Note - I’m putting the term “review” in the title because I’ll be updating this thread in the future and it will be easier for people to find this way. This post will focus on the installation and my first impressions.
I recently picked up a semi-beater NB Miata for cheap as a car to have fun with. It has needed a decent amount of repairs and maintenance, as it was owned by a person who was not knowledgeable about cars.
It needed a set of brake pads and after doing some research I settled on StopTech Street Performance pads. I was also considering Hawk HPS pads. I decided to go with the StopTechs because they were cheaper and I have never used Centric products before, so I wanted to give them a shot.
The old pads
The old pads didn’t work great. The fronts were mostly worn. The rears were unevenly worn. It turns out there was a sticking caliper pin on the rear leading one side to wear more quickly than the other.
I was able to get some info off the old pads to learn a little about them.
For those who don’t know, the AMECA has lists of brake pad edge codes available. If you’re looking at a store-brand pad or otherwise want to know more about a pad, googling the number will normally take you to one of their documents, which list the manufacturers.
The old rear pads have the code MAC 1001 FF. The "MAC" indicates it’s some kind of Bosch pad.
The front pads weren't as readable, but I was able to get the manufacturer code TQ and the friction rating, FF. "TQ" means these were made by Federal Mogul. I believe the "TQ" code, and the grey paint on the backing plates, indicates the fronts are Wagner Thermo Quiets.
Out of the box
I did a little googling before buying these and couldn’t find any answers about where they are made. I was too lazy to contact the company and ask so I just went ahead and bought them.
Both sets are made in Taiwan. That wouldn’t be my first choice, but as a country of origin enthusiast I strongly prefer Taiwan over China.
The pads come with no hardware except the shims. In fact, they come with nothing at all in the box except the pads themselves. No instructions or anything.
The front pads are FF rated and the rear pads are GF rated.
Installation went fine. Nothing surprising. The pads fit well and I didn’t have to file the pad ears to make them fit. I also did a full brake flush while I was working on it.
Initial driving impressions
I took the car out today and bedded-in the pads. The pedal firmed up nicely and after only about five rounds of deceleration the pads were working fine. I take a not-super-aggressive stance on bedding pads after overheating a set of pads once during an aggressive break-in. It seems these pads responded well to my normal bedding procedure.
My initial impression is that they have a good amount of bite, definitely more than what was on the car before. I was disappointed in the brakes before. The brakes are already behaving much more as I expected when buying this car.
Stopping with these pads so far is a very smooth and they respond well to pedal modulation.
So far I have no noise or other symptoms of trouble.
I’ll update this as I get more miles on the pads.
I recently picked up a semi-beater NB Miata for cheap as a car to have fun with. It has needed a decent amount of repairs and maintenance, as it was owned by a person who was not knowledgeable about cars.
It needed a set of brake pads and after doing some research I settled on StopTech Street Performance pads. I was also considering Hawk HPS pads. I decided to go with the StopTechs because they were cheaper and I have never used Centric products before, so I wanted to give them a shot.
The old pads
The old pads didn’t work great. The fronts were mostly worn. The rears were unevenly worn. It turns out there was a sticking caliper pin on the rear leading one side to wear more quickly than the other.
I was able to get some info off the old pads to learn a little about them.
For those who don’t know, the AMECA has lists of brake pad edge codes available. If you’re looking at a store-brand pad or otherwise want to know more about a pad, googling the number will normally take you to one of their documents, which list the manufacturers.
The old rear pads have the code MAC 1001 FF. The "MAC" indicates it’s some kind of Bosch pad.
The front pads weren't as readable, but I was able to get the manufacturer code TQ and the friction rating, FF. "TQ" means these were made by Federal Mogul. I believe the "TQ" code, and the grey paint on the backing plates, indicates the fronts are Wagner Thermo Quiets.
Out of the box
I did a little googling before buying these and couldn’t find any answers about where they are made. I was too lazy to contact the company and ask so I just went ahead and bought them.
Both sets are made in Taiwan. That wouldn’t be my first choice, but as a country of origin enthusiast I strongly prefer Taiwan over China.
The pads come with no hardware except the shims. In fact, they come with nothing at all in the box except the pads themselves. No instructions or anything.
The front pads are FF rated and the rear pads are GF rated.
Installation went fine. Nothing surprising. The pads fit well and I didn’t have to file the pad ears to make them fit. I also did a full brake flush while I was working on it.
Initial driving impressions
I took the car out today and bedded-in the pads. The pedal firmed up nicely and after only about five rounds of deceleration the pads were working fine. I take a not-super-aggressive stance on bedding pads after overheating a set of pads once during an aggressive break-in. It seems these pads responded well to my normal bedding procedure.
My initial impression is that they have a good amount of bite, definitely more than what was on the car before. I was disappointed in the brakes before. The brakes are already behaving much more as I expected when buying this car.
Stopping with these pads so far is a very smooth and they respond well to pedal modulation.
So far I have no noise or other symptoms of trouble.
I’ll update this as I get more miles on the pads.
