When picking brake pads for your car, there are a lot of factors to consider. Price is one, of course – no matter which kind of car they’ll go into.
Perhaps the most important factor to think about is where you’ll be using those pads. The following Engineering Explained video brakes breaks it down.
If you’re going to be putting new brake pads into your 9-to-5er, you’ll want pads that offer a ton of friction at low temperatures. You don’t want to have to hammer the left pedal unnecessarily over and over again and herk and jerk down the road to your office just to get them up to operating temperature.
On the other hand, if the car you’re putting new pads in is your track toy, it’s OK if they need to be warmed up to most effectively scrub off speed. All the braking you’ll do on the course will get them to the temp they need to hit to keep you from getting a mouthful of track barrier.
For those of you who take your cars out on the track, which pads do you use? Are they stock? Aftermarket?
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
