ECS Rotors & Cool Carbon S/T Performance Pads: a review

[rhodesman]

Last week I did a full brake upgrade to my car. I needed new rear pads and didn't want the dirty OEM pads any longer. I decided to go both front and rear and upgrade everything at once (nice to have everything new since I don't have to abide by the BMW warranty gods anymore).

For the fronts, I wanted something that would provide some nice stopping power and look a little more "sporty" behind the rims. I will admit, the ECS 2-piece rotors was more for show than anything.... but god are they sexy!!



I did a lot of reading on brake pads...a lot. I was between Hawk HP plus, EBC Reds and Cool Carbon's S/T Performance pads. I ended up going with the CC S/T's all around because a bunch of people really liked their on-street performance. I do have to admit, I am liking them as well.

For the rear rotors I went with an ECS slotted and not drilled rotors. My reasoning there is just that I didn't feel the rears needed to be X-drilled. I may change my mind after this but I had to start somewhere!

As for the stopping power, I'm still not fully bedded yet but I'm about half way through the bedding process and already the CC's are grabbing with more force at 50% braking than the OEM would at 100% braking. I'm still missing the 100% brake bite but it's only because I'm not fully bedded yet. Over all these pads are giving me an insane amount of confidence in the car and it's abilities on twisty back roads. I have yet to experience any problems with overheating (even with these 100+*F days) and zero brake fade... granted I'm only driving on back roads and not pushing it on a track!!

The pads + rotor combo have zero, I repeat ZERO noise and have that very satisfying "sticky" grip when at a stop. Brake dust does exist, but after two weeks my wheels looked more like I drove on a dusty road than pool of blackness and cleaning them today was super easy with simple soap&water + a wash cloth.

I highly recommend this combo if you're modded and keep it on the streets. It's a nice set that builds your confidence and gives you that little extra bite without sacrificing the comfort by going full race pads.

List of described parts:
Front ECS rotors
Rear ECS Rotors
Cool Carbon S/T Pads (Front & Rear)

[ianc]

Good review, thanks for posting!

ianc

[MT135]

Nice review. Still kills me how overpriced simple maintenance items are for our cars.

[squidge]

Originally Posted by rhodesman

For the rear rotors I went with an ECS slotted and not drilled rotors. My reasoning there is just that I didn't feel the rears needed to be X-drilled.

As for the stopping power, I'm still not fully bedded yet but I'm about half way through the bedding process and already the CC's are grabbing with more force at 50% braking than the OEM would at 100% braking. I'm still missing the 100% brake bite but it's only because I'm not fully bedded yet. Over all these pads are giving me an insane amount of confidence in the car and it's abilities on twisty back roads. I have yet to experience any problems with overheating (even with these 100+*F days) and zero brake fade... granted I'm only driving on back roads and not pushing it on a track!!

Yeah, no rotors "need" to be cross drilled. It decreases thermal capacity, increases the likelihood of failure, and does nothing as far as venting or anything like that. Slotted is better, but blanks are the best.

As far as bedding, strange to do a bedding process like that. I've always bedded pads by panic braking from 55 down to about 10mph about eight times in a row. Done.

[rhodesman]

Originally Posted by squidge

As far as bedding, strange to do a bedding process like that. I've always bedded pads by panic braking from 55 down to about 10mph about eight times in a row. Done.

I've done that a couple times but the 100% bite just isn't there yet. Maybe it'll never be and that's the short coming of these pads, who knows. I'll see but Cool Carbon did say they take about 400 miles to bed properly so I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt here as I have yet to reach the distance they claim is needed to bed properly.

[PeteA]

Spirited Street driving pads only. Ask me and a few other Aussies how we know. Good street pad, no noise and little dust. They do need heat to grab with any urgency so careful when cold.

Don't like how they leave deposits on rotors after a wash. They practically fuse with it. Had an experience where i didn't drive around the block a few times to dry the pads out after a wash. The next morning backing out if driveway car wasn't moving thought I had the handbrake on :P

[Gangplank]

Just installed a set of Cool Carbons this week. Like them. They do require a bit to warm up but no dust, no noise.

[ianc]

Still kills me how overpriced simple maintenance items are for our cars.

No kidding! ~300$ US for a set of brake pads? WTF?!!!!

ianc