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EBC pads

I have reds in the TSX wagon. They are fine. Somewhat dusty. They fade on a normal drive down a steep hill over 2 miles at around 20-25 mph, but that may be an issue with undersized rotors on a car that large.

I should add, I bought the yellows over Hawk et al. because I watched an Acura TLX, which has 100hp and 1000lbs on me, do hard work on Summit Point's Shenandoah circuit, which is very hard on brakes, using these. Did you bed your reds hard and proper? They're supposed to be the most aggressive compound so I'm surprised you had them fade unless the rotors were shiny.

I did also notice some anecdotal but still serious-looking QC issues from EBC 3-4 years ago, but since I hadn't seen any recent complaints, and their performance had been proven to me in person, I bought in. I believe if there were a serious issue with my pads, I would have seen it by now.
 
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Whoops, looks like you're right. I thought it went green, yellow, red, but I guess it's green, red, yellow, blue/orange, and the first two are not supposed to be trackable.

I do see they still recommend a series of 60-to-10 threshold brake applications to bed in even the non-track pads for "street/urban driving," which is kinda ****ed up. I'd hope they don't glaze over if one doesn't have a great place to do that in their street car.
 
You should do that to transfer a layer of pad material to the disk surface anyway, even if not freshly machined/replaced as you should.
 
Always used Volvo OE pads and never been disappointed. Stop much better then the aftermarket stuff although they produce a fair amount of dust.
 
You should do that to transfer a layer of pad material to the disk surface anyway, even if not freshly machined/replaced as you should.

No argument, I agree, but for OEM or ostensibly equivalent pads installed on fresh rotors, I would expect safe braking performance in normal conditions immediately, and no untoward effects from a lack of hard bedding; within a couple-three hundred miles of normal use, they should be at maximum performance, whatever that may be. Fade after a few miles of light or moderate braking downhill sounds no good to me.

I have a little less than a half inch left on mine and I'm taking them to Palmer MSP for a track night later this month. I have some good-ass brakes right now but curious to see what happens with another cumulative hour of hard use.
 
I always "bed in" / heat cycle pads to burn off the junk and eliminate the weird first 100-200 miles garbage. 10-20 light to progressively firmer 0-45-0 cycles will do it. Once you see the new pads smoke out, then you know they are ready. Yes, they will stink and smoke a little to get burned in. After that, you are good to go!
 
^^^^ is true. That coating also really helps scrape the pad buildup off the rotors. Scared the crap outa me first time I heard it though, sounded like I was stopping with some 60-grit on the pads. lol
 
I always "bed in" / heat cycle pads to burn off the junk and eliminate the weird first 100-200 miles garbage. 10-20 light to progressively firmer 0-45-0 cycles will do it. Once you see the new pads smoke out, then you know they are ready. Yes, they will stink and smoke a little to get burned in. After that, you are good to go!
This is good advice to get the resin out of low end pads and help them work better. The cycles help cut the two surfaces into each other. The heat helps drive out lubricants, coat the rotor, and prepare the pad for harder work :-D
 
This is good advice to get the resin out of low end pads and help them work better. The cycles help cut the two surfaces into each other. The heat helps drive out lubricants, coat the rotor, and prepare the pad for harder work :-D
I don't think this is as necessary with ceramic based pads, definitely organic and semi metallic pads require a baking in process. The pads are designed like this and you need to get them as hot as you'll ever get them, if you exceed this temperature later on the pad will start to fade at the higher temperature.
 
True enough - but for "low end pads" which I excluded ceramics from in my mind despite how common and cheap they are, it is a good idea. :-)
 
Since there's another thread about EBC on sale, I will update to say that after one more track hour my yellows have ~1/8" left.

So, excellent pads while they last, very short life.
 
To help my rotors last longer with such aggressive pads. I had them cryogenic hardened. They have lasted through three sets of the ebc greens and are still good.
 
One thing that's surprising (to me,) my rotors are still nearly perfect, can barely tell any material is missing even with a fingernail. Just cheapo Centric flats. After going through a set of aggro pads in about a month I would expect to see more damage.
 
I'm with you Dave. I've had several sets on different vehicles cryo'd plus I'll be cryo'ing the pads as well. The 850R has cryo'd pads and rotors on it, sold it with 50k on the brakes, still at 50% or better. Mom's last grand caravan got 95k on pads, rotors were spotless, where she would get 30k on pads normally. Also got the S60R rotors on mine cryo'd and they show no signs of wear at all, with around 60k and PLENTY of abuse.
 
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