So as I do the odd track day and annual Nurburgring trip I've been looking at upgrading the standard brakes on my 2010 S3 Sportback to something a bit more performance orientated.
To give you a little history I've had (recently) a 300bhp Astra VXR with Alcons, a 300ish bhp Focus ST-3 with various pads on standard calipers/discs and a 300bhp Hawkeye Impreza with standard Brembo's and various pads so I've tried a good few different setups.
Personally, until I can justify (and save up for!) a big brake upgrade I need to get the standard setup running effectively enough that I can do a track day or three without worry that I'm going to cook the standard pads/fluid. I was in a similar situation with the Focus ST and the Scooby and I had excellent results with upgraded pads, fluid & braided lines.
Now I'd tried a number of fast road / light track "dual-duty" pads and in my opinion the very best of them being:
Performance Friction Carbon Metallic Z-Rated
These were extremely good both in the Focus and in the Scooby at Knockhill for me.
For anyone that does not know it, Knockhill in reverse direction is a very hard circuit on brakes, you're lapping at a little over a minute a time with a very long fast (100 mph+) straight then hard on the brakes downhill into a left hand hairpin 10-15 lap sessions gets any brakes very very hot, so hot that the caliper paint on my ST was smoking heavily and went from red to dark brown after one session, yet no fade at all just excellent braking. Along with excellent cold bite, low dust and low noise they're a winner in my eyes, better than the DS2500's in my opinion and about half the price.
Anyway, I'd had a look on the Performance Friction website but they had nothing listed for the 2010 S3 that I could find so thought I'd drop them an email.... Just got a reply:
So what I need to work out is which of the following images are an accurate match for the pads fitted to a 2010 S3, anyone got any old/new pads lying around they could compare them to?
Now the best bit, if the 687 profile matches then the pads are available in the Z-Rated Compound for a grand total of £71.71!! (which is a ****** bargain, trust me!)
These with a dot 5.1 fluid flush & maybe braided lines and you're looking at a very good road/occasional track setup for not a lot of money at all.
Anyway now to work out if this is the right profile for the S3, can anyone confirm before I go ripping out my pads at the weekend?
Cheers!
To give you a little history I've had (recently) a 300bhp Astra VXR with Alcons, a 300ish bhp Focus ST-3 with various pads on standard calipers/discs and a 300bhp Hawkeye Impreza with standard Brembo's and various pads so I've tried a good few different setups.
Personally, until I can justify (and save up for!) a big brake upgrade I need to get the standard setup running effectively enough that I can do a track day or three without worry that I'm going to cook the standard pads/fluid. I was in a similar situation with the Focus ST and the Scooby and I had excellent results with upgraded pads, fluid & braided lines.
Now I'd tried a number of fast road / light track "dual-duty" pads and in my opinion the very best of them being:
Performance Friction Carbon Metallic Z-Rated
These were extremely good both in the Focus and in the Scooby at Knockhill for me.
For anyone that does not know it, Knockhill in reverse direction is a very hard circuit on brakes, you're lapping at a little over a minute a time with a very long fast (100 mph+) straight then hard on the brakes downhill into a left hand hairpin 10-15 lap sessions gets any brakes very very hot, so hot that the caliper paint on my ST was smoking heavily and went from red to dark brown after one session, yet no fade at all just excellent braking. Along with excellent cold bite, low dust and low noise they're a winner in my eyes, better than the DS2500's in my opinion and about half the price.
Anyway, I'd had a look on the Performance Friction website but they had nothing listed for the 2010 S3 that I could find so thought I'd drop them an email.... Just got a reply:
So what I need to work out is which of the following images are an accurate match for the pads fitted to a 2010 S3, anyone got any old/new pads lying around they could compare them to?
Now the best bit, if the 687 profile matches then the pads are available in the Z-Rated Compound for a grand total of £71.71!! (which is a ****** bargain, trust me!)
These with a dot 5.1 fluid flush & maybe braided lines and you're looking at a very good road/occasional track setup for not a lot of money at all.
Anyway now to work out if this is the right profile for the S3, can anyone confirm before I go ripping out my pads at the weekend?
Cheers!
