mikersoft

iTrader: (1)

I think this might be the ultimate year 'round track/street combo for those of us with four seasons.

I replaced my OEM pads with the NS400 in the spring of 2015 because I'm too OCD about keeping my car clean. I'd done a track day with the OEM pads, and they performed well enough for my first time, but I didn't like the dust & occasional noise for daily use. I was happy with the NS400, because (IMO) they perform nearly as well as OEM for street driving, with little to no brake dust or noise.

I've also become quite the track junky since my first event (10 track days total). My original intent was to use the NS400 pads for daily use, then put on track pads for each event. I tried the Winmax W4 on a weekend track day trip to NJMP last fall. They were squealing off/on all weekend, including later sessions at the track after some decent heat was put into them.. In fairness, I may not have been aggressive enough when initially bedding them (I learned how challenging that can be when I finally got the HC+800s properly bedded).

Anyway, for my first track day of this year, I tried the HC+800. After I got them properly bedded, I loved them. I abused the hell out of them & they never gave up.. In fact, over subsequent track days, I started getting my OEM rotors pretty hot, which led to lots of cracking between the drilled holes (I've since upgrade to 2-piece slotted). Still, I never felt the pads were giving up on me. They're definitely dusty, but once properly bedded, they've been pretty much silent. Therefore, I decided to just leave them on all season. I ended up putting ~9K miles, including 8 track days on the HC+800 pads. I was ok with the dust during the warmer months if it meant I could run the same pad on the track & street without the associated noise & poor cold performance that are common with many track-worthy pads.

Now that winter is setting in, I won't be back at the track 'till next spring.. Winter in the mid-Atlantic area can be hit or miss. We often have plenty of dry, snow-free days with above freezing temps. So, I'll drive my car whenever the roads are dry & salt-free. To minimize cold weather cleaning, I decided to put my NS400 pads back on 10 days ago. They've been silent & pretty much dust free ever since, and stop just as well as before (the pic below was taken after 7 days of driving). I didn't even bed them!

Apparently, there are enough similarities between the base compounds to facilitate a very easy transition back to the street-only pad. I think that's awesome. Though, I sure I'll have to endure some rigorous bedding next spring when I put the HC+800s back on, but I'm cool with that.

-Mike

SoulFreak

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for sharing Mike! I currently been running the Winmax W3 pads in the front and W4 in the rears. I put over 2k miles thus far and they simply don't stop squealing. I think I only had one night at the drag strip when I finally heard them go silent. The only thing I did different was clean the dust out of the drilled holes from the OEM rotors. I did notice when they began squeaking again that the holes were filled with brake dust again. Not certain if that has any contribution to the noise. I am extremely happy with the way they perform nonetheless. Happy Tracking next season!

Jz39

iTrader: (2)

Agreed that the NS400s are great street pads, zero noise and VERY low dust.

bbong

Nice Mike! I really like the HC+800 bite once warmed up, I also think the first set that I was testing worn out due to user error so I slapped on new set, but since we're off-season now, I need to wait until next year to try it out. I no longer DD my F so no need NS400s

Vitveet

Looks like NS400s will be my next pad then....I LOVE the braking power and performance of the stock pads but the squealing and even moreso, the brake dust is unbearable. Clean wheel go to dust wheel is 40-50 miles driven. Thanks for your info OP!

V.

SpeedFreaksUSA

iTrader: (1)

Glad you're loving the combo, Mike! We are down to our last two sets of HC+800 but have another batch being made as we speak so there will be plenty more for the 2017 track season

Also just wanted to point out that you shouldn't really need to re-bed as aggressively as when the pads were brand new- as you've found the NS400 pads are compatible with the transfer layer of the HC+800 without the need to bed in and lay down another layer on top. When you swap the used HC+800 back on, they should be pretty much ready to rock again. It shouldn't matter at all but I still like the idea of swapping them back in a couple days before your first event next season so you can just drive the car normally and scrape away the old transfer layer. The pads will re-bed to the rotors during your first few laps in the first session (i.e. lay down their own new transfer layer) and all should be well after that! In my experience it's really just that initial bed in procedure with brand new pads that can be tricky.

-Matt M.

mikersoft

iTrader: (1)

That's good news.. Thanks, Matt!

mikersoft

iTrader: (1)

Update for 2017... I put the HC+800 pads back on the day before my first track day of the season (last Friday). I originally wasn't planning to put much effort into bedding them based on Matt's comments. However, once I left the house for a test drive, I was blessed with a wide open road in front of me (during a Friday evening rush hour in northern VA, no less!). So, I figured why not put some heat into them? I only did 5 or 6 aggressive stops from ~70 or so and I was done.. I could already smell the hot pads.. I drove a bit more to let them cool down, and they were ready to go.. BTW, they didn't even squeal once from the moment I left the garage..

I was so stoked at how easy it was to go back n forth between the HC+800 & NS400, I put the 400s back on after the track day, since I won't go back to the track for a month.

Again, this is a highly recommended street/track combo for those that like to keep their wheels super clean

-Mike

JohnMorgan

iTrader: (6)

Thanks for the review Mike! Been trying to figure out what pad setup I should do and I think this is the way to go.

SpeedFreaksUSA

iTrader: (1)

This is great news to hear. Glad you're able to enjoy the best of both worlds and swap between them with so much ease

We have both compounds in stock and ready to ship

-Matt M.

tas02

iTrader: (2)

Mike/Matt, I've got some HC+800's going on with some fresh one-piece slotted rotors. What's the best way to bed these in on a public roadway (sparsley used freeway)?

flowrider

iTrader: (9)

See Post #3 here:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...low-speed.html

Lou

mikersoft

iTrader: (1)

I think the procedure is pretty much like bedding any pads.. These just need quite a bit of heat to initially bed them. Just get them really hot with successive high speed stops down to 10 mph or so.. I don't think you need to go much above the speed limit (70-80 tops), but start each run immediately after you've slowed to keep the heat in them.. Depending on the ambient temp, you may even want to plug up your brake ducts on the front bumper to help out (I did on mine because it was a cool day). Once you get a good whiff of that familiar brake burning smell, try to drive around for awhile with little to no braking & definitely avoid stopping with your foot on the brakes.

-Mike

SpeedFreaksUSA

iTrader: (1)

Lou and Mike are correct but I'll expand below.

I agree the procedure is just the same as any, except they just need a lot more heat. If you are in an area where you cannot safely do 70-80mph you can do it from a lower speed and increase the number of braking pulls. As always the goal is to gradually and consistently build heat. Mike pointed out the biggest bit of the bedding procedure that people seem to consistently miss so I've emphasized it above. It is so important that you don't let your brakes cool for too long in between each brake pull (10-15 seconds max as you gently accelerate back up to speed), especially with these and other more aggressive pads- heat is your friend when bedding

However, if you are bedding on brand new rotors (especially single piece) I always like to do a mini bed in session at much lower temps first to put a little heat cycle on the rotors before you really bed the pads with the high temp bed in procedure. Either that or drive on them normally for a day or so before bedding. I don't think it's a huge problem on these cars since the brake rotors have a lot of mass but I still think it's a good habit to try and minimize the chance of thermal shock with a smaller "rotor bed in cycle" if you will.

-Matt M.