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New EBC pad compound is a game changer ! 4 pads tested and compared
Pads tested : New EBC SR11 , Raybestos ST43 , Cobalt XR2 , Power stop "Track Day"
One VERY clear winner as you can see below. Not wanting to shill any products, I just want to share my experience with my quest for a longer lasting pad. Hoping this helps other people out there in similar shoes.
As some of you may already know I have been literally destroying brake pads with my C7Z at Laguna Seca the past 6 months. Apparently it is one of the hardest tracks on brake pads and the only track I drive on so far with about 25 days total now. Recently EBC reached out to me and gave me a new pad compound they were working on and wanted some honest feedback after reading some of my posts. They told me that their preliminary testing had shown about 100% longer lasting with the new sintered SR11 compound VS similar pads. I was cautiously optimistic and the proof will have to be in the putting .......
All pads tested above have been run in similar fashion with laps times in the 1.36-1:39 range. I'll start with the worst performing pad to the best.
Powerstop "Track Day" 32 Laps To be fair they work fine for beginner and intermediate level drivers. I had used them before when I was a lot slower and was able to get 2-3 days out of them. Fast forward to today and they lasted half a day and literally crumbled apart as you can see here ! Typical race pad screech but not horrible. Picture below shows how they faired after half a day on track. I only used these because I couldn't get my Cobalts in time for track day. Tons of dust.
Raybestos ST43 : I got these after hearing about how long they lasted on track. I knew ahead of time to expect loud pads. Well they didn't disappoint ! Super loud ! Worked well on track good modulation. They lasted me exactly 84 laps. I should note that I was slightly slower when running those pads. High 1:39s which does make a fairly big difference in pad wear. Id estimate I would have gotten approx 60 laps at current times. I hated driving those around town. VERY loud with very high pitched screech hot or cold. Below you can see how the pads looked at the end of the 84 laps. Tons of dust.
Cobalt XR2 : 62 Laps and were hitting metal. EXPENSIVE at $550 for fronts alone ! Feel great on track. Equal maybe slightly better than the ST 43s. Make some noise but not horribly annoying like the ST 43s were. My favorite pad so far if not looking at price. Tons of dust,
EBC SR11 : 127 Laps ! Okay this really surprised me ! Not only did it get 127 laps out of them but one day I was doing 40 min sessions heating the hell out of them. I'm guessing that number would be significantly higher had they been 20 min sessions like I did with other pads. Great modulation, on par with the ST 43 and Cobalts. Not notably better but definitely not any worse. Felt great on track. So they are over 100% longer lasting than the Cobalts and most likely the ST43s as well if they had been pushed as hard. What surprised me equally was the noise..... what noise ?! They do make some noise but its a low level grind you barely hear. ZERO high pitched screeching ! To me that's pretty amazing and unheard of for track pads. I tried getting audio of the noise they do make but you cant hear it on recordings. They have another compound for the same SR11 Pad that shows an additional 50% increase in wear which would put them at about 3X improved wear over the others. I honestly didn't expect these kind of results. I'm glad I took the time to look over my data and see the actual laps run on all of these pads to give a fair comparison. Pics of the SR11s after 127 laps below. Please note the rotors as well . At first glance it appears the rotors were worn but it turns out it is the transfer layer from the pad material. The rotors actually appear to have worn less despite the greatly improved pad life. They explained to me that the transfer layer can actually cause the rotor to grow initially. I should also note that they have considerably LESS dust as well..... They have a higher TQ pad SR21 that lasts even longer but I have not tested those yet. I just put on front AP kit and will have data for those as well soon. They were kind enough to give me SR11 pads to test on the new setup too.
this is great feedback, thank you. What I really appreciate is how you took pads from the most budget friendly to long lasting (powerstop to raybestos) and compared them accordingly.
A few questions
who is going to carry the EBC pads?
do you know the cost of the pads?
when does EBC anticipate availability of these pads?
Sounds promising, certainly looks like quite a bit of pad material gets transferred to the rotor based on the buildup in the rotor slots. Sounds like you used these pads on the street as well, how did they do cold? What was your street/track ratio for use?
this is great feedback, thank you. What I really appreciate is how you took pads from the most budget friendly to long lasting (powerstop to raybestos) and compared them accordingly.
A few questions
who is going to carry the EBC pads?
do you know the cost of the pads?
when does EBC anticipate availability of these pads?
did you swap rotors between the different pads?
The normal vendors. Pretty sure I saw previous pads of theirs at Autozone even.
said competitive with the ST43 but price isn’t out yet until pads are out.
Said in about a month and to contact EBC Vegas
All pads were tested on Girodisc rotors. Two sets of rotors.
Sounds promising, certainly looks like quite a bit of pad material gets transferred to the rotor based on the buildup in the rotor slots. Sounds like you used these pads on the street as well, how did they do cold? What was your street/track ratio for use?
maybe 50/50. I do drive my car on street quite a bit. I bought the car exactly a year ago and have put 9k miles on it since then.
Sounds promising, certainly looks like quite a bit of pad material gets transferred to the rotor based on the buildup in the rotor slots. Sounds like you used these pads on the street as well, how did they do cold? What was your street/track ratio for use?
Website says they work when cold all the way up to 1650*, I’ve only had experience with sintered iron in clutches though it did grip when cold and had a very high coefficient of friction. https://ebcbrakes.com/products/ebc-sintered-sr-series/
OP, can you share what letter is stamped on these pads?
https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/disc-brake-pad-friction-codes-explained/
These pads are advertised as track only so will not undergo the SAEJ661 and AMECA certification most likely to be edge coded, but it is more than likely they would rate as HH.
Last edited by PLapping12; 02-24-2022 at 10:27 AM.
Sounds promising, certainly looks like quite a bit of pad material gets transferred to the rotor based on the buildup in the rotor slots. Sounds like you used these pads on the street as well, how did they do cold? What was your street/track ratio for use?
These pads are advertised as track only so will not undergo the SAEJ661 and AMECA certification most likely to be edge coded, but it is more than likely they would rate as HH.
for those of us who are curious but also oblivious; what does that mean (edge coded; rate as HH, etc.)
for those of us who are curious but also oblivious; what does that mean (edge coded; rate as HH, etc.)
Its a standardized way of rating friction materials in their hot vs cold performance, and that rating is assigned a letter depending on its friction coefficient. Typically it is referred to as a "chase test".
E = 0.25-0.35u
F=0.35-0.45u
G=0.45-0.55u
H=0.55-0.65u
So when looking at something like "GH" for example, the first letter "G" is the "cold" friction rating and "H" is the "hot" friction rating. It is a decent comparative tool but not 100% law as the hot rating isn't that applicable to track/race pads, as hot for track use is not the same as hot for street use which the standard is intended for. Think temperatures about half of what a track car sees.
Essentially the test takes a coupon and rubs it against a cast iron drum at a relatively low pressure and records how much torque it produces to give you a friction value at both hot and cold. Hopefully that makes sense!
I've been wondering for decades when someone would come out with these types of sintered pads for cars. I've been using them on motorcycles since the 1990's and they work great... and EBC has some awesome (fairly) new compounds as well, galled GPFAX for the bikes, slicks only. Amazing modulation, very high temp, and easy on the rotors (more so than the lower grade versions even). Sounds like they have stepped up. The GPFAX does need bedding in though... and clean rotors to start with. The non-sintered EBC pads I'm not at all happy with personally.
Why don't they just provide a cf vs temp plot like the other pad manufacturers?
Perhaps your comparison may not be a fair fight. How about compared to ST47 or PFC01? ST43 never had enough bite for me. Did you measure rotor wear and temp with the different pads?
Why don't they just provide a cf vs temp plot like the other pad manufacturers?
Perhaps your comparison may not be a fair fight. How about compared to ST47 or PFC01? ST43 never had enough bite for me. Did you measure rotor wear and temp with the different pads?
These are available on the EBC website if this is what you are looking for.
Why don't they just provide a cf vs temp plot like the other pad manufacturers?
Perhaps your comparison may not be a fair fight. How about compared to ST47 or PFC01? ST43 never had enough bite for me. Did you measure rotor wear and temp with the different pads?
It is a fair fight. ST43 is comparable to the XR2 and the SR11. ST47 would be more in line with XR1 and the EBC SR21. SR21 lasts longer and takes higher heats.
as for heat they were taking the same abuse. Well the ST43 actually had it easier since I was a couple seconds slower when I ran those.
rotor wear was negligible after 127 hard laps. Less wear that the others compared.
Pads wear faster when they're pushed outside their efficient temp range. With ST47s, you'd use the brakes less with the increased bite, and how it heats up and cools down would change quite a bit, too. Perhaps ST43s were not a good match for your use, and you shouldn't extrapolate how ST43s lasted for your use to guestimate how ST47s would.
Lap times might be misleading, too, if you were actually slower due to using brakes too much, for instance : )
Pads wear faster when they're pushed outside their efficient temp range. With ST47s, you'd use the brakes less with the increased bite, and how it heats up and cools down would change quite a bit, too. Perhaps ST43s were not a good match for your use, and you shouldn't extrapolate how ST43s lasted for your use to guestimate how ST47s would.
Lap times might be misleading, too, if you were actually slower due to using brakes too much, for instance : )
understood. That’s why I was comparing similar pads. ST43 are a comparable performance pad to the cobalt xr2 and also the EBC SR11. Matchup for the st47 would be the EBC SR21 and the Cobalt XR1 ……
I wasn’t implying lap times were slower from brake compound. I was illustrating how those st43 lasted longer than they would have because I was slower at that time. As I have gotten faster I am much harder on the brakes. Braking deeper and harder. Accelerating harder to each braking zone. The 80 laps with ST43s would have been 50 max with current abuse which is how I tested the EBC pads.
EBC testing showed about 100% better wear vs Cobalts as well. Not sure if they tested the ST43.
I’d say the proof is in the putting. I’d bet money you’ll see similar gains. 👍
Indeed, I'd love to test out these new pads! ST pads have been very low in supply, and now would be a great time to test out alternatives.
I've tested Cobalt XR1 and XR2 before, and I don't think they did as good as ST pads, at least when I tested them out. My brother tried out Carbotech, and they wore out too fast.
Thanks! The 21's do have a wide / flat friction plot. Not as high as st47's but the 47's trail off at the higher temperatures. I don't have complaints about the life of 47's in the 20mm thickness to fit my calipers and they're dirt cheap but haven't been able to purchase a new set for a while.
Will be interested to see if they'll make them to fit WW calipers and how much $$.
Wonder if you can swap back / forth with street pads or if they'll need a dedicated set of rotors.
Originally Posted by PLapping12
These are available on the EBC website if this is what you are looking for.
02-23-2022, 02:33 PM
New EBC pad compound is a game changer ! 4 pads tested and compared
