Best DD & AutoX Brakes
 

Anyone have any Stoptechs? I heard they are great, bite good and don't melt your calipers like HP+. Also heard they are quiet, but any experience with them on the 8??

Can't go wrong with Hawk HPS if you want a good balance of DD and Autocross.

Just curious how the HP+ melt the calipers.

i got a kit for front and rear with slotted rotors and stainless lineson my r3's i daily it and auto -x have about 15k miles on and the slot are still nice and thick, now they are def worse in cold, big time noticeably until they are warm and they do squeel but i love it.

got all with motl for about $800 i think

For autoX you don't usually want a pad that takes much heat to start working. You only get so much warm-up time on a 60 second run. Plus you're not stopping from massive speeds, it's more about weight transfer. So I'd second the HPS recommendation above, especially if we're talking about street tires.

I am running Z2's and have slotted rotors now. My friend was in a subi said a buddy he met (before he got his stoptechs) said that he was running HP+ on a track day and they melted his calipers, but running stoptechs, he never had that problem.

I also do not want my car to start squeeling since my car is already pretty loud as is. Do HPS squeel as well?

^^ hps ++

Hps sucks, pretty much the same braking performance as oem but with a bit more initial bite. Get hp+ and start complaining about your wheels beeing dirty all the time. Keep oem shims with aftermarket pads otherwise they will squeal like pigs

And that's a bad thing? The OEM pads are quite stout for an "oem" pad.

HPS work at lower temp than HP+, makes the first stop of the day more reliable. I ran half hour sessions at Sebring with no issues. I still overbrake Turn 1 at Roebling (125 mph down to 80 or so) even when I brake at the 2. Works fine for me, car stands on the nose and I hang from the straps. I also have 130,000 miles on the car and still have the origional rotors. I heard HP+ will wear the rotors. So, for my DD RX8 with about 8,000 track miles, HPS is the way to go.

ps. The OEM pads smelled really really bad after about 6 turn 1s at Roebling. Really Really Really bad.

Yea road racing is a different story though. For autocross the OEM pads arent awful.

I have a hard time believing that the calipers melted. Now if you said the pads melted, I could agree with that. I have gone just above the heat rating of the HP+ pads and they began to smear and leave deposits on the rotors, so you could say they were on the way to melting.

Whether or not they will do the same for you depends on your skill level and the track you drive on. The HPS that people are recomending have a lower max heat threshold than the HP+.

Have been DDing HPS for 2 years now with time trials, auto-x and long (600+ mile) road trips i could not have asked for anything better.

OEM does have a bit more initial bite but the HPS comes in to its own once they warm up.

I won't be doing a lot of high speed autox (track days) a year - probably just 3 or so. AutoX almost every other weekend it seems lately.

with the HPS having a lower initial heat is a good thing. Though if I stay with stock calipers and shims I should not get any squeaking?

You'll be fine, HPSs don't squeak. They're my daily pad.

I am going to buy a set of HPS since I don't think I need HP+ since I mostly DD. With that said, which shim should I use? OEM or the ones that come with the HPS?

Just from my experience, either is fine.