I'm considering getting at least a pair if not a set of autox pads and changing them at home the night before. Question is - how well will the autox pads work when driving on the street to & from an event? Do they heat up too much? Lose grip? Cause a lot of brake dust? How well do they handle long distances? I'm planning on attending some events that are about 150 miles (1 way) from me at times.

Thanks,
Warren

 

They'll be fine. Autocross pads are much closer to street pads than race pads. If you go with too high temp a pad (race pad), you won't get enough heat in them. Definitely read the autocross FAQ.

 

What pads are you running. I currently have oem, Bobcats and Panther+ on the street with NO problems (except for dusting). You will be fine. A true autoX pad (like the Bobcat) will probably be better than OEM since they need good initial bite when cold. On the other hand, OEM pads are fine in most cases for autoX too.

 

Hadn't decided on brand or model, just autox pads right now. Some company makes "green" pads, forgot who. Was thinking about autox pads in general.

Warren

 

Just my personal opinion but stay away from EBC Greens. Cobolt GT or Carbotech Bobcats or Hawk HPS are better autoX pads IMHO.

 

That seems like a weird question to me. Autocross pads ad street pads are essentially the same thing. They need to work consistently when cold to warm, have good modulation/feel, sufficient friction to lock up the wheels, and don't need to operate at high temperatures. The only additional criteria you might apply to a street-only pad would be sacrificing a bit of any of the above to reduce noise or brake dust.

So yeah, just about any brake pad you'd choose for autocross ought to work just fine for street driving. I wouldn't even keep two sets and change them. And as a matter of fact, I don't! I have a set of Carbotech Panther+ pads that stay on the Miata full-time.

Do you really need autocross pads? I thought the S2000's stock brake setup worked really well the few times I have autocrossed them.

PS, I didn't care for EBC Greens either.

 

Good point John. I might just go w/ Carbotech full time. I would assume that autox pads would stand up to the stresses and would work better cold than stock. But you know what happens when we ass-u-me.

Warren

 

There's the whole bedding in thing going on, too. To change to a different pad without a bedding process would likely be counterproductive or, at least, no real change in behavior.