Are other brake pads really better?

I just bought my Supra about 6 months ago and have done several 150 to 55mph stops without any trouble. My pads are getting a little worn out. Should I just get some new stockers or are there better ones out there?

Todd

i think so, it just depends on what kind of compound you buy for the pads, i personally think they perform better since most decrease the distance for stopping, sometimes racing pads are too much...as they arent practical for the street, but there are a number of high performance pads that can still be used on the street for daily driving but can be beaten on when ur on teh track...

IMO, for normal street use, even hard street driving, the pads are typically cold to warm when you want to stop and in those cases you can't beat the stock pads for low dust and max initial bite with minimal stopping distance. There is no reason to look at performance pads unless you track the car (on road courses with many repeated hard braking cycles over a short time) and you fade the stock brakes. I've been doing HPDE track days with my car for about 5 years and very hard repeated braking fades/smokes the stock pads so I use track/street rated Carbotech pads which resists fade a lot better on the track but also dusts a little more and do not have the great initial bite when cold like the stock pads.

i'm also curious about this one, but since i just acquired my mk4 (yay me) i wanted to give fresh stock pads a shot before i upgraded. besides, looking at the pad prices, we DEFINITELY pay a lot more across the board for pads than mk3's. i suppose sizing is a factor haha.

will let you guys know how i think about mk4 stock vs porterfield h4s on mk3s :). so far i love porterfields h4s on the mk3, makes it feel so solid. and for the price i think they're also the cheaper of high performance, yet streetable pads in the market right now.

yea let us know how things are goin with the mk4 and the brakes

I've done a lot of 150 to 55, 160 to 55 and up to 180 to 55. The stockers will not do well past 165. I switched to Hawk HPS and the difference was amazing above 50mph. When they're first cold for about 2 blocks you will need more pedal effort to stop. After 50mph, you'll need less pedal effort. And at 150+, it is effortless to stop.

Here's a link to the pads.

http://www.horsepowerfreaks.com/price/Toyota/Supra_93-98/Hawk/Brakes/Brake_Pads

Chris.

well, i put roughly 400 miles on brand new stocker pads/rotors front and back, and i like to give a small breath of experience, versus worn stockers, and versus mk3 porterfield r4s + slotted all around.

mk4 worn: worst feeling in the world. the car still stops on a dime, but there's some uninspiring grinding sound which makes you feel very uneasy. nuff said, worn stuff is always worst
mk4 stockers + slotted fronts: i like the new feeling. a lot more confident inspiring and i don't feel any fade at all from much anything. if i were to do anything i'd probably just upgrade the pads to a better compound.
mk3 r4s + slotted all around: i feel that this setup is the most confidence inspiring. it just bites and i'd decelerate so fast. it feels better than stock mk4 setup, although i wouldn't be surprised that both perform the same as far as distance->0 goes. but the feeling alone is very nice.

if i were to upgrade mk4 pads/rotors, i'd go for a combo as such for streets: porterfield r4s all around + brembo slotted. if you want a little bit more bias back to the rears, go for some higher calipers. i find that mk4, much like the mk3, is very front biased.

i hear thre is a special pad that doesnt make as much brake dust is this true?

there are a few that don't make as much. as far as i know, and don't take this as guarantee, i think more metallic pads have less dust, and the more organic they are the more. makes sense in theory. although, once again, you probably trade some of it because metal is more for track since it needs some warming up for full potential.

Imo dust, noise, and even abnormally-high rotor wear are all secondary to stopping power. As good as new stock pads are, they really can't compare to the much higher coeffiicent of friction that some of the better street/track race pads provide (eg. Carbotech Panther Plus (http://www.carbotecheng.com/prod-ct-compounds.htm) 0.55 CoF)...they really do stop much harder, with the same pedal pressure. Here's a related chart I found:
http://images4.fotki.com/v39/photos/8/82805/318161/img_graph_cmpnd_comp-vi.gif
(Note: I've never used Cobalt pads, and I honestly don't know if they're available for the Supra)

Of course, if low dust and low noise is your thing, np. EBC 'Greenstuff' pads I hear aren't bad...neither are the ones from Pep Boys... Don't expect them to stop your Supra though...

i'll agree with you on pure stopping power being a priority, but i'm under the assumption that racing pads and such need some time to heat up and such to get them to the biting power that they're supposed to have. after that however, i'm sure it's heaven :)

PS: i see the R4S and R4's there - the R4's seem like they bite better, but does it need more warming up?

i'll agree with you on pure stopping power being a priority, but i'm under the assumption that racing pads and such need some time to heat up and such to get them to the biting power that they're supposed to have. after that however, i'm sure it's heaven :)

PS: i see the R4S and R4's there - the R4's seem like they bite better, but does it need more warming up?I've never tried R4's...but with Carbotech Panther Plus pads it's all good after the first couple of normal stops. I'd say those first two stops of the drive you'll have to press the pedal about 25% harder than normal...but after that warmup, it feels like that half the pedal pressure gets you twice the stopping power.

Fwiw, I'm running PFC'03s on the front now (they came with my AP 6-piston calipers), and the warm-up time is noticeably longer than with the Panther Plus pads.

For the last few thousand miles now I'm using Panther Plus on mine ...with stock rotors... and I agree with pwpanas (is your name Phil???) that they are very good for street driving as he described. Then if you hit the track, there's no comparison, they blow away the stock pads. But they do dust more than stock, though not more than I can easily handle.