Brake Pads

Considerations Before Purchasing Brake Pads

Before purchasing performance friction pads for your brakes, you need to consider a few things about the product. Depending on whether you’re using them for racing or the street, you’ll want to consider:

Formulation

Manufacturers keep the formulation of their pads secret, so it’s difficult to know what exactly is used to create them. Most common are Non Asbestos Organic pads, which often include metals and other naturally-occurring compounds bound together with an organic resin.

After NAOs, the formulations get more exotic up to and including completely ceramic pads, which perform excellently but come at a premium price. Some NAO brake pads also contain ceramic compounds.

Manufacturers don’t provide a full list of compounds in their street and racing pads, but they often provide performance indicators that will help you understand their usage, temperature performance, and other information.

Performance Temperature

Disc brakes work by converting the kinetic energy from the wheels into heat via the brake pads. That means that the temperature range is a performance indicator for brake pads, and you’ll need to consider it before purchasing.

Manufacturers generally publish how their pads perform at various temperature ranges, and a few manufacturers actually group them according to that performance. Low temperatures are more appropriate for street and daily driving. High temperature performance is normally reserved for various races.

Size/Shape

Your performance brake pads will need to match your calipers. Generally, this means you’ll have a measurement in standard or metric. This should help you find the appropriate size/shape of brake pads.

Certain races, like sprint races, have specialized sprint car brake pads that provide excellent performance to weight ratio and fit smaller calipers.

Wear Rate

Closely related to brake pad formulation is its wear rate. This applies to both the pad itself and to your rotor itself. Your formulation will often be a choice between performance and longevity. When it comes to brakes, there are no free lunches.

NAO pads are much easier on your rotor. They’re often made of softer materials. The trade off is that the pads themselves wear out more quickly. They’re often better for daily driving because they have better low temperature performance, too.

Semi-metallic pads (Semimets) and sintered metal pads last longer, but are generally tougher on your rotor. They also don’t perform as well at low temperatures and need to be “warmed up” before they function properly.

A lot of performance brake pads should only be used on rotors made of the material the manufacturer specifies. Ensure that you’re not buying pads that will damage your rotor.

Bedding

A lot of high-performance pads need to be “bedded in” to perform. While most people working on race vehicles, if you’re an at-home mechanic replacing your own pads you need to be aware of whether or not your brake pads need to be bedded in.

Bedding in your pads is relatively simple. All you need is an open stretch of road and 20-30 minutes of your time to ensure that your pads are safe.

Racing Brake Pads

Drivers expect and need performance from their brakes, even if you’re racing at the club level. The best racing brake pads are the ones that help your driver to victory.

A lot of inexperienced teams tend to pick the most aggressive racing pad with the most friction possible. This may not actually help, though. A lot of drivers learn their preference through trial and error and talking to other drivers.

Day Motorsports offers a large selection of racing pads, including from AFCO, Wilwood, and Hawk Performance, all of which may be what pushes you to victory.

Hawk Performance Brake Pads

Hawk Performance is a known quantity for racing brake pads. They produce a wide range of racing pads that are useful in a variety of applications, including daily driving. Their racing pads include:

• DTC-30 to DTC-80 compounds that range from medium friction (DTC-30) to incredibly aggressive, high-torque brake pads.
• ER-1 for endurance racing, which is a good combination of aggressive without the high amount of wear other aggressive Hawk pads may produce.
• Black is one of the best all-around racing pads on the market and it’s manufactured to be affordable, too
• Hawk HP+ uses a unique Ferro-carbon compound that makes it great for motocross and entry level races.

Hawk Performance Ceramic Pads are another great option. Hawk Ceramic Brake Pads are an excellent value for the money, providing both longevity, durability, and incredible stopping power.

Wilwood Brake Pads

Wilwood is a huge name when it comes to brakes, and their line of racing brake pads is second-to-none. They offer a variety of compositions that can help with everything from daily driving to circle track racing, including:

• Wilwood BP20 to BP40 is a range of Wilwood’s advanced pad compound. They range from enhanced daily driving pads (BP-20) to extremely high temperature circle track pads (BP-40).
• PolyMatrix A - The A formulation manages to produce high and low temperature performance into a single brake pad, making it useful for a lot of applications.
• PolyMatrix B - The B formulation is a medium friction Wilwood Pad with excellent low temperature response.
• PolyMatrix Q - The Q compound formulation is perfect for aluminum rotors and is cleared for street driving, too.

Wilwood’s brake pads are perfect for your Wilwood Dynalite and Superlite, too. We offer Wilwood Dynalite brake pads alongside Wilwood Superlite brake pads.

Street Brake Pads

Just like a performance vehicle, your daily driver could benefit from performance brake pads. Generally, street pads need better performance at lower temperatures, and–of course–wear and tear on your rotor and other parts is important to consider.

Hawk Performance Brake Pads

Hawk brake pads are some of the best in the racing world, but their street performance is also really admirable. They manufacture a variety street pads, including:

• Hawk HPS - The HPS line of pads can give you 20 to 40% more stopping power without unnecessary rotor wear.
• HPS 5.0 - The HPS 5.0 uses a similar compound to the HPS but is designed to be used with large motors, like classics and muscle cars.
• Hawk PC - These are performance ceramic brakes that provide the longevity and stopping power of ceramic with an affordable price tag.

Wilwood Brake Pads

Wilwood’s a big name in disc brakes, and their street brake pads are no exception. These brake pads can dramatically increase your car’s stopping power and overall performance:

• Wilwood BP10 to BP20 - Wilwood’s SmartPad technology designed for street-level use. Low dust, high performance–these pads have everything you want.
• Wilwood ProMatrix - If you have a driver that you race sometimes, the ProMatrix compound is street-legal while still providing superior performance on the track.
• Wilwood PolyMatrix E - The E formulation is for optimized street performance, but can be used for autocross and circle track racing.