Better Brake Pads = cleaner wheels

[dynodon]

As a supplement to the "grinder" story elsewhere in this section, I remembered an experience recently with a BMW I got rid of so I could buy my 300C. There is a connection to detailing...just keep reading if this is of interest.

I had a 540i 6-speed that was fun and fast, but just not right for me. Before I sold it though, I put it on the track in St. Louis at Gateway International. Running the "road course" there involves a short tight infield and then you come out on the back straight of the NASCAR track and go flat out around turns three and four and 90% of the front straight. In my 540 I was over 120 mph before having to use everything the car had to slow down to 100 for the turn-in to 1, and then down to about 50 for turn two. This is MAJOR use of brakes.

A typical BMW will have totally black wheels after just a few laps with the soft pads they use. I did probably 60 laps that weekend but my wheels were still nice looking. and here is why: Akebono Ceramic brake pads, available at Tire Rack and many other businesses. These came highly recommended by a pro racer friend of mine that owns the best foreign car repair shop downstate in Illinois. These work very well and have almost zero dust. There is the detailing connection. Good pads that work for track days that don't dust much if at all.

What dust was there was, was so light that unless you touched the wheel, you didn't notice it had a layer on it. Much better than the typical pad. I just checked and Tire Rack has these pads for the 300C RWD at least. They are the ProAct Ceramic pads for $77 per set for the front and $66 for the rear.

Oh, and after that two day driving school, my friend put my 540 on one of his racks and we removed a wheel and inspected the front pads. They exhibited almost zero wear. A lot of "performance" pads would be totally shot at the end of two track days in such a big and heavy car. Plus the disks were still in good shape. I would call this very good performance on a street car used occasionally for high speed track days.

Now to get the 300 on a track.....that will happen later this year.

I will put the Akebono pads on my 300 when it needs new shoes, but I have to say that the stock pads from DC are certainly not getting my wheels very dirty so far, I just don't know what they will do under track conditions. If anyone has experience with this so far, let us know.

[Rambit]

Originally Posted by dynodon

As a supplement to the "grinder" story elsewhere in this section, I remembered an experience recently with a BMW I got rid of so I could buy my 300C. There is a connection to detailing...just keep reading if this is of interest.

I had a 540i 6-speed that was fun and fast, but just not right for me. Before I sold it though, I put it on the track in St. Louis at Gateway International. Running the "road course" there involves a short tight infield and then you come out on the back straight of the NASCAR track and go flat out around turns three and four and 90% of the front straight. In my 540 I was over 120 mph before having to use everything the car had to slow down to 100 for the turn-in to 1, and then down to about 50 for turn two. This is MAJOR use of brakes.

A typical BMW will have totally black wheels after just a few laps with the soft pads they use. I did probably 60 laps that weekend but my wheels were still nice looking. and here is why: Akebono Ceramic brake pads, available at Tire Rack and many other businesses. These came highly recommended by a pro racer friend of mine that owns the best foreign car repair shop downstate in Illinois. These work very well and have almost zero dust. There is the detailing connection. Good pads that work for track days that don't dust much if at all.

What dust was there was, was so light that unless you touched the wheel, you didn't notice it had a layer on it. Much better than the typical pad. I just checked and Tire Rack has these pads for the 300C RWD at least. They are the ProAct Ceramic pads for $77 per set for the front and $66 for the rear.

Oh, and after that two day driving school, my friend put my 540 on one of his racks and we removed a wheel and inspected the front pads. They exhibited almost zero wear. A lot of "performance" pads would be totally shot at the end of two track days in such a big and heavy car. Plus the disks were still in good shape. I would call this very good performance on a street car used occasionally for high speed track days.

Now to get the 300 on a track.....that will happen later this year.

I will put the Akebono pads on my 300 when it needs new shoes, but I have to say that the stock pads from DC are certainly not getting my wheels very dirty so far, I just don't know what they will do under track conditions. If anyone has experience with this so far, let us know.

From what I hear, there's no problem with brake dust on the 300's. The SRT8's another story. Big time brake dust on them.

Rambit

[Northern Rider]

Don, you are in luck! The 300C pads are ceramic. No dust. Almost no fade.

The SRT-8 owners are already complaining about brake dust. must be a different type of pad.

[marlinspike]

People who complain about brake dust must have never driven a german car, especially not an older large german car. But here's my thing: what's the big deal? Just wash the car once a week and go about your business. I use aftermarket pads/rotors for the increased bite and decreased fade.

[dynodon]

I had a good idea that the 300 came with ceramic pads to begin with because the wheels have been staying so clean.

Most Europeon cars come with such soft pads that they don't last long and dust horribly. I make fun of a good friends 530 all the time (with a smile). I kid her that she needs to wash them more often!

Point is the Akebono pads are very good, keep wheels cleaner and if they stop as good or better than most stock and even many "race" pads, this is a great deal. I don't sell them, just was delighted with them when I used them on another car.

While my 300 doesn't dust, I wouldn't mind if I had a pad with a touch more bite, but I won't make any final conclusions on that till I get a chance to really hammer them on the track. That will tell if they are any good or not.