Hi gang,

With all the discussion of brake pads here recently, I thought I'd report on my findings with a new-to-market brake manufacturer, BHP (for "Brake Horsepower"). To say that I'm impressed would be a gross understatement. They're amazing.

Oh, while I'm thinking about it - no, I don't work for BHP, nor am I sponsored by them. Using these pads for autocross purposes was an experiment, and it's one I'm glad I tried.

My car is an A Stock autocrosser. Being that S2000s are more or less forbidden on the tracks I drive on here on the east coast (CMP, VIR, CMS, Roebling), I can't talk to how they behave under track conditions. I'm using them as my street pads and my autocross pads, at all four corners. My setup otherwise is as follows:

2004 S2000
- Saner 1.25" solid front bar, set to middle position
- KONI singles, revalved
- Hoosier A6s: 245-40-17, 275-40-17, 35psiF / 32psiR
- 2 deg. negative camber all 4 corners, 5.5 deg. caster F, 0 toe F, 1/8" toe in R
- BHP "Club Race" CR-6 compound brakes all four corners
- ATE Super Blue fluid, pressure bled with a Motive
- Comptech drop-in air filter
- Dynomax muffler cans on factory exhaust system

The brakes are phenomenal. Previously, I ran both OEM pads, and Hawk HP Plus. The Hawks were sort of like an on-off switch - very hard initial bite, but somewhat difficult to modulate if you needed just a brush to set the nose. LFB often resulted in me over-slowing the car.

The BHPs, while they do bite very nicely, are not "grabby" in the same manner I found the Hawks. The modulation is just buttery smooth. And when you need to really park the car, they'll do that too. Very versatile. And they don't seem, to me anyway, to need heat in them to work. They may get "a little" better once warm but they're quite capable when stone cold.

I typically have a codriver with me. I spent the last several years racing door to door, and this year has marked my return to autocross after a lengthy hiatus. I'm blessed with having some very accomplished national level autocrossers here in our club who have taken me under their wing and helped me get better. The most recent codriver, who took a top 5 at Nationals in DS this year, said something to the effect of "I can't imagine this car having better brakes than it does now."

As far as the typical downsides of high performance pads, let me talk to that a little bit.

1. Yes, they dust. The quantity of dust they produce I would say is similar to the Hawks I had. Which is to say more than OE pads, considerably more. I've used just about any high performance pad you can name over the years - even had a sponsorship from Carbotech for a couple years, and spent a year driving an ITC Civic with a Cobalt sponsorship in enduros. The dust is no worse with the BHPs than any of these.

2. No, the dust doesn't turn into rust all over the inside of your wheels. My Hawks were terrible for this.

3. They seem, so far, to be very, very easy on rotors.

4. Wear rate I cannot talk to yet unfortunately, as I've only had them on the car for a month or so. But with that said, I can report no horror stories about pads going away in a month and a half.

5. They are not riveted together - they are integrally molded.

6. For a very brief period of time, they were quite noisy in street driving, from say 15mph to a dead stop. This has subsequently gone away. Note that I did not change rotors when I moved to BHPs, nor did I even sand the existing rotors down as I normally would. In any event, the squealing self corrected over the course of a week or so. Others I know running these pads have reported no noise problems out of them.

7. I've seen no signs of the friction material coming apart or crumbling up.

BHP has two compounds. The "CR6" (which is what I'm using), and the "PR1." The PR1 is a much higher temperature pad apparently, and is focused on track work and racing only.

Anyway, there's a new choice available for us and I thought I'd pass that along. They're well made and work very very well. I'm quite impressed with them.

 

All you need is a roll bar to play

 

CMP and Roebling allow stock s2k's for the most part. The PCA and BMWCCA require an aftermarket bar, but most of the other groups do not.

 

Thanks for the report! ANy specs on this pad??

 

Specs meaning what exactly?

Here's the copy from the bhpbrakes.com website talking about the compound I'm using:

CR6
Developed for cars under 2500 lbs, this organic-low metallic compound offers very progressive torque development with excellent control and release. Operating temperatures are from ambient to 1000F. CR6 offers a wide variety of uses including autocross, beginner/intermediate track schools, and dedicated race use on lighter race cars (ie: Spec Miata). Although CR6 is street able enough to be driven to/from your event, making it a

 

where did you buy them and how much?

 

Went to the profoundly craptacular website and found nothing on the S2000. And worse, no specs, say a mu or two.