Racing Brake ET800 pad reivew
 

I recently was looking for a set of new pads for my RX-8. Ideally, I wanted a pad that worked well for autocross, daily use, and track days. My number one concern was autocross use, which basically means it needs good bite at ambient temperatures (i.e., first run of the day) although I’m not too worried if the bite falls off a little below 50 degrees or so.

However, I was also hoping for a pad that would hold up well for track days. I’m not a track hound, but now that I have the car in STX trim I’m itching to get it out on the track, and I’d prefer to avoid swapping pads, if possible.

I was browsing the Racing Brake web site, dreaming of a lightweight caliper/rotor conversion, when I noticed they had quite the range of pads as well. It would appear that the ET500 is the recommended pad for autocross work, but then I read some reviews that they can fade if used heavily on the track. The ET800, on the other hand, generally gets rave reviews for track use, yet RB claims they are easy on rotors, don’t dust much, and there isn’t a minimum temperature listed. Looked good. Still, I wondered if they would be off a bit when cold, so I posted to the RB forum and asked if they ET800s would work well for autocross.

As you can see in the thread, RB (and one user/vendor) said they thought they would work well for autocross, and offered me a discount & money back guarantee if I would try them and then post a review. I took them up on the offer and here is my review.

For the record, I have only used OEM and a generic aftermarket pad (although I think it was ceramic) on the RX-8. I’ve used Porterfield RS-4 & Cobalt on my Miata, however.

I’ve had the ET800s on my car for two weeks now, and have two autocross events on them. At both events I ran first thing in the morning in overcast conditions, and had no problems with them working right out of the start, at the first corner. Their bite seems consistent with temperature increase as well – one of the events had 8 runs in 90 minutes, with some heavy braking (for autocross anyway) both during the run and in the finish. In fact, at the finish of the last 4 runs I got that “hot brake pad” smell as I drove back to grid. No, it’s not track use, but under these conditions I noticed no change in bite/torque.

They also modulated well, allowing me to easily vary braking force as I negotiated decreasing radius turns.

Not surprising, street use is fine as well. I can’t say what they will be like in cold conditions – it would not surprise me if they need to be brushed once to heat up – but so far, I’ve had no problems, and only have mild squeaking under light pressure.

Can’t comment on rotor wear yet, but dusting seems at about OEM levels or so.

Unfortunately, I do not have any track events on them yet. However, if you do some searching, you will see that the ET800s get near-universal praise on the track, so I expect them to do well there. The big news for me is that they are a good street/autocross pad that will (hopefully) stand up to track use as well - a true dual-purpose pad. I may do a track day later this summer and if I do I will update this review. I certainly will not be asking for my money back, and can easily endorse them for street & autocross use.

George glad to see you are happy with the pads, the ET800's are going to be my next choice for my next pad.

Nice review!

Thanks for the write-up! I'm getting into Autox and was considering the Hawk HPSs, but looks like I'll give the ET800s a go after reading this!

Just a quick note on the ET500's for a comparison. I was hot-lapping a 40-50 second autocross course (no timing set up) at a practice day my local club put on a few weeks ago and after 4-5 runs with ~5 min breaks in between the brakes faded pretty badly and all of a sudden. There was absolutely no stopping power and i almost wiped out a wall of cones at a 180 degree turnaround.

After a quick break they cooled down and i never had a problem again but i was giving them a good work out ;)

I have a track day next Thursday so we'll see how they do in those conditions.

FYI

Might be time to step up to the ET800's :)

We stock all Racing Brake Pads at all times so just let me know!

My previous set of pads faded once on me at a pro-solo, which had four back-to-back 30 sec runs.

But on the ET800s with the 8 50 sec runs in 90 minutes, I had no problems.

It seems weird to get fade at an autocross, but, the pads don't get a nice long straightaway to cool off. You ride them hard, especially at the finish, and then you park it for 5 minutes and the rotors heat soak the pads. Then you do it again.

How are they wearing after a few events?

Visually, I can't detect any wear. I didn't measure their thickness when new, so I can't really say for sure yet how they will wear over the long term.

Quick update: I went for a spirited drive today after washing the car (and wheels). After about a 90 minute drive, of which 30-40 minutes were mountain roads where the brakes got good & hot, I got home to check for dusting. On my grey wheels, I could only see a light dusting if I got very close to the wheels. Brushing my fingertip on the wheel surface produced a light amount of brake dust.

So, light dusting after 30-40 minutes of hard street use.

On the down-side, the pads are now squealing with light to moderate brake application - which is to say, typical street driving. With the windows down it is annoying but not loud. I did use anti-squeal compound on all pads except the front-inner pads, and perhaps that's responsible. But I was hoping they would be largely silent, as advertised on the RB website.

Anybody from RB care to comment? Have the ET800s been quiet on other makes?

The front inner pad, the one that touches the caliper piston, is the most important one to lube the back of. Most if not all of the noise comes from where the piston contacts the inner pad. If you could only lubricate one pad that the one to do. Also if you can get the OEM shims to fit put them on the new pads as well.

Thanks for that. I am using the OEM shims. But, I will lube the front inners later this week and see if that changes things.

I am anxious to see how these hold up on a road course.

funny,

yep, lube it up.

i am running the cobalt friction csr right now till i get through my next track day, and decide what pad to run on the street..

with the stock shims and permetex lube, i rarely have a sound out of them.

btw, great pads also..

beers :beer:

any update on these? i was thinking about the porterfield rs4 that you used on the miata but jantzen mentioned this thread so i thought i'd see what you think of the ET800 after a few months...

Still 100% satisfied. Drove the car in sub-freezing temps and the pads are fine, even when stone cold.

Wish I could report that they are as great on the track as others have said, but I still have not done a track day.

wow! look at you.. quick response. :SHOCKED:

are you going to continue running them this season? i have mazdaspeed pads now that i run all the time (dd, autox, track) but will switch to dd and track/autox only pads this season. i'll use up my mazdaspeed first but was looking at ht-10 and porterfield for the track and porterfield looks like it'll perform better on the autox side when not fully warmed up like these et800s you're talking about.

when's your first track day this season?

Are you sure Brian wasn't talking about the R4-1's? RS4 are street pads that can be tracked, R4-1's are track pads that can be run on the street (if you're careful)

http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda...t/61-0355.html

Edit: he doesn't call them the R4-1's on his website but he calls them R4-Race. At least i think. Might want to double check.

LOL. Just happen to be on the laptop and saw the notification...

Not sure if I'll make a track day this year. I'm making a focused run at nats this season, and that will be the focus of most of my available time/money.

I have no plans to move away from the ET800s. If I had the $$$, I'd get a RB big brake setup, but I'd probably just get a new set of ET800s. :)

I've had Porterfields in the past, on my Miata, and if I recall correctly, they needed more of a warm-up than the ET800s do.

If you are looking for a good street/autox pad, and plan to have dedicated track pads, you might look at the ET500s - they are cheaper, and should work as good or better at the lower temps seen under those circumstances.

yeah r4-race is what i mean

now there's an interesting thought. i was thinking the two sets would be street only and autox/track but you're saying run street/autox and track only..... hmmmmm..

i did just buy hawk ceramics for the street though so i dunno if that'd work as street/autox but it'd certainly cut down on the pad swapping to only swap for track days. then i'd probs be ok getting the ht10s or dtc60/70 from hawk.

Not sure what to tell you there. ET800s would be great as a triple use pad. If you think you need more pad on the track, then they probably won't work well for autox. But, if you were to buy ET800s, I really don't see a reason to swap out to anything else for the street.

that's quite a recommendation for those pads...... gonna make me rethink my strategy.

I just got the RB BBK and ordered the ET800's along with them. They will be here tuesday and first event of the season is next Saturday, I'll give my review of how they do with the BBK.

crap. going all out eh? that's gonna be a sick setup..

Since i'm starting with the GT model, and everyone else is running the sport, i'm going to need all the weight savings i can get ;)