which pad is best bad
 

I am needing to do the brakes again on the 8 and I am still not sure what pads to pick.

I have had OEMs on the car and currently have Hawk HPS all the way around.

Throughout the life of the HPS pads, I have found that the initial bite is weak, significantly weaker than the stock pads. I just don't like it. My current thought is to go back to OEM, but I am interested in other options.

Things I am looking for in a brake pad:
-good initial bite
-wont fade quickly
-excellent stopping power
-No squeal
-Low dust
-long life

This would be used on a daily driver that likes to have a battle with a twisty mountain road every once in a while.

What does the forum recommend and why?

Hawk Ceramic is my top recommendation. Excellent cold bite, won't fade for anything you deal with on the street, very nearly zero dust, incredibly quiet. Best street pad I've ever driven on.

It won't be sufficient for the track, as it's temperature threshhold isn't high enough to deal with the heat there, but it's high enough that you won't easily surpass the limits on the street.

You can say for sure that the hawk ceramic initial bite is better than the HPS?

Yes.

I was never satisfied with HPS or HP+. I see both as much like the "all season tire" of brake pads. They are acceptable at everything, but good at nothing. I don't like mediocre performance in my brake pads. Swapping to the ceramics was a dramatic street improvement.

I use Carbotechs for the track.

Thank you sir!

I would say just about anything would be better initial bite than the HPS ......

Yea I must say the HPS pretty much suck. When I had to do pads I was hoping for an upgrade over the stock pads, and I would say that the HPS is worse in almost everyway I can quantify. Ill be trying something else next time around as well.

It makes me confused as to where the HPS praise came from. There's tons of threads of people praising the HPS pads. Glad I am not alone in being dissatisfied.

I think it comes from new people who did their first mod to the car ....... it's always ZOMG this (whatever) is so fantastic !

It takes a bit of experience to develop a good brake sense, most people don't get to that point. Like "look it stops the car, best upgrade ever "

This.

It's great because they don't what to think negative about what they spent money on, since that would be admitting ignorance/stupidity/etc... same as any mod, be it an eBay dual twin turbonator v-fin tornadoizing super ram air intake, a $50 tinfoil midpipe, or whatever Brettspeed's latest offering is (:suspect:)

WCS already killed my market with his expose' of my product line . :(



As far as the HPS pads go ... they work ok .... just the initial bite thing............ Has almost caught me out a few times .

Yeah, it's an 'ok' pad, better than 'lifetime-glaze-me-now-please' pads, but for the same money, there are better options.

I would suggest Axxis Ultimates.

I experienced fade twice on the track when using the OEM pads with SuperBlue ATE fluid (running 265/35R18 Kumho XS). Switched to Axxis Ultimates on the front and haven't exprienced fade yet. The Axxis Ultimates are more of an autocross pad that a pure track pad, but that gives them good bite with little or no heat up time. The RX-8 is easy on brakes compared to most cars, so really expensive pads from brands like Carbotech or Porterfield are not necessary when you aren't on a racetrack. And please don't say, "but I am really pushing my car on those back mountain roads".......because you will never require more braking power when the weakest link is traction to the ground.

I don't think he is looking for a track pad, given his criteria.

Correct....that is why I suggested the Axxis Ultimates. They are not considered a track pad, but can withstand mild track use if needed. I thought they met his criteria rather well seeing how they are cheaper than the Hawks. Only downside is that the Ultimates dust as much as the OEM.

I just slapped on a set of Stop Tech street performance pads... I have them on my Subaru and they are actually quite nice.. They do dust a lot but other than that I like them so far.. Ive done some canyon driving on them (subaru) and they held up well. (ATE brake fluid ~ super Blue) DBA rotors ss lines.. I like the combo.. So I slapped some on my rx8 last night r1 Slotted Rotors. and ATE Fluids (all ss lines) So far they are better than stock. Im still seating the rotors and pads. but so far I like the set up.. (So far street) haven't done any track or canyon driving with the RX8 yet on this set up.

My last pads (before the current HPS ) were axxis ultimates . I also liked them for a street pad .