Front Brake Pads - S4

[Av4nt]

Hi guys,

I have a tracknight coming up in June and just wondered what recommendations were for uprated brake pads as the OEM ones seem to be pretty crap. The discs are just standard OEM ones also, vented but not drilled etc. With these discs, would new and better front/rear brake pads offer better braking just on their own, like redstuff or similar?

Im reluctant to changed the front discs just yet as they are fairly new on the car when I bought it. When they come to be changed I will get drilled discs as these plain discs seem to fade fairly quick.

cheers

 

[jaybv6]

From Personal experience steer clear of any EBC product as I've had them disintegrate on a track day. Both green stuff and red stuff are poor products. Yellow stuff are more track orientated and do take some time to warm up but I would not recommend them for road use.

I've used Ferrodo DS (used to be 2000's) series on track before in my MK Golf GTi and they were a good step up from the OEM. I think the ones for the S4 would be DS2500's. However they are costly being over £100 for the fronts.

I changed my DTM pads recently with genuine Audi items and noticed that they were made by Ferrodo. But probably not the same compound as the DS2500's.

I'm sure someone will pop along shortly with a bit more info in this area but the above should give you a bit of info to do some more research on line into the options. Hope it helps.

 

[Av4nt]

Thanks for that mate, i did forget to say that they wouldneed to be suitable for everyday road use and "occasional" track use.
I will steer away from red/greenstuff then

 

[Gazwould]

Redstuff are so poor the RS3 guys use them .

 

[desertstorm]

I personally have never had any issues with red stuff pads but they are only recommended for light track use .Green stuff pads are little better than standard so would only be good for rear pads.
I did a sprint track event at Curbrough the other day and the red stuff pads on the front of my car handled it fine, However If I were going to a "proper" racing track and were hoping to drive flat out for 10 minutes with no issues then I wouldn't use red stuff.
I probably wouldn't use yellow stuff pads either I would just spend the extra and get something like some Ferodo DS2500 pads or one of the Pagid Race compounds.
If the event is happening at night then the ambient temperature should be much cooler so this will help a lot.
Where are you racing and is it a lap or two at a time or are you hoping to do 10 minute runs ?.
A lot of people use DS2500 pads as daily pads there really isn't any issue with that.

 

[Av4nt]

Thanks desert, Going to snetterton which is open pit lane for 4 hours in the evening between 1600 - 2000
So ill probably be doing 5-6 laps then letting stuff cool down a little before going back out and repeating. Much like castle coombe on ADI days I guess.

Ill have a look into the DS2500 pads they seem to be popular for what im doing so far. ultimately drilled/grooved discs will help but as above, they are way too new to justify wasting a set of discs!

 

[SootySport]

The DS 2500 are intended for track use, not really for the road, they do not give full braking performance when cold. If you do fit them, just be aware you won't have full braking power in the winter for a few miles.
There are more extreme pads available such as Carbon Lorraine if your car was a track only toy but they have other road going problems.
The S4 is a heavy, heavy car for use on the track, keeping your track sessions short to 10 to 15mins. is what I would do. Make sure you have new quality fresh dot4 fluid every year as well, ATE Blue has a high boiling point and would be best for you.

 

[Av4nt]

Well what I went for is a new set of Redstuff Pads on the front and a front disk resurface purely because they are new discs and dont want to waste them. Braking has doubled in performance so it did the trick!