Quote:
Originally Posted by jritt@essex
What data are you basing this statement on, or is this just your personal opinion based on your own car? We have many, many thousands of extremely satisfied Ferodo DS2500 customers in North America, across an enormous range of vehicles (everything from Miata, to GT3, to GT-R, and everything in between). From what we've seen, they are the best dual-purpose pad available at any price, anywhere in the world. That is based on testing performed on a brake dynomometer at our facility, and our data shows that the DS2500 trounces most other pads of similar type in max operating temp/fade resistance. It also has excellent road manners, such as low noise.
As a general rule, DS2500 tends to be far more stout than OEM pads. They typically have a much higher max operating temperature than OEM pads and are much more fade-resistant.
Below is a detailed article I wrote on the current most popular Ferodo Racing pad compounds:
Which Ferodo Brake Pad Compound is Right for Me?
There are many variables that determine just how much brake pad you need for your situation, and the situation is different for every car, every driver, every track, and every situation. There is no one single solution that works for everyone. A brake setup one person may find perfectly adequate...the next driver may burn down in the three laps on his car, under the conditions in which he is driving it. Some factors that determine how much heat you'll need to deal with in your brake system:
Driving skill/style (hard or easy on brakes)
Track layout- tracks vary tremendously in how much heat they pour into the brakes
Number of consecutive laps
Speed reached at the end of each straight (related to corner exit speed and horsepower)
Tire size
Tire compound
Suspension setup/alignment (how much rubber is being put on the track)
Brake Disc size
Brake Disc number of vanes/airflow capacity
Generally speaking for the G8x M3, I would characterize the DS2500 as more of a sport pad than a track pad. It will almost certainly perform better than OEM on track (we have yet to see an OEM perform better), but it does have its limitations on a vehicle this heavy and powerful.
For example, if you were going to run your G8x M3 on an easy braking track, on street tires, and you tend to be easy on your brakes, I wouldn't expect any issues. However, if you tend to be hard on brakes, are running R Compound tires, and plan to tackle Watkins Glen or Road America, I would absolutely suggest one of Ferodo's more heavy duty compounds. Unfortunately, the other Ferodo compounds aren't available just yet...something we are working on.
You can find the Ferodo DS2500 (along with our other brake solutions) on our site here: https://www.essexparts.com/my-vehicl...pound%20Brakes) |
Basing my statement on two factors: my personal experience with my old F80 M3 and my current Lotus Exige 410 Sport, and the brake friction co-efficient rated for the pads.
DS2500s are a great pad but they are not better in braking performance than EBC Bluestuff. EBC Bluestuff is comparable to Ferodo DS1.11s. Both of those pads have a brake friction co-efficient of 0.52 across a wide temperature range. The DS2500s peak at 0.4 and drops from there as the brake temperatures climb. Same with the EBC Yellowstuff which are comparable with the DS2500s, they also peak at 0.4ish and drop as the brake temperatures climb. Then even looking at strictly track pads, we can see that EBC Orangestuff has similar brake friction co-efficients to the Ferodo DSUNOs.
I have tested EBC Bluestuff and Ferodo Ds1.11s on my old F80 M3 (which had m2 competition 2NH BBK) and I can state from my personal experience that the Bluestuff is marginally better than the DS1.11s on cold bite, and the DS1.11s has better brake fade resistance and performance when they get really hot. I feel the same when I tried them both out in my Lotus Exige Sport 410. I have yet to try the DS2500s on the G80 M3 but I can assume that they would be very similar to the Yellowstuff that I am currently running.
On my old F80, EBC Yellowstuff and Ferodo DS2500s are very similarly matched and I can't decipher any differences between the two (maybe that the DS2500s has a little more brake dust than the Yellowstuff) I can recommend both EBC Yellowstuff and DS2500s for anyone who wants dual purpose pads (light track usage).
Since the OP was asking for suggestions on a dual purpose pad that can withstand a bit heavier track usage, I recommended the Bluestuff because I feel that that pad is more street-friendly mainly due to its superior cold bite as compared the DS1.11s, and that it is a very capable moderate track usage pad as well