|
or Immediate Release – June - 2004
Recently, as
recent as the past 2 SCCA Rallies I’ve competed in, I’ve been
testing some new brake pads from EBC – EBC Redstuff CERAMICS.
Most may have
heard that EBC pads at one time were considered to be less than
rotor / wear friendly pads, and that they earned a horrible
reputation. Especially EBC Greens which had an issue with leaving
massive pad deposits on the rotors and often caused “warping.”
Well, there is a
new owner, new outlook and many changes occurring at EBC.
I’ve been working with Andy Freeman - Managing Director Freeman
Automotive / EBC Brakes UK Ltd and CEO of EBC Brakes USA Ltd.
Andy’s been kind enough to supply our rally team with some
front/rear pads to test and provide feedback on – HONEST
feedback so here goes J
The old
specification of pads from EBC were known to be prone to rotor
chewing, fade and quick wear. The great news is Andy, seeing that
changes were in order seems to have dramatically changed the
formula of the EBC range for our Subarus. He realized that the old
spec EBC brakes were just not up to the task and has made changes
bearing that in mind. These changes, after 4 full days of testing,
ARE EXCELLENT in my opinion.
I chose to test
the street/mild track setup pads on my Rally car, thus I’ve been
running the EBC Redstuff Ceramics (note there are 2 different types
of Redstuff – and the CERAMICS are of the new spec and
new compounds) – I tested these pads on my SCCA ProRally car at the
Rim of the World rally as well as my most recent rally here in the
NW Region (over 140 stage miles).
2003 WRX Wagon
PGT Rally car Brake set up:
- - OE Rotors
- - Goodridge
Stainless lines
- - Motul brake
fluid
Rim of the world
offered some very high speed, hard breaking tarmac stages were I
really put the brakes to the test. Rotors and pads were literally
smoking by the time Friday’s stages were over with. This was my
first experience with these pads in this type of condition – and
without hesitation I trusted them wholeheartedly and pushed them to
the limit. Even in these extreme conditions I found the following:
Braking
ability/Fade Resistance
– I never experienced brake fade! Even at the highest temperatures
– and I was brutal on these pads, even noting that in between stages
they did get a chance to cool down a bit. Pedal travel remained as
it should, I was not feeling any extra travel which means that even
though the pads were heating up, the heat was not getting all the
way THROUGH the pads to the point of fading. Rotors showed zero
signs or warping, or wobbling which meant that the pads were not
leaving nasty deposits onto my rotors.
Brake feel
– excellent feedback, the pads did get a bit “tired” by the end of
the night’s stages, but I thrashed them to the limit – and they
never let go. By tired I mean I felt a slight change in them, but
they did not fade. I could tell though that I was really putting
them to the limit.
Rotors
– for once,
were not scored, did not warp or have that wobbly feeling. I’ve been
struggling with this all season long. Later inspection showed that
rotors were in good shape.
Dust?
– Yes, of course there was “some” dust produced but not 1/10th
that of the Porterfield R4’s I’d been running previously on this
setup.
Compared to my
previous pads?
– Again, I’d been running the Porterfield R4’s. I’ve never had brake
fade with the Porterfields but these EBC’s, unlike the Porterfields,
did NOT score my rotors, they did NOT dust up the entire front end
of my car and they did NOT wear completely away - I was most
excited about the fact that they didn’t leave mass deposits or warp
my rotors beyond use. Typically, after 2 days rallying, my
Porterfields were destroyed – worn to the point of being unsafe.
Once I removed
the pads I saw they were quite a bit worn, and were heated so - that
the outer edges of the pad started crumbling off a bit. That looked
a bit odd to me as I’ve not seen anything like it before, yet on the
plus side, I never experienced any fade and the pad SURFACE looked
only slightly worn (shoot me, I failed to take measurements). And
keep in mind, I absolutely COOKED these things to the point that I
baked the red paint right off of them!!
I have since
learned from Andy and EBC that a very small amount of edge crumbling
around the edges of the pads is quite normal & occupies only a tiny
bit of the pad surface – thus been assured there is absolutely
nothing to worry about in regards to this.
I utilized these
pads again at our latest NW Region SCCA Rally which is a much higher
speed (100+ in places) rally than Rim of the World. Again, I
experienced NO brake fade, excellent feedback from the brakes, and
my rotors came out like champs once again! That’s 2 rallies, same
rotors – must be a record for me this year!
My
Conclusion:
I would
recommend these brakes as a GOOD street, probably light track, and
light rally pad.
Street
Application:
Yes! You can run these on the street with confidence for once
they’re bedded in properly, they don’t need to HEAT up to perform –
and they are obviously rotor friendly. Noise: These pads
come with noise reducing shims, and seem to be relatively quiet.
Dust : There will be some, as is with any aftermarket pads, but
these dust a lot less than the Axxis and Porterfields that I’ve
tried in the past – just keep up on cleaning your wheels and you’ll
be fine.
Overall when you
look at the fact that I thrashed the pads, and they held up damn
well, didn’t damage my car, these pads are an excellent value for
the money! WRX/RS Front/Rear EBC Redstuff Ceramic can be found for
$89’ish per pair – that’s less than ½ what I was paying out for the
Porterfields.
EBC has earned a
new customer and a new outlook! I’d say at this point that Andy has
succeeded in his aim to MAKE CHANGES and cure the damaged reputation
EBC once had. I know that I’m sold on it… for nearly ½ the price I
can get apparently twice as much racing out of these pads, and save
needed $$ on rotors!
You can find out
more about EBC Redstuff Ceramics by contacting
joseph@ebcbrakesusa.com
or visiting
EBC's Web Site
STi, WRX, RS,
etc. EBC has replacement pads for
all Subarus!
Next up, I hope
to do some testing on the full race spec EBC Yellowstuff.
I’ll keep
everyone posted on that.
Please contact
me if you have specific questions. |
