Brake pad suggestions

[Aaron from Aus]

Upgrading my brakes on the E28,

I got a set of E34 535i calipers etc.. ATE Grooved rotors, 750il Master Cylinder, rebuilt Hydrulic brake booster.

I had the Calipers Cermaic coated as well in Chrome/.polished

anyway, only thing left to buy is brake pads? any suggestons.

The car is mainly for road, and some track use.

But i was hoping someone could suggest dustless pads? it is a real pain to have nice wheels and polished calipers, if they are only gona get covered in Dust.

Cheers.

[Blue Shadow]

I copied this from a post I made on scottiesharpe's 745i site:

The question of which brake pads are best brings another question, "What are you using the car for?" On the other boards, there are FAQs about brake pads. My experience and info from the other boards is that the three classes of pad choices are:

1. On road, no track time or autocross (pad works when cold)

2. Mostly road use, a little track/autocross time (requires little or no heat to work well but does not fade from heat quickly)

3. Track use only. (must be hot to work, requiring a stop or two to warm them before they work right)

When you decide which type of pad, the choices beome easier.

From my experience the old (10 years age) Ferodo were the best type 2 pad. Newer compounds, asbestos elimination and advancing technology of rotors has changed this. With input from Bob Sutterfield's posts about the subject.

Now the type 1 pad of choice seems to be the Mintex (formerly Repco)Deluxe (non-metallic), or the Metal Master.

Type 2 is the Porterfield R4s pad and

Type 3 is the Hawk Blue.

Let the discussions begin anew.

[Craig -535i- Seattle]

Depending on what you can get down there, Hawk HPS pads are a good comprimise. Very little dust (but not totally dust free), great street manners and they hold up to *some* track use. Obviously they aren't as good on the track as dedicated track pads, but they will work.

[John SCB]

Highly recommend PBR Deluxe pads...good for the type of driving you cite and very, very low dust. Great wearing too...had mine for over 70k now (lots of freeway driving but some hard braking in there too). One last benefit, made in Aussieland!

John
88 535is / 156k

[Blue Shadow]

Hey John,

Shouldn't that avatar be Pat's, he got the GTO!!

[Robert in STL]

Aaron, IMO Metal Masters are pretty hard on rotors, I like Porterfield R4S's. Low dusting, good for street or DE schools, easy to modulate.

[jim_in_fl]

I'm using the Ferodo DS2500 pads right now. I have E34 M5 brakes, and the pads work pretty well on the street, held up to some track time at Sebring (very hard on brakes, especially with 275 whp pushing 3500+ lbs), and don't dust very much. They don't have especially high grip, but they will stop the car with no problems.

Some newer compounds have more "grip", though. I wanted to get Cobalt Friction GT-Sport pads, but they were out of stock when I needed brake pads.