I just got my EBC "Red Stuff" brake pads and I am planning on installing them tomorrow. For all who run with those pads, are you all impressed with the results? I race quite a bit on the 1/4 so I'm pretty hard on brakes as is.

Also, I am going to flush the brake system. I am planning on replacing the stock stuff with DOT 3, but some guys say to use DOT 4. I know that the silicon stuff in the DOT 5 is bad. So, is there better heat transfer with this? Thanks in advance...

 

The Red Stuff pads might need a bit of heat in them before they work. I have run Green Stuff for track days and autocross and they had excellent cold bite. They didn't really last but the dust was much less than the Hawk HP Street pads I had used before.

A lot of people have been pretty critical of EBC pads lately. EBC has some good pads for very lightweight cars and bikes.

For drag racing, you can also easily get by with Hawk HPS or HP+, Performance Friction Z-rated pads, or even the GM performance pads. If you really don't have a lot of shutdown room at the strip, I would go with the Hawk HP+ for the next set. Excellent cold bite and they will handle a lot of heat.

As far as brake fluids, a good DOT3 like the Ford Motorsports Heavy Duty fluid shoud work fine. Castrol LMA is good as is Valvoline SynPower. You won't really get a chance in drag racing to get the brakes so hot that the fluid will boil so a good DOT3 fluid should work.

If you want a good DOT4 fluid, go with ATE Super Blue or the gold-colored Type 200. These are the same fluids, just different colors. When you do a complete flush, you can tell when the flush is done by the color of the fluid that comes out.

DOT5 fluids will cause issues with ABS so that's not something to use.

 

A little education here, plz. I thought the EBC Green was for lighter, less powered cars, and the Reds were for heavier, higher perf cars. Is that about right, or not?

 

that's what I thought...if anyone else knows different, speak up!

 

I use Valvoline Synpower (Dot 4) is all my cars and motorcycles. It's cheap at Autozone, compatable with all Dot 3's, and doesn't expand under heat like non synthetic brake fluid. Nothing like a little brake drag to ruin your track time. On a hot day just the heat from the asphalt and other cars is enough to heat up your brake lines, why use dot 3 to save $5.00, it doesn't make sense.