bmwe21.net forums

Many of us bought wilwood powerlite calipers as aprt of the groupbuy last year. I got the fast road pads with mine.

From the amount of brake dust on my front wheels, the amount the front circuit fluid reservoir has dropped, and a glimpse through the wheel of the pads (not got round to taking a wheel off since Oulton in Feb!), I suspect I have eaten a set of fast road pads in a day.

The options seem to be Wilwood race pads or Mintex.

Anyone have any opinions/advice on what to get as an upgrade. Fast road jobbies stopped the car very well, but appear to have worn out!


Jim

My wilwood race pads are lasting well but i've not been on track yet to punish them.

however the dust they produce will not come off the wheels even with t-cut.

i'm be changing back to Mintex before refurbing the wheels.

Ben

make sure nothing is sticking first.

Can try the "C" series pads from wilwood, probably the best wear rate. Otherwise, give these guys a call (or email) http://www.cobaltfriction.com/

Ben, the more aggressive pads will strip clear coat and chrome off wheels, so you need to clean them after racing right away otherwise they are known to etch the surface of your wheels. Probably find thats what has happened to you.

If its making a mess of the wheels, how grubby are the actual calipers?

Iv got wilwoods, just not fitted yet. Can someone tell me which pads are recomended for road use, and if they are going to make a mess or not?

Not that i know if they make them for wilwoods but EBC do good brakes with a vareity of levels of grip and all fairly low on the ol brake dust.

i have ebc green stuff pads, they always seemed ok..

E series isnt bad on the road, not too dusty and wont destroy your wheels. If you get them real hot they will fade though, but shouldnt find that point on the road.

Ive got B series pads for the track which are brilliant, they are much harsher on rotors though and you really, really need to make sure you cool down the pad/rotor when you finish your laps. Do a slow out lap or try and drive around the pit area a bit, allow them to cool down, dont just park the car and walk away.

Madhatter wrote:really need to make sure you cool down the pad/rotor when you finish your laps. Do a slow out lap or try and drive around the pit area a bit, allow them to cool down, dont just park the car and walk away.

agreed the heat will soak into the caliper thru the pads, not doing the brake fluid any favours. the cooling effect of this on the part of the disc where the pads are may well warp the disc too.

the pads that we got with the calipers in the group buy seem ok to me. I havent had a problem shifting the dust off.. but then i do polish the shit out of my car / give it a wash regular.

nas80 wrote:the pads that we got with the calipers in the group buy seem ok to me. I havent had a problem shifting the dust off.. but then i do polish the shit out of my car / give it a wash regular.

shouldn't polish your car more than a couple of times a year unless you just use a filler polish like super resin polish by autoglym? polish takes tiny amounts of paint.

usually i just wash and wax mine, polish once a year

use this sealant twice a year, once just before winter hits....it's amazing stuff. it's still on after 6 months through winter, protects the paint really well.....

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/sealants/ ... d_355.html

follow up with this wax

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/wax/colli ... d_207.html

and your paint will be very well protected from UV, bird shit and so on, and the water beads really well

damn i'm sad

when mine gets dirty i wash it..... gets dirty again i.......... you get the idea!

murran wrote:when mine gets dirty i wash it..... gets dirty again i.......... you get the idea!

is yours a daily driver murran? if you seal and wax it, it makes cleaning much easier in the future!! but yes, it's a pain in the ass to do. but, mine being a daily, i'd like to keep the paint work nice, until i can afford a bare metal respray

Try wheel guard from www.spautopia.co.uk - it's excellent stuff. Far better than the usual stuff like RimWax etc. Mention the e21 forum and you might even get a bit of a discount?

murran wrote:
agreed the heat will soak into the caliper thru the pads, not doing the brake fluid any favours. the cooling effect of this on the part of the disc where the pads are may well warp the disc too.

It does warp the rotor, bad thing if you dont have floating calipers because it will highlight the warp/thickness variation, giving you shake in the steering wheel/ pulsating brake pedal.

Madhatter wrote:make sure nothing is sticking first.

Can try the "C" series pads from wilwood, probably the best wear rate. Otherwise, give these guys a call (or email) http://www.cobaltfriction.com/

Ben, the more aggressive pads will strip clear coat and chrome off wheels, so you need to clean them after racing right away otherwise they are known to etch the surface of your wheels. Probably find thats what has happened to you.

Yeah, does look like its bonded to the new paint that was on the wheels.
Using the car regularly on the road at the moment, so cleaning after every journey would be a pita.

Gotta do some real track work to wear them out, then fit less dusty pads. Then I can repaint the wheels.

The last set of EBC yellows I had worked well and the dust was manageable, but you can't get them for powerlite calipers

Looks as if Mintex is the only other option, although they are more expensive.

Ben