I've been extensively researching brake pads for the MS3 and it's been a tricky affair trying to find the best pads out there in terms of performance. If your concern is brake dust and clean wheels this post is not for you.
However if your concern is to have a single set of pads that you can track without fading out and also use on the street without sacrificing cold performance and noise then by all means read on. I think I found a good solution.
Choices ..
The stock pads work pretty well actually , being a hybrid Ferodo compound (Ferodo is a high tech brake component company in Europe and works with many OEMs). I have tracked the stock pad and it only feel off a bit after 3 laps. Up to 7 or 8 laps it was stable but thoroughly heat soaked, and then faded out some more. A few more laps and it was time to pull the car in before the brakes went away comprehensively. This track only had 1 long straight where I approached about 118 mph before braking but it had lots of long corners with entry speeds in the 80 to 100 mph range. Importantly, after this abuse they had transferred just a little pad material to the rotor and with a few days of street driving were perfectly normal. The rotors were good looking too. The rears pads and rotors didn't fare so well though. Anyways the stock pads are special to Mazda only and are about $180 to 220 a set depending on how hard you look for a good price.
There are a few companies that make special track only pads for the MS3 and I guess if you only track your car or you want to swap out pads and rotors for track use you can go this way. I was considering this approach. For me a track day/weekend is so busy though, that I'm not relishing the thought of this. There just isn't much out there that can survive combined street and track use.
There is one compound from Ferodo (DS2500) that would be worth trying but they do not make it for us. Sadly Hawk doesn't make anything that can transfer back and forth. Same with Pagid and PFC. Carbon Tech make a variety of pads for track use and the lower ones can be used on the street but the ones that can be used on the street aren't good enough to be used while tracking. They are also noisy and financky about rotors and really need some heating up to work.
So what am i excited about? EBC. Turns out they make two compounds that are interesting .. Yellowstuff and Bluestuff. They make our pads in yellowstuff and you can find fronts for about $125 or so a set. They yellows are good but not quite recommended for our weight of car (3,000 lbs). The newer Blue compound is more interesting however. Here is a link to the Bluestuff pads ..
http://www.ebcbrakes.com/automotive/ebc_disc_pads_for_racing/index.shtml
Here is an intelligent blog post from a good representative user ..
http://www.ebcbrakesblog.com/2010/10/isaac-acks-takes-first-place-in-his-evo-8-with-ebc-bluestuff/
Anyone can order custom blue pads for their car. But if we can come up a group we can probably save a lot of money on them.
BTW, while I would also like blues for the rear it seems the yellows would be OK there and they are a regular production item for EBC. EBC also makes fronts in yellow as well. Given the weight of our cars and the HP blues seem to be the better option, IMO.
However if your concern is to have a single set of pads that you can track without fading out and also use on the street without sacrificing cold performance and noise then by all means read on. I think I found a good solution.
Choices ..
The stock pads work pretty well actually , being a hybrid Ferodo compound (Ferodo is a high tech brake component company in Europe and works with many OEMs). I have tracked the stock pad and it only feel off a bit after 3 laps. Up to 7 or 8 laps it was stable but thoroughly heat soaked, and then faded out some more. A few more laps and it was time to pull the car in before the brakes went away comprehensively. This track only had 1 long straight where I approached about 118 mph before braking but it had lots of long corners with entry speeds in the 80 to 100 mph range. Importantly, after this abuse they had transferred just a little pad material to the rotor and with a few days of street driving were perfectly normal. The rotors were good looking too. The rears pads and rotors didn't fare so well though. Anyways the stock pads are special to Mazda only and are about $180 to 220 a set depending on how hard you look for a good price.
There are a few companies that make special track only pads for the MS3 and I guess if you only track your car or you want to swap out pads and rotors for track use you can go this way. I was considering this approach. For me a track day/weekend is so busy though, that I'm not relishing the thought of this. There just isn't much out there that can survive combined street and track use.
There is one compound from Ferodo (DS2500) that would be worth trying but they do not make it for us. Sadly Hawk doesn't make anything that can transfer back and forth. Same with Pagid and PFC. Carbon Tech make a variety of pads for track use and the lower ones can be used on the street but the ones that can be used on the street aren't good enough to be used while tracking. They are also noisy and financky about rotors and really need some heating up to work.
So what am i excited about? EBC. Turns out they make two compounds that are interesting .. Yellowstuff and Bluestuff. They make our pads in yellowstuff and you can find fronts for about $125 or so a set. They yellows are good but not quite recommended for our weight of car (3,000 lbs). The newer Blue compound is more interesting however. Here is a link to the Bluestuff pads ..
http://www.ebcbrakes.com/automotive/ebc_disc_pads_for_racing/index.shtml
Here is an intelligent blog post from a good representative user ..
http://www.ebcbrakesblog.com/2010/10/isaac-acks-takes-first-place-in-his-evo-8-with-ebc-bluestuff/
Anyone can order custom blue pads for their car. But if we can come up a group we can probably save a lot of money on them.
BTW, while I would also like blues for the rear it seems the yellows would be OK there and they are a regular production item for EBC. EBC also makes fronts in yellow as well. Given the weight of our cars and the HP blues seem to be the better option, IMO.
