anyone have experience using these? i bought a set for my car.. heres a quick review, and a couple questions.

goods:
1. extremely grippy under high perf street and high speed (80+mph) apps
2. no dust so far (150 miles)


bads:
1. after hard braking they SQUEEL like race pads when coming to a normal stop. takes 10 minutes of cool down driving for the noise to go away. is this normal?

2. pedal pressure when in stop and go traffic, is terrible. almost to the point where im hitting things. pad fade is horrible, even after a bleed of the system. i have no problem rebleeding, but wanted to know if this is indicative of this (or this type) of pad..

any comments? answers?

maybe they are, in fact, a bit too much of a pad for the street, even with my driving.

 

did you bed them in properly ?

they are less aggressive than the P+ or XP , both of which I run on my car as street pads with zero cold stop issues.

 

bedded them as per carbotech recommendations, let cool for a couple hours, then beat on em..

theyre like a good *****, respond well to beating, but not when being nice to em..

 

Were new rotors used with the pads?

I drove a EG Civic (LS motor) at Lowes Motor Speedway this past weekend for two sessions with 'Cats on the front (OE pads on the rear (40/40 splitter)) (GSR brake swap + HX wheels).

Views:
No noise at all.
Lots of dust (new rotors 'had' a nice cross hatch that would make some dust, IMO).
Minimal fade (ATE Supa Bl00) even coming down from ~120mph at the start finish (for T1).
OE like feel on the street.

 

Definately not typical. Call up Carbotech to talk to them about it.

 

willard, thx for the review.. most helpful as always

elgorey - will do.. maybe ill bleed again too. blech. lol

 

I've been using the Bobcats on the front of my Impreza for about the last month and so far done 2 autocrosses with them. I'm getting very little dust and the pads do not squeel at all. For autocross the pads are great and I've had no issues with them on the street either. I think I like them better than the R4S's I used to have on the car, especially since this car is my daily driver and the Bobcats produce very little dust.

Carbotech Bobcats

 

Carbotech ROCKS!!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jason Franza &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Carbotech ROCKS!!!</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

thanks for the shameless plug

 

I guess Jason uses Bobcats on his race car.

 

i use P+ on the front and bobcats on the rear
don;t have any of the problems you speak of
Daily driving is great, one stop, and the the pads bite hard everytime
they do squeel like little piggies now when braking lightly

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Definately not typical. Call up Carbotech to talk to them about it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

What Evan said. WAY too much to ask/go over to be done efficiently in a message forum.

 

will do.. did some more pounding on them tonite. fun fun fun!
i just want to bleed them again with some fresh fluid and see if it helps..

also, i noticed the rotors were a bit glossy and smooth, so its possible i glazed them while bedding the pads in, since it took a lot of stop and go before i could get up to speed to bed them. i think my playing around tonight may have helped a bit..

thx again all..

 

Leo, like Willard asked...were these with your existing (previously used) rotors or new ones?

If you used your existing rotors, did you at least get them turned?

It was suggested to me by carbotech (I think in the literature too) that it's either or. If you used them on used/non-turned rotors theres some incompatability with the compounds of the carbotechs and the previous compound that still may be glazed on the rotor.

I just installed from P+ on my wagon... turned the rotors and omygawd this is what every wrx should feel like from the factory. :D

--kC

 

i used my factory, unturned rotors, with about 20k miles on em. they may have been a bit glazed, as i pounded on them last night, and it seemed to help quite a bit.

im definately happier than a few days ago.

i still have to relbeed, as im suspect that my 6mo old superblue bottle may have condensed a bit.

ill be sure to provide an update after the rebleed..

thx again guys

 

Ive never found it necessary to turn the rotors, I just give the rotors a good scrubbing with brake cleaner and had good results.
Leo, I would recommend wiping the rotors down with brake cleaner when you do your bleed.

 

... or brake cleaner... darn.. beat me to it!

 

Actually we've found that Bobcat and all of our Panther compounds (plus, xp8 and 9) appear to be compatible on the same rotor. I just reinstalled some 'cats for an autocross this weekend on the same rotors I used XP9s with this past weekend at Charlotte. Few stops from 40ish to re-establish a Bobcat transfer layer and all is well. No shudder at all. Makes for a good system. Street pads and track pads on one set of rotors, no turning/cleaning/changing rotors...

 

Matt, you going to the 24 heurs de Knights?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MaddMatt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Actually we've found that Bobcat and all of our Panther compounds (plus, xp8 and 9) appear to be compatible on the same rotor. I</TD></TR></TABLE>Because they're similar in compound. But going from, say, Porterfields or stockers to Carbotechs you might have some compatibility issues.

--KC

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Matt, you going to the 24 heurs de Knights?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Yes.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">But going from, say, Porterfields or stockers to Carbotechs you might have some compatibility issues.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Yes.

 

ok, update time
rebled, actually flushed system last night from superblooo to ate clear. used a liter to make sure all new fluid was in.

soft stops (ie, normal street driving) produces some nasty fade. if i hit the brakes hard, the car stops hard. thats a good thing. problem is, hit the brakes soft, and minimal response, very spongy pedal.

sooo, i figured i better test em good. took it out tonite. did some 60-10 stops, not bad. did some 80-10 stops. not bad. most occasions produced some serious sqeeeling at low (~10mph) speeds.

so, summary:
- i need new tires.. im definately outbraking my tires at high speeds.

- after some hard braking tonite, the pads had a terrible smell. im assuming they are still bedding in. this may explain the fade im still getting. perhaps its best to wait it out a bit more.

matt, hope your reading this, ill try to call tomorrow morning so we can talk.

thx everyone for the help.. im definately impressed with the pads, especially since over a dozen hard stops didnt produce any fade! (only the stop and go driving does..)

 

Turn

The

Rotors

Will be much cheaper than buying new tires.

 

hrm....bad master cylinder maybe?
spongy pedal is almost never due to pads.