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      10-28-2015, 05:46 AM   #1
Sam G
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My EBC Yellowstuff VS Redstuff review.

So, this topic has been shredded apart for years but here's my 10 pence!

Model: 2008 N54 135i 6 pots front, 2 pots rear.

When I bought the car it had OEM pads fitted with OEM fluid. They were fine. Stopped the car OK but nothing write home about. A bit dusty but with a heavy'ish car and big brakes, I was not surprised. Did get brake fade when hammering around the Somerset countryside and a couple of track days but not bad for an OEM pad and fluid. The fronts were eventually destroyed on a track day (the rear still had plenty left). The tyres were finished too so I changed from Hankook Ventus to Yoko V105S.

(BTW Yoko V105's are dreamy! I recommend them to everyone

I then decided to replace the fronts with Yellow stuff and change to Motul 600 brake fluid. The Yellows were in a different league in terms of stopping performance. OK braking when cold with good initial bite. Perfectly acceptable and not dangerous as I have read. Face tearing when hot especially when combined with the Yoko's! But OMG the dust! No squealing when hot or cold. The pedal was not particularly positive in feel though. It felt a tad soft. Now you might say air in the system, but it was properly bled and being a soft pad it made sense. Much less fade than before but I put this down to the Motul fluid. Having done 6 months of driving, 6-7000 miles and a couple of trips to the Welsh mountains, the fronts and back pads were now finished.

I was surprised the fronts had not lasted longer but again, being a soft pad, heavy car, big brake combination, I understood. Expensive though!!

So then I decided to go to Redstuff for the front and rear. I wanted a pad with less dust and that would- in theory- last longer than the Yellows. I was also willing to sacrifice some braking performance for longevity of the pad.

The Reds are great. Much less dust than Yellows. I would also say less than OEM pads too (subjective). The braking performance is pretty close to the Yellows but the pedal feel is so much better. It's much firmer and gives more feedback, which enables better modulation. I really have to stamp on the pedal to achieve full braking force (a positive in my book). With the Yoko's fitted, the grip is stunning and it's hard to get the ABS to kick in. I get the feeling our cars have less servo assist that I've been used to in the past, or it could just be that my BMW weighs around 300KG more than my previous Alfa Romeo?!!

They work well from cold with very good initial bite. Get them hot and they work even better. They are lasting much longer than the Yellows too! There is some slight squealing at very low speeds when cold, but this is to be expected from a ceramic compound pad.

Conclusions:

Yellowstuff-
Work OK from cold (perfectly safe)
Amazing when hot
Short life span
High dust
Soft pedal feel

Redstuff-
Work well from cold
Brilliant when hot
Longer life span
Low dust
Slight low speed squeal
Very firm pedal feel

I will buying the Redstuff again.....and again. Thanks for reading. Apologies there are no pretty pictures!
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Last edited by Sam G; 10-28-2015 at 05:56 AM..
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      10-28-2015, 08:43 AM   #2
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Nice review.

Any track time on the EBC Reds? Being a ceramic compound I would expect a lot less life and performance once conditions get rough (meaning track conditions)?
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      10-28-2015, 08:55 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by asbrr View Post
Nice review.

Any track time on the EBC Reds? Being a ceramic compound I would expect a lot less life and performance once conditions get rough (meaning track conditions)?
Thanks
No track time yet but a couple of very hard days in the Welsh mountains (and I mean hard). There was slight fade eventually and quite a bit of dust, but after 220+ miles of driving each day, it is to be expected. Obviously driving on the road is different but the confidence I got from the reds was impressive. Planning a track day before the time of year that should not be named until December!! I'll do another write-up then.
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      10-28-2015, 09:16 AM   #4
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I use yellows for the track and I like them too. While they do wear out pretty fast, they aren't that expensive $120 front set. I wonder if the HAWKs last twice as long for about twice the price.
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      10-28-2015, 09:46 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FactorX81 View Post
I use yellows for the track and I like them too. While they do wear out pretty fast, they aren't that expensive $120 front set. I wonder if the HAWKs last twice as long for about twice the price.
Ha I don't imagine that would be the case. Price was one of the reasons for buying EBC. Hawks etc are really expensive, especially in the UK. I haven't tried them though. I really can't see any pads being THAT much better than the reds/ yellows.

Topics about brake pads often bring the haters out. Glad to read someone else also likes the yellows.
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      10-28-2015, 11:50 AM   #6
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IM switching to the EBC Blue Stuff pad next spring. It's their track endurance pad. I love the braking performance of the yellows, but hate the life span. I want a firmer pedal feel, but I don't want the brake fade of the Reds once hot. I talked to a couple race teams that use the blue stuff pads and got nothing but rave reviews. Of course these will be harder on the rotors but the advice I got was a set of rotors would survive 1.5-2 sets of pads on a dual duty car. On a track only car, one set of pads to one set of rotors.
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      10-28-2015, 02:20 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ApexResistance View Post
IM switching to the EBC Blue Stuff pad next spring. It's their track endurance pad. I love the braking performance of the yellows, but hate the life span. I want a firmer pedal feel, but I don't want the brake fade of the Reds once hot. I talked to a couple race teams that use the blue stuff pads and got nothing but rave reviews. Of course these will be harder on the rotors but the advice I got was a set of rotors would survive 1.5-2 sets of pads on a dual duty car. On a track only car, one set of pads to one set of rotors.
That sounds like the ticket. I was contemplating switching due to pad life but since I'm picking up a set of reds for the street maybe I'll try blue for next years lapping sessions. I really like the yellows and have no performance complaints about them so if blue lasts a bit longer that would be perfect.
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      10-28-2015, 05:22 PM   #8
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Thanks for the review, I always wondered how my experience would have been if I went yellows.
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      10-29-2015, 04:02 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ApexResistance View Post
IM switching to the EBC Blue Stuff pad next spring. It's their track endurance pad. I love the braking performance of the yellows, but hate the life span. I want a firmer pedal feel, but I don't want the brake fade of the Reds once hot. I talked to a couple race teams that use the blue stuff pads and got nothing but rave reviews. Of course these will be harder on the rotors but the advice I got was a set of rotors would survive 1.5-2 sets of pads on a dual duty car. On a track only car, one set of pads to one set of rotors.
I've tried the blues on my brothers EVO VIII. Good pad when hot. Not good when cold. I wouldn't recommend them for street use as they need to be hot to work properly. But for track use only, they would be great.
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      10-29-2015, 04:07 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by litebulb View Post
Thanks for the review, I always wondered how my experience would have been if I went yellows.
No problem. If you don't do many miles annually and occasionally go on the track, then yellows would be fine, if you don't mind the dust! I only do about 6-7k a year now but I'm sticking with the reds mainly because the pedal feel is so good.
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      10-29-2015, 04:12 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FactorX81 View Post
That sounds like the ticket. I was contemplating switching due to pad life but since I'm picking up a set of reds for the street maybe I'll try blue for next years lapping sessions. I really like the yellows and have no performance complaints about them so if blue lasts a bit longer that would be perfect.
In my experience the yellows bite harder than the blues and need less heating before they work at their optimum. But as agreed the pad life is very short. Anyone tried the new(ish) track only Orangestuff??
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