I recently bought a R26R, in what i believe to be very standard trim, and plan to do a few trackdays when things warm up a bit. As I'm not sure on the provenance of the fluid I'm going to swap to Castrol SRF. I'm also thinking that the standard pads should be upgraded at the same time. This leads to a couple of questions... - which pads? Performance Friction 07, Pagid rs29 or CL RC6 seem the favoured options ignoring cost. Is there received wisdom as to which is best on the Megane, be it one of these or a something else? - should I upgrade anything else such as braided hoses whist I'm at it? To give a bit of context, I'm a competent track driver. I don't mind a bit of squeak. The car will still spend most of its time on the road so there needs to be some braking from cold. Thanks, James
I run RC5+ on my 265, great pads and not hard on the paint either. Only downside is they squeal like a pig at low speeds.
I'd avoid carbone Lorraine's. Pad fell off the plate on my set. I have used performance friction in the past but they ended up yellowing the car due to pad deposits. I'm running srf hoses and rs29s now. I swap between performance friction discs and the stock ones.
I am using endless MX72 now. It is good pad. I personally feel much better than ferodo DS2500. Now, I ordered endless me20. Let's see how it will work.
Carbon Lorraines are fantastic pads but do make a mess quickly, for dedicated track use in heavier cars I'd recommend the RC6 compound if you can live with the low speed squeal.
Thanks guys. Sounds like no consensus and it's down to personal preference and experience. I've raced on various pagid and PF compounds with no complaints so am likely to go that way I think as they're a known quantity to me. We do all seem to agree on SRF though! I think I'll leave the hoses for now and see if I feel any issues. The car is very original and tidy so I'm not planning on any mods other than in the consumables area. James
After picking up a set of Carbotech XP10's last year i struggle to recommend anything else now. Mega, Mega pads and Ian is fantastic to deal with. Ive used countless pads on my from CL, Pagid, Ferodo and the XP10's are by far the best performing pad by a country mile. I would recommend the XP8's over the 10's though as they have destroyed my wheels and unless your doing heavy track work and running proper R tyres they are overkill. Pretty much the perfect pad for fast road and track use. Great bite from cold and superb when up to temps. Squeal a bit but that is part and parcel of an aggressive pad. I have switched over to XP8's this year as my track time is going to be limited this year
Direct from Carbotech. Cheapest place and Ian is a great guy to chat to. Went through various options for the rear but will be waiting until i go proper track spec before going for some aggressive rear pads
I would go for ferodo ds1.11's ... Well proven on track in the meganes and used in the clio cup cars JJC sell them for £156 so can't get better for the price SRF fluid is very expensive ... You wouldn't have any problems using something like motul RBF 600
I use SRF in mine, It isn't that expensive. I pay 35quid for a litre whereas RBF600/600 is just over 30 quid a litre.
Cheap for SRF that Jamie ... Where's that from ? I thought it was £45 a litre ... You can get RBF 600 for £27 a litre on eBay
i think the 197/200 shape car used them and now they use PF 01s... well tats what my CC contact said when I had some 01s off him. (he might have been fobbing me off mind!)
I don't know about the new 200edc cup cars Naith ... You may be right , do they still run brembo calipers ? I thought they had dropped them on the new 200
The cup cars run our Brembos John, the road cars dont. They do run the PF 01 i'm 99% sure but the old ones used the DS 1.1s like you said aye... Both great pads i'm looking forward to seeing how the CC pads work in the meg.
Thanks for all the advice guys. I've gone for pagid rs29. Not the most super aggreasive, but a decent compromise being good at most things. I've also used them in anger before with success so better the devil you know (plus I could order them on line last night!).
The garage i use runs a race team as well so i get it through them, They buy in bulk at cheap prices. I could ask if they want to give me another few bottles to sell on here cheap if anyone wanted some? RS29's are great, I used them at Spa and the Ring and they took some abuse, I was doing 40+min stints at Spa as it was raining and they never faded. They just wear extremely quick when hot but that is to be expected as they are not the most aggressive of pads being an endurance compound.
That is out of context, for the road I would recommend the 8s over the 10s. The 8s have a Coef of .54 or similar and the 10s are 0.63. You need to abuse the 10s every time other wise they drop off and start leaving deposits whereas the 8s work all the time and don't need to be given death every time you drive them. I'll go back to the 10s or maybe even go up one to the 12 when my Megane is taken off the road and turned into a track car later this year but for now the XP8 is more than enough for road and track use. The Evo boys swear by them
I think the XP8's have a higher Friction Coef than the Ferodos but not sure on the exact working temp range for them I was slightly off with my figures for the XP pads as well, here are there actual CoEf's XP8 – 0.58-0.60 - max working temp – 732c XP10 – 0.63-0.65 - max working temp – 898c Not sure on exact figures for the DS1.11's but i think they are around 0.49. Only downside with the XP10 is that they ruin paintwork and wheels. My wheels need a refurb after using them and my paintwork needs a hit with IronX or similar almost everytime i wash it. Small trade off to pay though IMO and for the performance they have given I'm not overly fussed. Oh and they are hard on discs. That is pretty much one set of discs to one set of XP10 pads i have went through
I'll just say this though, A lot of it comes down to the individual person and how they like there brakes to feel and work with their driving style. A lot of people recommend the DS2500 pad but i think it is a rubbish compound. I have tried several now and find Carbotech to be the best pad suited for me so i don't see me going for anything else now. They are not that expensive either compared to the likes of the Pagid RS pads either. I do fancy trying one of the new Pagid RST or RSL pad compounds at some point though
Thanks for info fella, agree 2500 are useless had new set on my REAR's Friday morning and down to metal by Sun night in Alps. Also agree it's a lot to do with individual braking style, am liking 1.11 and about to try either Endless or Carbotec next. Run Pagid (rs29) on Porsche (gt3) for road and PF for track but that's lighter than Meg but always keen to try new pads and discs whenever possible
I have seen a couple mention the Endless MX72(?) before but I'm sure the last time i looked they were about twice the price of anything else.
How much are the xp8 pads in r26 form? Can't seem to find any pricing in the carbotech website, how much brake fluid is needed, is 1 litre enough? whats the general thoughts on discs to use, are the standards upto the job with upgraded pads and fluid? My brakes are far from upto the job on my car.
which bit of the pad do you need to file back to get rid of squealing? got ds 1.11 and swap them over for standard pads on the road as they are really noisy, and yes, i use ceratec.
It's usually the side of the pads you file, I generally take the edge off to about a 45mm angle. You don't have to take the angle all the way down to the back plate. Maybe take it half way down the depth of the pad. and you can do that either side of the pad. It did this on a set of feel do pads on the clio and it reduced the noise no end. have a quick look/search on Google there's loads if topcs/pics/info that pops up. just google brake pad chamfer.
Presumably that does however reduce the efficiency of the brake pad as now there's less surface area in contact with the disc? That means more heat per unit of area or less braking force. A chamfer all round could, if half way down the depth of the pad must take out c5% plus of the area in contact with the disc.
