Legal Bill

12 years later, my 2002 S2000 still has the original brake pads. I have about 57,000 miles on the car (I think, better check that when I get home) and the pads still seem to have more than half the material remaining. Plus, the rotors look excellent and the brakes still feel great. I even autocrossed the car the first two years I owned it and have gone on plenty of spirited drives where the antilock systme kicked in! I must admit that the last 6 to 8 years have seen less aggressive driving. How about the rest of you? Do you still have the original pads? How many miles on your car? Did you change them yet? How many miles did you get out of your brake pads before you changed them and how do you drive? If you changed the pads just to upgrade to a higher performance pad please say so and let us know how the stock pads looked. Also, did the "upgraded" pads really improve the braking of the car?

Best regards,

Bill

S1997

At 115,000 miles I am on just the second set of OEM front pads for street driving - the rears are still original. But I always change both pads and rotors before going to the track. But I change back to OEM whenI get home, because I don't like the squealing noise, or the brake dust that associates with the more aggressive pads. I can go through a set of Carbotech front pads in three track days with no problem. I normally use XP 10s on the rear and XP 12s on the front. And yes, do they ever improve the braking! I pair the pads with their specific rotors and change both together as necessary. I don't have the rotors turned, I just replace them when needed. I have tried cryo-ed rotors, drilled and slotted rotors, etc., but the OEM rotors seem to work best for me at the track, too.

Legal Bill

Very interesting. You must have the swap down to a science. How long does it take you?

Emil St-Hilaire

Carbotech 1521 ,all around,for street driving.
Good initial bite,no noise,very low dust,and rotor friendly.

S1997

Maybe half hour altogether, Bill. I had some bad experiences with cheap wrenches early on. The temps get so high when driving that removing the bolts sometimes takes some heavy torque, but after changing to Snap-On wrenches, it goes well.

Legal Bill

So you change back right at the track before everything cools down?

Legal Bill

How many miles on the originals and how did they look when you changed them, Emil?

S1997

^^^ No, no. The damned things are glowing hot. I drive home and change them the next day. I just mentioned the heat, because it seems to burn the bolts more firmly into place and make them harder to remove -- when cold. No problem, though, with good tools.

S1997

Ah, but remember, I have this now: So it goes faster.


You can't see the sliding air jack for removing the wheels in this pic.

Legal Bill

Jim, what do you use to get the wheel off the ramp? is it inconvenient to work around the ramp?