Leak, Improvements, etc...

[McFred]

Lane's correct, "best" is relative, but something else to consider is that there's a heavy rear weight bias in the AA2. So you can get whatever you want for he fronts but the rears do just about as much work as the fronts in my experience.

That said, if you swap compounds you should check and/or tweek the front-to-rear bias. Even between production lots of pads I've observed different friction levels. I had to tune them for track level effort and "for street." It's stupendously uncool when a the rears warm up faster and you can lock up the rears before the fronts when trail braking at the track...

Brammo shipped the wilwood BP-20 compound with my calipers. I tried BP-10 for the flatter torque curve, but they dusted quite a bit and squealed under light pedal pressure on the street. I've since gone back to BP-20s which are now almost shot. After that I've got a set of the "polymatrix Q" which will be my 4th set of front pads I'm already on my 4th set of rears. Whatever you choose they should last you a long long time.

[David Maloney]

90% street use and maybe 10% track at most. Thoughts?

[bolus]

any idea what pads you have now? How to they feel?

[silver]

90% street use and maybe 10% track at most. Thoughts?

I switched to hawk dtc70's and it made the car stop with much less pedal effort, just make sure to bed them in properly.

pads are cheap, I didn't see any benefit to having 2 sets / 1 street 1 track

[David Maloney]

I'm not sure which pads, but i don't like the way they feel. I have had exotics in the past that have much better braking. I am thus thinking since the pads are so low in the front, almost anything would help. These things are so quick and I will be using it more on the street, so I want something that will keep me from dying...

[bolus]

I'm not sure which pads, but i don't like the way they feel. I have had exotics in the past that have much better braking. I am thus thinking since the pads are so low in the front, almost anything would help. These things are so quick and I will be using it more on the street, so I want something that will keep me from dying...

part of that is not having assisted brakes. They will never feel like having power brakes. You should have driven the Brammo Demo car. That had the worst brakes. I had to push so hard I lifted my butt out of the seat. I discovered that only after I was flying down a twisty road and they forgot to tell me

start doing you calf workouts.

[McFred]

I'm lazy, if changing to a different autocross-style brake pad doesn't help then I'd go to a smaller master cylinder to get better pedal feel/modulation on wooden brakes. That kind of effort to stop's just a liability.

David, if you don't know what you've got then it's silly to just go with whatever pad. You should know where you're at then go from there. Also if your car's never had the brake fluid changed then you might get less sponge with new fluid.

[MadMaxAtom]

It's usually not spongy brakes that get most peoples attention,it is the lack of bite. I went to a Carbotech XP12 compound and they have the most bite of anything I have tried. However,you won't get max bite till they get up to temperature (>400 degrees) so unless you are really getting on the brakes a lot,an Atoms brakes will feel woody no matter what compound. It is the nature of the beast! Once you get accustomed to the extra effort,it is no big deal..just warn anyone you loan your car to.

[David Maloney]

Got it. All very helpful. Thanks!

[bolus]

It's usually not spongy brakes that get most peoples attention,it is the lack of bite. I went to a Carbotech XP12 compound and they have the most bite of anything I have tried. However,you won't get max bite till they get up to temperature (>400 degrees) so unless you are really getting on the brakes a lot,an Atoms brakes will feel woody no matter what compound. It is the nature of the beast! Once you get accustomed to the extra effort,it is no big deal..just warn anyone you loan your car to.

The standard alcon pads seem to be like that. on my car they start squealing when they warm up. So I know exactly when they are hot enough. too bad it wasnt more of a hum or like music since it can be pretty ear piercingly loud.