View Full Version : Axxis Ultimates Review
cleoent 05-25-2006, 02:16 PM WOW. That's how I can describe these pads. (product website http://www.axxisbrakes.com/ult.htm )
First off i'd like to thank Eddie @ http://www.adrenalineracing.com/ he was awesome! Very fast shipping and very nice and prompt email responses, thanks Eddie. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from there again.
Now, onto the pad. I put these pads on last week, did about 400 street miles on them and then took them for a trip at buttonwillow. The car got about 165 track miles and the pads were FLAWLESS.
Street impressions: The pads work great cold. My biggest gripe in the past has been getting upgraded pads but them not having the same initial bite of stock pads. These are as close as it comes. They are simply the best aftermarket pad i've ever used. Cold braking was awesome. Sometimes under light braking they squeaked a bit but not much. I'm sure some goop might help that. Brake dust is about the same as stock, so if you're looking for less brake dust, this probably isn't the pad for you. Maybe a bit less dust, but not by much.
Track impressions: Like i said earlier FLAWLESS. I drove quite a few cars (996 911 TT, 350z, s2000, ps7 race car, and a few others) and aside from the 911 and race car, these were the best brakes of the bunch. Part of it is mazda's calipers and rotors, the other part are these wonderful pads that no matter what i did WOULD NOT heat up. They were simply awesome. Stop after stop after stop, 100 to 40mph all day and the pads just did what they were suppose to do.
From what i can tell they were very easy on my rotors (have checked for warping etc).
A+ track pad- terrific resistance to heat, very grippy, far and away superior to Hawk HP plus
B+ street pad- Terrific cold stopping power, terrific warm stopping power. Wish for less dust and no noise.
Great link for comparison http://www.axxisbrakes.com/radarchart.htm
Hope you guys find this helpful.
ZoomZoomH 05-25-2006, 02:29 PM only for fronts? what rear pads did you use
cleoent 05-25-2006, 02:37 PM Front and rears do exist. I just got the rears today. I used stock rears for the trackday.
You can email them for the rear pads, i think it's a new part which is why it's not on the site.
I had them on my miata - bought from eddy too! I won't have another pad as replacements when my OEM pads die.
:)
ZoomZoomH 05-25-2006, 03:16 PM LOL! they JUST updated it (like 5 minutes ago), now it has both front and rear pads listed
cleoent 05-25-2006, 03:17 PM Told ya!
ZoomZoomH 05-25-2006, 03:20 PM just have another question, you said these are better than the HP Plus under track condition, any particular reasons why? only in terms of performance-related differences, dusting is no big deal to me.
cleoent 05-25-2006, 03:24 PM just have another question, you said these are better than the HP Plus under track condition, any particular reasons why? only in terms of performance-related differences, dusting is no big deal to me.
Unfortunately i've never used HP Plus on my rx8, only on my 325is and my cousins s2000, to me they just didn't provide as good of stopping power as the ultimates and are a bit rougher on the rotors.
On the street, they are not very good at all cold.
alnielsen 05-25-2006, 03:25 PM After 20K miles on the car, I thought it would be time to replace the brake pads on the car. After researching what was out there I decided on the Axxis Ultimate also. I just put them on the front of my car on Tuesday. Not enough street miles and no track miles for me to add anything. I have the rear pads but haven't put them on yet. I expect I will have the same positive experiance as you have had.
cleoent 05-25-2006, 03:29 PM Alnielsen, keep us updated on what you think of them. There is hardly any info on this site about them, considering what a great pad they are i'm a bit surprised.
swoope 05-29-2006, 11:59 PM cleoent,
i almost bought these about 8 months ago. but decided to wait till pads were more worn....
well i am there now... 48k miles.....
i am confused... how does the brake dust present itself.... the color of the pads and the fact that they are ceramic would lead me to think it would be less noticabe than the stock pads...
beers :beer:
Winning 8 05-30-2006, 01:45 AM ceramic pads are better, because they have the factory initial bite with high temp stopping power like the hawk HP plus.
they are better because the work in a larger temp range. I try the HP plus on tracks they will lost initial bite after a long straight.
ZoomZoomH 05-30-2006, 10:22 AM ordering them now.... hope for fast easy transaction and delivery :)
PHA RX-8 05-30-2006, 06:23 PM I have these pads installed and I have servere brake noise with them. I have bedded these twice but i have more noise than the stock pads.
As for stopping power, they are good. Still fighting with the dealer on soft pedal feel.
cleoent 05-30-2006, 07:11 PM I have these pads installed and I have servere brake noise with them. I have bedded these twice but i have more noise than the stock pads.
As for stopping power, they are good. Still fighting with the dealer on soft pedal feel.
could be an install error, could be worn rotors.
alnielsen 05-30-2006, 08:04 PM I have these pads installed and I have servere brake noise with them. I have bedded these twice but i have more noise than the stock pads.
As for stopping power, they are good. Still fighting with the dealer on soft pedal feel.
After 1 1/2 weeks, I don't have a problem with noise. They are as quiet. I also have a soft pedal, but I think if I work on bleeding the system more, that will go away.
cleoent 05-30-2006, 09:21 PM Yeah the pedal feel is stock if not better then stock. If it's soft chances are you have some air in there. Dont forget there is a bleeder for the main master cylinder.
swoope 05-31-2006, 12:22 AM Yeah the pedal feel is stock if not better then stock. If it's soft chances are you have some air in there. Dont forget there is a bleeder for the main master cylinder.
cleoent,
could you cover this ?
http://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php?p=1384922&postcount=11
beers :beer:
CosmosMpower 05-31-2006, 01:00 AM Strange, I had these on my M3/4 and they squeeled like a BIATCH just like PHA RX-8 mentioned. I used plenty of that red glue stuff on the back of the pad and also bedded them in according to stoptech's write-up. They had pretty good initial bite and rarely faded at autocross but they dusted pretty bad (about the same as stock BMW pads which dust a TON) and they always squeeled pretty loud.
Winning 8 05-31-2006, 01:31 AM I use the hawk ceramic, and it is good for street, no track time yet, but no dust.
cleoent 05-31-2006, 10:37 AM cleoent,
could you cover this ?
http://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php?p=1384922&postcount=11
beers :beer:
wtf, i swear i answered that already!!!!1
As far as i could tell the ultimates have the same looking/feeling dust as the stock pads.
cleoent 05-31-2006, 10:39 AM Strange, I had these on my M3/4 and they squeeled like a BIATCH just like PHA RX-8 mentioned. I used plenty of that red glue stuff on the back of the pad and also bedded them in according to stoptech's write-up. They had pretty good initial bite and rarely faded at autocross but they dusted pretty bad (about the same as stock BMW pads which dust a TON) and they always squeeled pretty loud.
Well if you used them for autocrossing and not only street use there's a million reasons why they could be squealing. Red stuff i've been told burns off really fast once the brakes get hot, so that could have been the prob.
PHA RX-8 05-31-2006, 10:45 AM The pads dust like OEM but the dust has a red tint to it and isn't as noticable. The rotors were brand new. The district rep authorized my dealer to replace my rotors,calipers and backplates with '06 versions that have additional coating on them. No rust to speak of. Since they were tearing my brakes apart, I told them to install my axxis utl along with all the other work they were doing. I was torn between them and the hawk ceramics.
cleoent 05-31-2006, 10:51 AM Hawk Ceramics are going to be a better street only pad. But Auto-X / track they wont do it.
The Axxis ULT pad is the best dual pad i've found yet. Good enough for the track, good enough for the street.
CosmosMpower 05-31-2006, 03:08 PM Well if you used them for autocrossing and not only street use there's a million reasons why they could be squealing. Red stuff i've been told burns off really fast once the brakes get hot, so that could have been the prob.
Such as? I checked the pads frequently to make sure they still had plenty of meat on them and no rocks/debris got caught between the pads and rotors and also to make sure there was plenty of glue/compound on the backings. Just because you autocross doesn't mean your pads should be noisy, I think that's just how the ultimates are built.
Additionally, I ran them on the street and bedded them in for a good 500 miles or so before I even got to an autocross and they squeeled before and after.
cleoent 05-31-2006, 03:28 PM Such as? I checked the pads frequently to make sure they still had plenty of meat on them and no rocks/debris got caught between the pads and rotors and also to make sure there was plenty of glue/compound on the backings. Just because you autocross doesn't mean your pads should be noisy, I think that's just how the ultimates are built.
Additionally, I ran them on the street and bedded them in for a good 500 miles or so before I even got to an autocross and they squeeled before and after.
I tracked mine and they aren't noisey... who knows.
Could have been a warped rotor, uneven pad wear etc.
swoope 05-31-2006, 10:52 PM The pads dust like OEM but the dust has a red tint to it and isn't as noticable. The rotors were brand new. The district rep authorized my dealer to replace my rotors,calipers and backplates with '06 versions that have additional coating on them. No rust to speak of. Since they were tearing my brakes apart, I told them to install my axxis utl along with all the other work they were doing. I was torn between them and the hawk ceramics.
that is what i was wondering about..... sorry if i did not word it well...
thx
beers :beer:
dsmdriver 06-07-2006, 11:04 AM I just got mine on this weekend and after a few drives:
WOW as well.
Once you have a bit of heat in them, the bite is phenomenal. They have more bite than the stockers at 50 degrees, but the bite goes way up as they get heat.
They have zero bite until bedded though FYI. Took them out to bed them in at a safe place and on the way someone pulled out in front of me. I was standing on the brakes and the car was not stopping. It was pulling really bad due to the unbalanced braking as well.
Don't know about dusting or really hot track performance yet, but the dusting will be worth it for the extra grab these pads have.
cleoent 06-07-2006, 11:07 AM I just got mine on this weekend and after a few drives:
WOW as well.
Once you have a bit of heat in them, the bite is phenomenal. They have more bite than the stockers at 50 degrees, but the bite goes way up as they get heat.
They have zero bite until bedded though FYI. Took them out to bed them in at a safe place and on the way someone pulled out in front of me. I was standing on the brakes and the car was not stopping. It was pulling really bad due to the unbalanced braking as well.
Don't know about dusting or really hot track performance yet, but the dusting will be worth it for the extra grab these pads have.
Awesome! How's the noise for you? Did you buy them through adrennaline?
dsmdriver 06-07-2006, 12:56 PM I got them through Import Replacement Parts, which has much better prices, and is local to me.
Haven't heard a squeak yet, but from what I have read, I'll need to give them some time before I know for sure.
cleoent 06-07-2006, 12:59 PM I got them through Import Replacement Parts, which has much better prices, and is local to me.
Haven't heard a squeak yet, but from what I have read, I'll need to give them some time before I know for sure.
link them.
give the peeps options.
alnielsen 06-07-2006, 01:01 PM Well, I have had these pads on for a month now. I have not had any squeeling, nor any noise from the brakes at all. Pedal feel has improved. And I don't see the quanity of dust that I did with the OEM.
BTW, at 22K miles my front pads were all most gone.
dsmdriver 06-07-2006, 02:06 PM http://www.importrp.com
They also sell on Ebay for the same price, but shipping was cheaper on their site. They're $107+ shipping for a full set.
ZoomZoomH 06-07-2006, 02:17 PM received mine from adrenalineracing yesterday, hopefully will install it friday and give feedback here.
ZoomZoomH 06-14-2006, 09:41 AM bump because i have some early feedback in terms of street use
these things BITE! once it warms up you can definitely tell these are harder braking than stock, i had to change my brake modulation to do my heel-toe shifting smoothly lol
but they do need a little bit of warming up before biting though, when they're cold in the morning, the first time you use the brakes, you WILL feel the pads slipping before it finally heats up and grab the rotors.
will give track feedback after this weekend :)
dsmdriver 06-14-2006, 10:03 AM I'll give track feedback next week, but I will mention squealing now- I do get a little sqeal now and then, just like I did with the stock pads. Don't really consider it any worse than stock, but I didn't have totally quiet stock pads.
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