Best rotor pad combo for daily driver in really hot climate.

[GreenenvyFiST]

Looking for recommendations based on experience for a good combo that won't break the bank. I live in San Antonio, TX, and it's freaking hot here most of the year. +100 degrees in Summer. Thanks!

 

[TyphoonFiST]

It doesn't matter how HOT your climate is* If we were talking Radiators then yes it would matter. Do you autocross? Do you drive like a bat out of Tahiti? Can you deal with brake dust? These are all good questions you must answer. I have EBC Slotted all the way around with Yellow stuff pads and Upgraded SVT rotors and brackets for the rear in mine. Would I change it NOPE. Stopping feel just like my stock set with less dust. How much you wanna spend? Id suggest checking out ROCKAUTO for decent prices on OEM and aftermarket if your trying to stay frugal.

 

[The_Ryan]

stock is very good. I've had EBC yellow, slotted rotors, the works. and I'm going back to stock. Stock pads+centric rotors to save a few more bucks.

 

[rweidman]

Replaced all rotors with Rock Auto coated no rust rotors and best ceramic pads. They have oem calipers also. No more rust or noisy rotors. Great price also

 

[Se7eN]

Hawk HPS 5.0 and stock (coated) rotors is what I run in tropical climate on the front of the car. Aekebono ceramic on the back.

 

[Erick_V]

I previously had Stoptech Slotted w/ Hawk 5.0 and last week I installed Centric w/ OEM pads. I dont dislike the Hawk pads but I like the initial bite of the OEM pads way more, mainly because I autocross. However the OEM pads dust like hell lol. The Hawk pads are very linear and dust less. I had EBC Yellows on my previous car and was happy with those too, haven't tried them on this car.

 

[Shikari]

I previously had Stoptech Slotted w/ Hawk 5.0 and last week I installed Centric w/ OEM pads. I dont dislike the Hawk pads but I like the initial bite of the OEM pads way more, mainly because I autocross. However the OEM pads dust like hell lol. The Hawk pads are very linear and dust less. I had EBC Yellows on my previous car and was happy with those too, haven't tried them on this car.

You could try the Hawk HP+. I had them on a few cars. Bite is harder than OEM but they do squeel like crazy.

 

[M-Sport fan]

I had HP pluses on my LS1 Z28, and yeah, the bite was great, and I was able to live with the dust, but NOT the banshee squeal they made, with EVERY brake hit, even when HOT.

 

[kevinatfms]

Stock "s" pads and blanks for anything that isnt full on tracking the car. Get some high temp fluid and flush the brake system out.

 

[RoboLogan]

Stock "s" pads and blanks for anything that isnt full on tracking the car. Get some high temp fluid and flush the brake system out.

What do you mean by "blanks"? just regular OEM rotors?

 

[Dpro]

stock is fine if you have just a tune on your car. Some people don’t like the dust but honestly stock work really on stock. As long as you are not a track junkie. Then I would recommend what I did below.
If you have a bigger turbo and push it then you will need better pads minimum. I actually am just jumping to EBC Yellows pads and rotors cause I got a good deal. Though a lot of the hybrid and big Turbo guys are using EBC’s Red or Yellow mix or just all Yellow.

 

[M-Sport fan]

What do you mean by "blanks"? just regular OEM rotors?

That just means NO; cross-drilling, or slotting of the rotors, which yes, is what the Motorcraft OEM ones are.

 

[kevinatfms]

What do you mean by "blanks"? just regular OEM rotors?

Yes, just regular rotors without holes/slots or other type of material removal for "cooling". OE "blanks" dont even need to be the motorcraft versions. Rock Auto has a ton of coated options for daily drivers which are well cheaper than the OE Motorcraft stuff.

For track guys, its a consumable. For $15-20 a pop, ill throw on the cheapest coated rotor i can find knowing ill be replacing them when the pads destroy them.

 

[ronmcdon]

Stock "s" pads and blanks for anything that isnt full on tracking the car. Get some high temp fluid and flush the brake system out.

that was my guess too that different brake fluid would be sufficient to address op's concern.

new to this car but do the stock brakes & fluid overheat with spirited canyon driving? with my own goals and because im cheap, hoping just upgraded endless brake fluid and ss lines are good enough for non-competitive 20 min hpde sessions.

 

[Dpro]

that was my guess too that different brake fluid would be sufficient to address op's concern.

new to this car but do the stock brakes & fluid overheat with spirited canyon driving? with my own goals and because im cheap, hoping just upgraded endless brake fluid and ss lines are good enough for non-competitive 20 min hpde sessions.

I have done several canyon runs on stock brakes with no problems. At Octane Academy they ran stock brakes in 20 minute sessions with cool down periods. I did not see fluid overheat. I do have a camber plate customer that put his camber plates in and went to an Autocross and boiled his brake fluid . Ya my camber plates definitely add to grip.

 

[kevinatfms]

that was my guess too that different brake fluid would be sufficient to address op's concern.

new to this car but do the stock brakes & fluid overheat with spirited canyon driving? with my own goals and because im cheap, hoping just upgraded endless brake fluid and ss lines are good enough for non-competitive 20 min hpde sessions.

It depends. I have seen both during HPDE/track events. It comes down to setup, driver and brake package. Torque vectoring paired with a set of sub 200 treadwear tires seems to be where the stock brakes fail to cool sufficiently for heavy track use. So, stick with a 200 treadwear tire, add cooling and monitor brake temps using strips and a temp gun if possible. An LSD is a massive improvement in reduction of the torque vectoring system which also significantly adds heat into the brakes. I run the Mfactory and its a night/day difference in temps compared to a factory diff car on nearly the same setup on the same track in the same conditions. An LSD should have come in this car from the factory...

I would at a minimum go with some sort of cooling setup for any HPDE session in any capacity. Boomba air deflectors are worth the price and are easy to install, no worry about hoses dragging/falling off and with some crude testing have shown to lower brake temps quite a bit(there is a great video at my home track of someone testing an air deflector setup on an NSX and it shows 100F drop in brake temps).

My setup:
OE Ford "S" pads(i believe they are called the summer package pads by Ford)
OE Ford "blank" rotors
Stoptech brake lines
Boomba air deflectors w/o front backing plates
RBF600 fluid
*i do have an Mfactory LSD which significantly reduces the torque vectoring intrusion keeping it from adding more heat into the brakes*

my backup set of pads are the Powerstop PST pads for longer/high speed/high braking courses.

My setup might not work for someone with R888's or another low treadwear tire. I run on 16x8 Dekagrams with Federal RS-Pros so while sticky are not full R-comp tires. I have seen a guy with a big brake Wilwood kit boil his car after a basic trackcross course while my stock car went perfectly fine the whole day. I was just under a half second faster in the back half of the day due to his brake issues. So it is very hit or miss on these cars and VERY driver/setup dependent. See what works for you and adjust from there.

 

[FiSTerMr]

OEM OEM OEM OEM! Our cars come with amazing brakes directly from Ford! The best stock setup I have ever experienced on any one of my cars!
They have crazy initial bite, inspires confidence without a doubt. [emoji123]

*Make sure it's the stock performance setup, NOT the stock all season tire setup. The pads will have an "S" on them.

I have included what you need to order. See below for exactly what I bought from RockAuto, which is the motorcraft OEM equivalent.

Yes you could definitely get cheaper rotors, but pads need to be those exact ones!

I personally considered getting cheaper rotors, but RockAuto was giving me multiple shipping locations, so I paid more for the OEM to have it delivered in one box from one Warehouse.

Most importantly, you need to bed your pads! I cannot stress that enough! Makes all the difference in the world!
BED THE PADS!

Google, "how to bed pads". There are plenty step by step instructions online in text form or video form. [emoji106]

 

[Ford ST]

Absolutely agree the OEM brakes are fantastic.

I took my car to the mountains and drove fast enough to lose my license multiple times over and I did that for well over an hour brakes had no issues zero.

If you need anything more for the street I would suggest putting some money aside for bail.

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk

 

[ronmcdon]

It depends. I have seen both during HPDE/track events. It comes down to setup, driver and brake package. Torque vectoring paired with a set of sub 200 treadwear tires seems to be where the stock brakes fail to cool sufficiently for heavy track use. So, stick with a 200 treadwear tire, add cooling and monitor brake temps using strips and a temp gun if possible. An LSD is a massive improvement in reduction of the torque vectoring system which also significantly adds heat into the brakes. I run the Mfactory and its a night/day difference in temps compared to a factory diff car on nearly the same setup on the same track in the same conditions. An LSD should have come in this car from the factory...

I would at a minimum go with some sort of cooling setup for any HPDE session in any capacity. Boomba air deflectors are worth the price and are easy to install, no worry about hoses dragging/falling off and with some crude testing have shown to lower brake temps quite a bit(there is a great video at my home track of someone testing an air deflector setup on an NSX and it shows 100F drop in brake temps).

My setup:
OE Ford "S" pads(i believe they are called the summer package pads by Ford)
OE Ford "blank" rotors
Stoptech brake lines
Boomba air deflectors w/o front backing plates
RBF600 fluid
*i do have an Mfactory LSD which significantly reduces the torque vectoring intrusion keeping it from adding more heat into the brakes*

my backup set of pads are the Powerstop PST pads for longer/high speed/high braking courses.

My setup might not work for someone with R888's or another low treadwear tire. I run on 16x8 Dekagrams with Federal RS-Pros so while sticky are not full R-comp tires. I have seen a guy with a big brake Wilwood kit boil his car after a basic trackcross course while my stock car went perfectly fine the whole day. I was just under a half second faster in the back half of the day due to his brake issues. So it is very hit or miss on these cars and VERY driver/setup dependent. See what works for you and adjust from there.

thanks that's incredibly helpful as I may end up running a very similar setup. tempted with the air deflectors. Trying to keep my car as close to stock as possible while being reliable for aggressive driving.

 

[Dpro]

thanks that's incredibly helpful as I may end up running a very similar setup. tempted with the air deflectors. Trying to keep my car as close to stock as possible while being reliable for aggressive driving.

Heh, have fun with that. The thing about this car is while its great stock it tends to suck you in mod wise. I did way more mods than I ever intended to a purchased new car. I am actually not bummed about it because for the 5-6K I have dumped in it I have an absolutely silly amazing car that would be hard to duplicate for the cost. His brake recommendations are great for a stock turbo car with a tune .
I just picked up upgraded rotors and pads because of the power I am putting out now. The car is a blast now literally.
Time to start scouting another RWD car lol.