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Stoptech Street Pads

7K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  LW_Black4 
#1 ·
Preface: After getting my WRX back from the dealership with a new engine I have been going through the typical break in process. Keeping the RPMs under 4500 and using engine braking whenever possible. On the dealer inspection paperwork the only part of the car that was listed as “yellow” were the brake pads. The tech estimated them at 40% so totally safe to drive on but in need of service within the next 6 months. Keep in mind I have 45k on these stock brake pads. Last week I noticed a solitary squeak coming from my drivers side front brake and decided it was time for a brake job. With 45k miles on the stock pads and 15k on the current brake fluid I decided to swap just the pads for the time being.

Note - I considered big brake upgrade kits but I decided that they were not in my budget at the moment. Saving for a wedding is currently more important than having huge brakes for my daily driver. As a compromise I decided a medium - aggressive street pad would give me some nice stopping power and depending on the compound I might see a reduction in dusting as well.

Hardware: The options for pads that fit the aggressive street bill were Hawks, Winmax and Stoptech. I compared the max temp rating ( because I am not using a big brake kit at the moment max temp rating should mean that the pad can handle more heat generated under hard braking on a stock sized rotor ) The highest heat rating I found was on the Stoptech pads at a scorching 1300 degrees.Comparing compounds is not something I could find on a spec sheet so I turned to forums for advice. The Stoptechs had the lowest occurrence of poor reviews on the forums, I found that others had reported them as quiet, relatively clean, and effective enough to run on the occasional track day even on stock rotors. After comparing the Stoptech Street pads to Hawk HPS pads I decided that with similar reviews I would save the extra hundred bucks and give the Stoptechs a go.

Install: Install is as easy on the WRX as it is on any other car, Pull caliper housing bolts, tuck the calipers out of the way ( don’t hang them b the brake lines ). Remove the old pads and pop the new ones in place. I did notice that the feeler/squeaker pin on the WRX is bent outside the caliper housing. It took a moment to realise that i shouldn't be tucking it in with the pad. With that sorted out I used a cheapo caliper spreader to open up the brake calipers and they slid back on easily. With everything back in place bleed your brakes and top off your fluids.

Total time for the brake job was about and hour and anyone with a nice floor jack and a set of hand tools can handle it themselves.

Bed in: Stoptech labels their street pads as pre broken in. I have always run through a simple break in process when i install brakes, at least to make sure that they will work when I take the car out on the road. in a safe and controlled environment bring the car up to 35-40 mph and brake under light pressure 5-10x without letting the car stop entirely, then let them cool. Take the car up to 50-60 m and follow the same process to a slow roll 5x and let the cool. Finally take the car up to highway speeds and bring the car to a complete stop 2x. At that point you can drive the car around town and use the brakes normally.

Initial Impressions: I am pleased with the performance of these new pads. They are noise free, vibration free and feel better than the OEM pads when brand new. Having driven 2 new WRXs and 1 new Impreza in the last month I had a great chance to compare new OEM compound to Stoptechs. The stoptech pads have very smooth modulation and great bite. Living in California I really can’t speak to their cold bite but at 65 degrees this morning they felt just fine for my morning commute. I plan on writing an update in the next month with more information about cold bite, dusting and noise.
 
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#2 ·
Good to know, I'll be looking into brake parts soon myself as the pads and rotors on mine are pretty worn but no squeaks so :D

Also Centric ceramic pads are very nice for a DD, I had them on my last car (08 Scion tC) with cross driller rotors and they were awesome once warmed up, which is common with ceramic pads. They also don't create almost any dust (for you clean freaks out there lol) so that's what I'll try running again on the wrx, though I'll probably switch to either blank rotors or slotted as I plan on trail riding/off-roading a bit here in central FL.

Any thoughts on rotors depending on use?
 
#4 ·
@ RoboTuner, Im still rolling on the stock rotors. I considered a set of Stoptech slotted rotors but mine are still in really good shape ( especially for having 45k miles on them ) If your getting dirty often I would grab slotted rotors. The slots are designed to clear brake dust and i would assume they would do the same for dust and mud.
 
#5 ·
So quick update, After running these pads for 1 week they are still very dusty. Stopping power is excellent and modulation is excellent. I haven't pushed them hard enough to see if there is any more or less heat fade but thus far i am enjoying them quite a bit. I would suggest keeping some simple green around if you go this route because they definitely get the wheels dirty.

more updates to come in a few months time.
 
#7 ·
Im pretty happy with my stop-techs. In the early morning the very slow friction stopping at the end of the drive way makes a tiny bit of noise but other than that they have great road manners and stopping power when warm is a considerable improvement over stock.
@Cayman Edward, I would recommend them for anybody's daily driver and maybe the occasional auto X car.
 
#8 ·
I support arcticscythe's observations. I ran Stoptech street/track pads with zero issues on both my '09 STi and '04 WRX.

Since then I've tried higher performance brake pads and they have significantly more noise and dusting, which I don't like for a daily driver. I've decided to run Stoptech street/track pads as a standard, and switch to upgraded front brake pads at the track/Autocross venue for events.

StopTech Street Performance Pads – 2003-2005 Subaru WRX Rear
https://tougetuning.com/product/stoptech-street-performance-pads-2003-2005-subaru-wrx-rear/

They've got good value and more than adequate performance unless you start heavy lapping or participating in Time Attack events.
 

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