Lord09

Very nice review, appreciate the detail and driving impressions.

Will definitely consider them next time I need new pads.

Trustd_1

Very nice review! (edited) My track days are long gone, but I put some Stoptech Street pads shortly after buying my Ap2 at the beginning of the year. My S only gets driven occasionally, but I am a spirited driver and have taken it on numerous roadtrips in the short time that I've had it. Additionally, while the Stoptech Streets are the only pads I've tried so far on my S, I have used a number of other pads, including Repco/Axxis Metalmasters, Axxis Ultimates, and various Porterfield & EBC, on my current & previous cars. I won't recap my experiences w/all of them, since EGbeater gave pretty accurate accounts of his own. I totally agree w/him about the Stoptech Streets and Axxis Ultimates though.

All in all, the Stoptechs are very good in their intended environment, the streets. They stop well, are pretty quiet, don't dust too badly, and are priced very nicely. I do wish they had better bite and didn't fade as quickly, but hey, can't have everything.

In contrast, I have Ultimates on my street WRX (sold my track one a few months ago), and they do seem to have better initial bite. It also takes quite a bit to make them fade. I'll probably try a set on my S when the Stoptechs are done. Only thing I dislike about the Ultimates is that they dust like CRAZY! My initial thought was to get Ultimates for my S, but I was curious about the Stoptechs because of all the positive reviews I read from s2k and owners of other makes.

sacjs

I'm making incremental changes to my S as I read about the experience of others with parts and begin to figure out exactly what I want from my car. I needed to do my brakes, so I grabbed a full set of the BrakeMotive x-drilled/slotted/zinc plated rotors(ebay) for around when I wear through these I already know that I will be purchasing the slotted/zinc plated rotors), Goodridge SS lines(oakaos) all around, StopTech pads(tire rack), and a flush with ATE Type-200(oakos). My car is an otherwise stock 07 as the current focus is on improving the person behind the wheel with incremental changes being made to will facilitate that mission. So why start with inexpensive parts? Why not? They are wear items that fit the purpose of the task being asked of the vehicle at the moment. As the person behind the wheel increases their demands of the vehicle, those items will be changed out to meet new demands of the tasks the vehicle is being asked to complete.

Primarily my car is a Daily Spirited Driver, with a burgeoning foray into AutoX and a deep desire for HPDE and beyond. I haven't autox'd the full set-up yet, as I only had the lines installed for my 1st event, which honestly had a negligible effect. After the pad and rotor swap and properly bedding in the pads I can provide my experiences on a warm day alone, cold day alone and cold day with a passenger, and will provide additional updates after I figure out how to attend as many autox events as my schedule will allow.

Anyway, on a low 70 degree day with the pads nicely warmed up the stopping ability of the set up exceeds the overall grip level of my 3 season Hankooks(they came on the car). Slowing from 85ish down to 20ish and 40ish down to a stop in a maximum braking capacity is enough to briefly lock up my tires before the abs kicks in. On the stock pads & rotors the ABS would kick in later and the tires would never make a peep. Same day with threshhold braking to prevent abs actuation combined with downshifting resulted in substantially better results. I repeated this a couple dozen times until I could smell the brakes cooking, and everything remained consistent. After a thorough cooldown and a long cathartic spirited drive I can definitely say that I wish the front pads were a tad bit more aggressive, and as noted by others that the initial bite was more aggressive. They definitely perform better as they heat up, but I haven't been in a situation where I would be able to truly test their overall fade resistance. My next step is to mount some nice sticky summer tires and I'll report how that affects things overall (as that may really be the only thing between me and my ideal DD setup for the time being).

Cold day(low 40/upper 30's - hey I'm in TX, so yes 30's/40's are legitimately cold for us) on cold pads... it's like asking your SO to indulge in something you really want and they hesitate for half a second then agree (An "Mmmmm...Ok" moment). Having been spoiled by the grip on a warm day, it was a slight let-down with the initial bite on a cold day, but just as on the warm day as the pads warmed up they improved, but only related to responsiveness, not initial bite. Cold pads didn't exceed the tire's available grip, although they still activated the ABS sooner than stock. Just like on the warm day you could definitely tell how the ABS was modulating the braking (grip-release-grip-release-grip) as opposed to the sensation on the stock set up (grip-sliiiiiiiiide-grip). This definitely cemented the fact that I would like a slightly more aggressive front pad & i'll happily accept the trade-offs.

Same cold day, warm pads with a passenger - Now I'm sure that most people are like me. They love the way their car handles when they are alone with ideal conditions. They feel every nuance of their car - drag from the wind, weight from the fuel, variations in handling from tire pressure and outside temperature, feel of the shifter and engine responsiveness as the fluids age, etc etc. They know that noone will ever experience their car the way that they do, because that person is an interloper, affecting the very nature of the thing they are experiencing...
Anyway, out on a spirited drive with the passenger who has been along for spirited drives previously, and did not know I had made changes to the brakes. Long story longer, a situation occurred that required us to come down from "very fast" to a stop with utmost urgency. Threshhold braking and downshifting...abs kicked in once and I didn't overload the tires. Initial bite still leaving something to be desired, but even with the extra mass the car did exactly what it was asked to do, and a potential S-ectomy did not need to occur.

So far I have just over 100 miles on the set up, and I'm sure that it will improve slightly with a bit more miles. I'd definitely say this route is worthwhile on a strictly DD car. I'm curious to see how they will perform at my next autoX, in the rain, on a sub-zero(Fatality! - sorry couldn't resist) day and as they age. So far rotor wear is nominal and as expected & I'll provide any additional insight in a more concise manner in the future.

sacjs

Update:
Dust - these pads are dusty as hell. I don't think my wheels have been clean since I put them on. Plus it is a dark grey dust - not cute on silver wheels. After it warms up a bit I'm going to thoroughly clean and wax my wheels and see if it helps mitigate the dustiness. The only major negative.

Rain/freezing rain - the pads performed the same as in the cold. No ABS activation, better performance as they warmed up. Definitely superior to stock.

Snow (yes, it snowed in TX) - they performed great. I was out tooling aroung top-down in the falling snow like a fool and had not a single issue with lock-up/ABS activation or red7ced performance. The "meh" initial bite followed by increased bite was actually beneficial. The only weird thing was a quick "groan" from the rear brakes the 1st tims I applied them after the car had been sitting, and another after I had been driving a long time without any brake usage. Hasn't occurred since.

Ice - f@#k. Thank god for ABS. Touch the pedal and ABS kicks in. It didn't matter how fast I was going, brakes = ABS activation. Even still I was able to stop better than stock - proven by a full on "keep the pedal pressed, keep the wheel straight, ride it out on this sheet of ice and pray I come to a stop before meeting the rear bumper of the jerk that decided to cut me off in the turn lane then come to a complete stop when they realized they didn't want to be in the turn lane" moment.

So far I've gotten to experience them in pretty much every situation that I operate the car in except autoX and say that they are definitely worth the price. Rotor wear is still minimal and even, and the pads are holding up well to the xdrilled and slotted rotors. I'll update after my next autoX. I wouldn't hesitate to put these on any vehicle that was strictly daily/spirited driving use as a replacement for OEM. For my personal preference, I will be upgrading to a more aggressive front pad and a slightly more aggressive rear, but that is simply my preference for how I like to have my cars set up.

justchel

EGbeater: what was your rear brake setup in your review of the ST SPs above?

EGbeater

Don't know; possibly OEM or whatever the previous owner had installed—the car had 120k miles when I got the car, it's possible the OEM pads were still in there, as it appears my car's mileage is mostly highway—and I haven't bothered to looked at them.

IMO, in most cars, 75 to 85% of your braking power/performance comes from the front brakes when braking hard (due to weight transfer).

justchel

I see, so you only changed out the fronts. How did the OEM/unknown rear pads hold up? Were you able to keep using them after your track day?

EGbeater

I still haven't inspected my rear pads. Yes, I'm still driving the car and the rear pads are not making any noise or scoring the rotors so they're fine. I'll inspect rear pad thickness when I change my OEM brake lines for the stainless Challenge lines I got from GT Motoring (before I go out to the track again).

sacjs

2 Autocrosses, 1 Autocross School, several weekend fun runs, and 3k+ spirited daily driven miles later...

The Good:
Cost Effective Replacement for OEM
Easy brake modulation
Little to no noise
Good initial bite in all temperatures
Improve with heat
Easy on rotors
Great DD pad

The Bad:
Dusty (Dark grey to boot)
Some cold stopping noise developed over time on the rear(but goes away when warm)
Not aggressive enough

Both the pads and the rotors are holding up well. There has always been more "whirring" from the rear than the front, and recently the rears have begun to squeak slightly when cold(goes away after there is a little bit of heat in the pad - usually 2 or 3 stops). Pad and rotor wear are even all around, and performance has been as expected...easy to modulate and improving as they warm up. Dust is ungodly. My wheels are clean for 10 minutes a week - while I'm drying off my car after its weekly bath. Otherwise I'd be hitting the carwash multiple times per day.

That being said - if you are simply going to DD your car, and maybe do a spirited drive two, or maybe run a single autocross then I would definitely recommend these pads as a legitimate replacement for the OEM pads. Heck, you can even grab the xdrilled/slotted rotors like I did (there is a really good thread on the forum about them) for some added visual appeal. Not sure that they are an improvement over the stock rotors, but a)they have been proven to hold up over time by other members b)changing out all 4 corners is less expensive than just the OEM fronts c) they look nice, and keep looking nice.

Anyway, if you drive your car hard all the time, are going to be seriously autox'ng your car, or plan to run any HPDE's, this is not the pad for you. The longer that I live with these pads, the more I wish for. Driving on the street I am entirely confident in the abilities of this pad, but I wish they were less dusty. At first, I would wash my wheel every morning, but by the following morning they were graphite grey again, so I just learned to live with it. Autox'ng has shown the real weakness of the pad. During my 1st one I didn't know any better, and had not expectations. After Autocross School and by my 3rd AutoX I began to wish for a more aggressive pad, and will be transitioning to one here shortly. I'm looking forward to participating in a full autox season and being able to get a few HPDE's under my belt this year, and this pad is not going to cut it. Just like I eventually came to the point where I needed to upgrade my tires, now so too must I upgrade the pad. It's a good pad, just not for me.

deepbluejh

I've had these pads for about 8 months and for me they are a mixed bag. They do pull the car down well, though I feel like on the street they don't offer as much bite as I was expecting. In fact, my impressions are that they have even less bite than OEM for normal street use. When they get hot, it may be a different story. I took them to Road Atlanta last November and they held up well, though to be perfectly fair, I'm not as hard on the brakes as many of the seasoned pros there were.