EBC red pads - never buy again

[BigKriss]

I put some EBC red pads on the front of my car about 3 months ago and probably 10,000kms (6,000) miles ago. They where new when installed with approx 8 - 10 mm of pad thickness. I took my front wheel off today to clean it a bit and theres only 2 - 3mm per side on the left pad. There was brake dust everywhere inside the wheel, i mean caked up hard, about 3mm in depth, this covered aproox 80% of the inner wheel being 1" wide. I had to get it off with some steel wool.

I had one track day at the start of their life and the rest was pretty much normal city driving. damm. I thought these pads where okay. It doesn't matter, I have some PBR metal master pads coming from bma soon, on advice from Jeff N. There around aus$50, thats so cheap, it's nasty.

My question is, if you don't bed the pads in properly, can it lead to severly diminished pad life?

Here's my troubles on the pad previously;

http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=11067

[winfred]

i don't think those pads are supposed to last a long time, that's the price you pay for high performance pads

[Jeff N.]

Kris - I could have told you those pads suck. I had the same experiance.

[Rory535i]

what about the green ones? do they last any longer seein as they're designed more for road use?

[ck1995]

what about the green ones? do they last any longer seein as they're designed more for road use?

I have the green ones on my E36. I wouldn't say they are horrible but I'm not impressed. The longevity seems O.K. so far but the feel and stopping power aren't what I had hoped for and BTW they do dust, not as much as OEM but they dust. I have the PBR metal masters on the E34 and wish I had put them on the E36 as well.

[shragon]

stay away from the green ones. from what i heard, 5 series cars are just too heavy for them. i had them on for a couple months, and they were dustless (positive), but left a bunch of uneven pad material on the rotors leading vibration when braking (negative). i will never buy an ebc product ever again.

i have since went with axxis ultimates which are pretty good, but still very dusty (only a little less than stock). i will be going with axxis/pbr metal masters after these wear out.

[Jeff N.]

I've heard OK things about the green ones for street use; never heard anything good about EBC for cars on the track. Supposedly good for motorpickles.

The PBR Metalmasters are an OK street pad; they need a little heat put in them to get a good bite. Moderate dust. I like them as they work fine for track pads compared to much higher priced choices.

If I wanted a just a street only pad, I'd personally look for a high friction, low dust combination. One that worked at normal temps and didn't need heat to get a bite.