Carbotech pad in the front and a street pad in the rear to prevent (reduce) rear wheel lockup.

Nothing again Hawk or Cobalts, I've just had good experience with Carbotech's for years and see no reason to change.

 

also do you plan on driving to the track with them on or swapping at the track? that could be a selling point as well. or what pads did you use before? etc..

 

The Cobalts are great, if you have 16 weeks to wait for them to get a set to you. I'm of course exaggerating but every time the wait was ridiculously long and once I ordered them 6 weeks before an event and they arrived the day I LEFT for the event so I had to buy a set off a competitor... After enough times of this I decided to stop giving them my money on principle. Too bad too, the pads were terrific. If your experience is different than mine then I'd recommend them.

I've heard great things about DTC's, PFC's and ST43's. I will be testing all three next weekend.

If you're ordering DTC-60's, you can get them for a great price on Amazon.com

 

Hawk ht 10s on street high performance tires like star spec imo. I run them on my kumho xs and the pads are just a bit too much but easily managed.

 

It really doesnt matter, it takes a total of 10-20 min to change pads anyways.. I just want something that wont kill the wallet and something that grips better than stock.

i've been running stock s2000 pads on the front of the civic and they don't really fade to to bad.

 

Something to keep in mind a LOT of Honda racers will never run their pads past 50% wear or so. The pedal feel is pretty crappy at that point. But if you are poor like I am and just running track days... who cares? I run the used pads a Honda racer friend gives me. Can't get much cheaper than that. Worth checking about if funds are real tight.

Edit: Missed the brake upgrade. I run stock GSR brakes to stay cheap. I have Type R calipers sitting on the shelf but I don't have like 6 or more sets of used pads for those calipers. Brakes are overrated anyway IMO.

 

I am in an Integra with NSX front and Rsx rear. Cobalt XR2 front and XR5 rear. Will you get enough heat to use XR1 or 2? Why are you cooking pads? You seem to have enough rotor and mass.

 

As a Honda racer, I'm not in this group. I run my pads down to rivets. Hell, I've put on pads backwards once and set my best qualifying time with the backing plate against the rotor! (not on purpose!)

If I only have a 1/8th inch pad left, I won't "race" on it but I'll do a practice/qual session. My pedal, for some reason never gets spongy. Just tap it just before you "get on it" in the braking zone and it will firm things up.

Another trick, and this applies to you Chrisb, take an old pad and grind all the material off the backing plate so you have a bare backing plate. Then when you run used pads put this 1 backing plate behind the pad that's inboard (on the side of Caliper with the piston) and you won't ever feel a spongy pedal on low pads again because this plate in between your pad and piston keeps the piston from having to travel so far.

 

Basically, I agree. That spacer trick works if the only problem is even wear. Pad taper can cause a spongy feel that is not fixed with the spacer. I also run to rivets. Cobalts have rivets that you run through down to your own safety limit, I believe 3mm recommended.

 

Haha! This reinforces my belief that brakes are overrated! :-)

Good call on the pad spacer. Never thought about that. I have so many spare pads now it is a non-issue. It is really a confidence thing with a lot of people. Some people don't feel confident with the spongy pad feel. As a DE only guy now (lack of finances) I pump up the brakes before the braking zone like you said. But I ran data acquisition for the first time and I am giving up a lot of time in the braking zones. No surprise there.

 

I have sent the enduro car out on doubled up backing plates.....

 

I'm in the same situation.

 

hp+.

 

i have used the carbotech xr10. they are great, but pricey.

currrently i have a set of hawk dtc 60's but i have not tracked them yet. seem to do well at autox. they are half the price of the carbotechs.

bang for the buck the dtc 60 are very good.

 

No one said anything about cooking pads? i'm just looking for an upgrade from oem so i can get more out of the car!

I'm thinking the hawk hp+, seem like a great pad to step up to with my setup

 

Sorry I said cooking pads, I wondered if that is why you were upgrading, wrong conclusion on my part. I used Hp+ while was learning, but as braking got firmer and later the Hp+ pads began to fail. I had good results with XR3, but like XR2 better. You are light enough with large enough rotors that you may get away with Hp+. Several threads on HT about Hp+ and some like, but it seems that most go to a track pad, not mixed purpose. I think that the bite is better and the brakes easier to modulate, especially when they are hot, with track pads.

 

i've research and asked this question before and my final conclusion was that i just had to try a set of brake pads until i found a set i liked. Starting with Axxis ULT and will move on to Carbotech and then Hawk. and if i'm still not satisfied, will keep looking. but that's just my approach

 

Personally I have run the ULTs and I wouldnt waste your money.

I ran these on the ITR upgrade from fastbrakes on my civic.

 

well that's what i'm saying, some people have used them and swear by them, and others, like yourself, say don't waste your money. hence the reason i'm testing out sets on my own

 

yea, hp+ are good track pads for a d15 civic on street tires. seriously. if your car goes over 100mph, your going to want something that can handle teh heat. i used to run gt-sports (yea, that long ago) with my b series EF on streets but went to VRs pretty soon after that.
if i were the OP, i would get at least a mild race pad. hawk ht-10 will handle the heat and can be street driven. i drove ht-10s for 12k miles of street, autocross and racing (not de) and they didn't wear overly fast or eat the rotors.

 

I would listen to lo buck and again I run those pads.

 

I'm currently enjoying the heck out of the last set of Cobalt GTS's ever made for the stock CRX 9.5" discs, on NT-01's at HPDE's.

Between the DTC 60's and the HT-10's which is the more "agressive" pad and which is more "streetable"?