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Has anyone used powerstop brake pads ? a friend has bought and used these for like $120-$130 a set compared to Carbotech for $440. Is there that much difference in these pads?
Hi Doug, you'll find lots of threads on this subject. I'll try to distill what I think you'll find:
* Lots of members have used both CT and PS, with a great deal less dust and very satisfactory braking performance.
* You'll need to be careful which pads you buy from either manufacturer if you're going to track the car.
* Several reports of the PS pads causing rotors to turn brown, and only one or two comments about not liking the initial bite of the PS pads.
* I put CT on both our Z51 and GS. I really like them. Noticed zero difference in everyday driving and canyon carving, and much lower dust. I paid the difference following my parents advice: "when you buy quality, you only wince once". That said, lots of members like their PS pads.
* You can get a bit better deal from Adam (forum vendor, and very helpful) via a coupon and deals he runs. You'll find him in the forum directory and in the 'brake pad' threads.
Has anyone used powerstop brake pads ? a friend has bought and used these for like $120-$130 a set compared to Carbotech for $440. Is there that much difference in these pads?
What are you using the car for? Also what model is the car?
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Last edited by Adam@Amp'dAutosport.com; 02-21-2018 at 10:52 AM.
Hi Doug, you'll find lots of threads on this subject. I'll try to distill what I think you'll find:
* Lots of members have used both CT and PS, with a great deal less dust and very satisfactory braking performance.
* You'll need to be careful which pads you buy from either manufacturer if you're going to track the car.
* Several reports of the PS pads causing rotors to turn brown, and only one or two comments about not liking the initial bite of the PS pads.
* I put CT on both our Z51 and GS. I really like them. Noticed zero difference in everyday driving and canyon carving, and much lower dust. I paid the difference following my parents advice: "when you buy quality, you only wince once". That said, lots of members like their PS pads.
* You can get a bit better deal from Adam (forum vendor, and very helpful) via a coupon and deals he runs. You'll find him in the forum directory and in the 'brake pad' threads.
Hope this helps!
If for street use, I had used Carbotech 1521's for ~3 years and they were great. Sold the car and bought the cheaper PS pads for my Grand Sport. I have a somewhat unique requirement as I enter a 4 lane divided highway from the street where I live. I merge into ~65 mph traffic with no shoulder and soon after turn on another rural road. I apply the brakes aggressively to avoid folks behind having to brake! Especially those log trucks going to the paper mill!
The PS pads were not stopping as well as my Z51 with Carbotech 1521's. I also saw a brown residue in my rotor grooves when a forum poster showed his year old PS's caused brown rotors! At 900 miles I bought Carbotech 1521's and after several thousand miles I am stopping in that turn I make every day even better than before, and no brown residue!
Looking at the specs for both, the Carbotech 1521 street pads are good to 900 F. The PS's advertise good to 1500 F, more like the specs of a racing pad. Many racing pads need to be warm before achieving max braking capability. If you track/race. Carbotech has 4 or 5 different compounds they sell depending on the type of racing. You can also swap the race/track pads with the 1521's without cleaning the rotors.
What are you using the car for? Also what model is the car?
I already received them from you and my friend was telling me how crazy I was for spending so much, when the powerstops were just as good and alot less brake dust for alot less money. It'll be a 2019 Grandsport strictly street driving, no racing or autocrossing.
I already received them from you and my friend was telling me how crazy I was for spending so much, when the powerstops were just as good and alot less brake dust for alot less money. It'll be a 2019 Grandsport strictly street driving, no racing or autocrossing.
[QUOTE=doug doo wop;1596641507]!
well, that certainly makes me feel much better that I spent $340 more then you [/QUOT
I wouldn't worry about it. Lots of guys buy NITTO tires because they cost less. Are they better than the MPSS's ? I personally think not, and am willing to pay extra for the additional quality IMO. Same with brake pads, an all IMPORTANT item. You usually get what you pay for.
Installed Power Stop Z26 Extreme in my 2017 GS. Much less brake dust but sacrificed the amazing stopping ability of the original brake pads. Braking response is woefully degraded.
Which PS Pads? Been using Z26 for over a year. No issues. Swap to the Track Day Pads for HPDE.
Originally Posted by JerryU
If for street use, I had used Carbotech 1521's for ~3 years and they were great. Sold the car and bought the cheaper PS pads for my Grand Sport. I have a somewhat unique requirement as I enter a 4 lane divided highway from the street where I live. I merge into ~65 mph traffic with no shoulder and soon after turn on another rural road. I apply the brakes aggressively to avoid folks behind having to brake! Especially those log trucks going to the paper mill!
The PS pads were not stopping as well as my Z51 with Carbotech 1521's. I also saw a brown residue in my rotor grooves when a forum poster showed his year old PS's caused brown rotors! At 900 miles I bought Carbotech 1521's and after several thousand miles I am stopping in that turn I make every day even better than before, and no brown residue!
Looking at the specs for both, the Carbotech 1521 street pads are good to 900 F. The PS's advertise good to 1500 F, more like the specs of a racing pad. Many racing pads need to be warm before achieving max braking capability. If you track/race. Carbotech has 4 or 5 different compounds they sell depending on the type of racing. You can also swap the race/track pads with the 1521's without cleaning the rotors.
!
well, that certainly makes me feel much better that I spent $340 more then you
Look at it this way, I paid for both! Paid $125 from Amazon for the PS Z26 pads with free shipping and SC sales tax. So Amazon paid SC $8, Freight was free to me (I'm Prime) but they were heavy so UPS got perhaps $10, therefore Amazon really grossed $107. Amazon is not a philanthropic organization so they made at least 10% netting $96 (before paying salaries etc.) PS paid to have the product shipped to the Amazon warehouse, where it came from and also made a profit so perhaps they netted $80.
PS had to pay for the shipment to them, probably by ship to Oakland where the doc workers got paid to unload and the container ship company got something! Being generous we'll say that was only 5% so someone in China got it to the dock from their factory for perhaps 5%. The factory therefore got ~$76 for 8 pieces of machined steel and whatever it cost to mix, compress and heat the "ceramic," plus packaging and other small parts. That is <$10/pad.
Wonder how much was left for QC of the raw and mixed pad materials? In my former life we made welding fluxes from similar raw materials and they varied considerable relative to what we call "tramp materials" that mother nature includes! The SiO2 (sand) we used for example had to have very low iron and we paid several times more for certified and tested product that came from one area in the same open pit mine than the typical brownish sand used for cement, which they also sold (ours was almost pure white.) Happen to pass that open pit mine frequently on the way to the drag strip in Thompson Ohio!
Know there are many folks happy with the product, and that is great, but not everyone! For a $65,000+ car the price you (and I) paid for quality made in USA brake pads was worth it, IMO! My mistake was NOT following what had worked for 3 years in my Z51 because of the higher price the larger pads cost for the Grand Sport!
Look at it this way, I paid for both! Paid $125 from Amazon for the PS Z26 pads with free shipping and SC sales tax. So Amazon paid SC $8, Freight was free to me (I'm Prime) but they were heavy so UPS got perhaps $10, therefore Amazon really grossed $107. Amazon is not a philanthropic organization so they made at least 10% netting $96 (before paying salaries etc.) PS paid to have the product shipped to the Amazon warehouse, where it came from and also made a profit so perhaps they netted $80.
PS had to pay for the shipment to them, probably by ship to Oakland where the doc workers got paid to unload and the container ship company got something! Being generous we'll say that was only 5% so someone in China got it to the dock from their factory for perhaps 5%. The factory therefore got ~$76 for 8 pieces of machined steel and whatever it cost to mix, compress and heat the "ceramic," plus packaging and other small parts. That is <$10/pad.
Wonder how much was left for QC of the raw and mixed pad materials? In my former life we made welding fluxes from similar raw materials and they varied considerable relative to what we call "tramp materials" that mother nature includes! The SiO2 (sand) we used for example had to have very low iron and we paid several times more for certified and tested product that came from one area in the same open pit mine than the typical brownish sand used for cement, which they also sold (ours was almost pure white.) Happen to pass that open pit mine frequently on the way to the drag strip in Thompson Ohio!
Know there are many folks happy with the product, and that is great, but not everyone! For a $65,000+ car the price you (and I) paid for quality made in USA brake pads was worth it, IMO! My mistake was NOT following what had worked for 3 years in my Z51 because of the higher price the larger pads cost for the Grand Sport!
I've had Z26 pads in my GS now for almost a year and have no complaints. Do they tint the rotors brown? Well, if so it isn't much on my car, and if I hadn't read about it in earlier threads I would never have noticed it, and if I do now I'd have to stare at them for a while. Problem? Not for me. Stopping power? I can't tell the difference between them and the stock Brembos, but I don't subject the car to track conditions--i.e., repeated hard stops. I would buy them again.
^^^
Understand, others report similar results and one reason I decided to buy them! My cold pad stopping requirement every time I leave the house is somewhat unique. May not have felt the difference if I had not been stopping with Carbotech 1521 pads for 3 years with my Z51. As mentioned, I make a very aggressive stop with cold pads as I leave traffic traveling ~65+ mph (60 mph speed limit) highway to turn on a rural road. Don't want to cause traffic to have to brake, especially large trucks who are in the right lane. Never had a braking issue once the pads were warm. The Carbotech pads have a very linear peddle feel and give a lot of confidence. That is very important especialy when there is a car stoped on the rural side road ready to turn on the highway, not much room when turning.
A few other Forum members had similar statements: quoting Z06NJ CF Senior Member's post: "Initially you will feel that you have to step harder to make them brake the same as OEM. That's because all you know up to that time are the OEM brakes. However, with time, it becomes like muscle memory. Now I just brake like normal and don't even think about it.
But I'll never forget the 1st day I got them installed and I was driving home, I was like "WTF's going on here...I'm gonna end up rear ending somebody" LOL But you get used to them."
Recall my first new car I bought with every OEM HD option offered, i.e. quick steering, HD suspension with large front sway bar etc. I added headers, "Plus 1" 14 inch wider wheels and low profile Continental tires (when Plus 1 and low profile were not words used.) I also ordered the OEM metallic brake shoe option- it was a '67 Corvair Monza! Had an uncle who was the service manager of the large Chevy dealer where I bought the car. One who helped when I stuffed an Olds engine in my first car a '41 Ford Opera Coupe. In fact, he warned about getting the metallic brake shoes as the police were often bringing their cars in for service (that came with metallic brake shoes) because when baking up with cold brakes they were hitting things behind them! Brake shoes are "self energizing" when stopping going forward- but not in reverse! I lived on a hill at the time and would back down the driveway into our street. Even when going slow had to be very careful! The Grand Sport wasn't that bad, just not what I was used to for 3 years in that aggressive stop made every time I left the house with my Carbotech 1521 equipped Z51! They were fine once the pads were warm as were those metallic brake shoes.
Does anybody have an opinion on Hawk performance ceramic pads (yellow)? I was told that they were pretty good, also with extremely low brake dust. I was leaning this way because I used them in prior cars.
Thanks!
Talked to someone who has used both, Hawk and Carbotech mostly for racing. He described the Hawk pads as more switch like ON/OFF where the Carbotech have very linear modulation. In fact, I find them (even when cold) to be just that! In my situation I need the confidence and control in the aggressive stop with cold pads. With the Grand Sport and Carbotech pads I feel very secure making that stop.
Not so sure how secure a car stopped and prepared to enter the highway feels with this Vette coming very quickly and turning next to them! I never have the ABS activate!
The last I checked, the Hawk street pads cost a bit more than the Carbotech 1521 pads as well.
This is the route I take every time I leave my home! Depending on traffic I have to merge quickly than make a turn to another rural road. Linear modulation and confidence in braking is essential with cold pads!
As summer approaches traffic gets very heavy as this highway is a route from I95 to Myrtle Beach!
02-20-2018, 10:39 PM
Brake pads
If for street use, I had used Carbotech 1521's for ~3 years and they were great. Sold the car and bought the cheaper PS pads for my Grand Sport. 
I have a somewhat unique requirement as I enter a 4 lane divided highway from the street where I live. I merge into ~65 mph traffic with no shoulder and soon after turn on another rural road. I apply the brakes aggressively to avoid folks behind having to brake! Especially those log trucks going to the paper mill! 
[/QUOT
