The only thing affecting stopping distance in that equation is tires. Pads and rotors have nothing to do with single stop distance. Maybe after 5 or 10 stops they'll have an impact, but that's really hard to do on the street unless you're in the mountains and making really good time. The brakes on these cars are so big and have some much capacity, you'd have a really hard time making them fade even with pretty inexpensive pads.

 

You’ll stop at the same distance as someone with the same car and tires. Tires are what make you stop. The pads are more for operating temps.

now if you said cheap pads on a racing track then you have a point due to continuous high speed stops over a longer course of time. Of course...that’s only if you track the car.

 

Well said.

I have the "cheap" Rock Auto "Performance" pads for around $50 per axle. No regrets. Worked well.

I find it especially pleasing that I COULD spend more, but did NOT while some others DID!!!
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I went with Project-Mu pads, while I have nearly zero brake dust now... I don’t really like the initial bite compared to stock. (Also the price SUCKED)

 

^^^^PM makes many compounds for different applications. Which one do you have

Lou

 

NS, front and rear at the same time.

 

The really inexpensive pads are just generic/more primitive street compounds that an enormous manufacturer makes for normal street use on normal cars. They have the ability to cut different backing plate shapes in high volume with extremely cheap labor (usually in southeast Asia where the labor rate can be less than $1/hr) and can just pump out pads and can import in bulk. Theres no thought to what car the pads are going on or how they will likely be used differently from one car to the next.

I absolutely understand not wanting to spend anymore for products than you have to and it's tempting to put super cheap consumables on cars when the established alternatives are so much more expensive. I'll also acknowledge that different people use their cars in different ways and for some it'll be just fine to run the super cheap pads on their cars if they are never driving them aggressively and don't care about brake performance. I'll also admit there are a few inexpensive compounds that I've seen/tried that work fairly well depending on what you prioritize- it's absolutely not a direct correlation between performance and money spent. However I'll always argue against being overly frugal on brake pads on a $65K+ luxury performance car if you actually enjoy driving the car as intended. Why is it so widely acceptable to spend $1,200+ on a set of nice tires that wear out in 15-25k miles but it's considered to be much more wasteful to spend half of that on the only other part of the car that determines braking performance, feel, and street civility which will typically outlast the tires by a large amount? This is particularly strange to me when people will spend big money on two-piece rotors and then complain about the price of pads which dictates the actual and perceived braking performance. Chances are you bought the F over the standard RC because you care about performance and duality so why handycap one of the most important systems of the car over *at most* a few hundred dollars every 30k+ miles? To each his own but that's the way I've always looked at it.

-Matt M.

 

My guess is that tires cover a wider spectrum of performance capabilities than brake pads do....cornering, stopping, and even acceleration. How many Lexus F owners actually go to the track to exploit this car’s full capabilities and the performance of its brake pads? How many people reach the operating temperatures on the street to validate the high temp range of the more expensive pads? I think in day to day life the tires just do more.

 

You just described why the wife's GS F has generic aftermarket rotors, PS A/S3+ all season tires, and RockAuto pads while my IS F has PS4S, two piece RB rotors, and HC+800 pads. Both get the family car usage, but the IS is tasked with things I will never expect from the wife's car, and everything on her car works just fine for her application and those rare occasions where I drive it - when I'm driving it I usually have the whole family in the car. Not a time to be playing Ricky Racer.

 

Absolutely fair points. I wholeheartedly agree the tires do more and the added benefits are realized more of the time but it's more than just the usable temp range that differentiates the upper echelon of the brake pad world. My main point was that from my perspective it's a bit strange to value the premium tires at up to 2x the price of some other great alternatives (think Michelin PS4S vs Firestone Indy500 or Falken FK510) but not value the brake pads similarly when they are so much less expensive comparatively. But again, different strokes for different folks.

As far as how many owners drive their cars aggressively enough to see any benefit I can't speak to. I hope a fair amount spent the extra monies on an F over an F sport because they at least want the option of utilizing the added performance from time to time. My thoughts on brakes are similar- maybe you don't use them anywhere near their full potential too frequently but when those moments happen don't you want the whole car to feel like a cohesive package? I guess it comes down to how you use the car and how you value different facets of the car, ultimately.

Great points as well. Your situation is also a bit unique in that you have multiple cool/fun cars and even though both the IS-F and GS F are very similar hardware used to fulfill a similar role, you get to use both for very different roles. I know you enjoy your cars properly and I'm sure if the GS F were the only fun car in the stable it would probably be equipped at least slightly differently

-Matt M.

 

Thank god you came in here and posted some common sense.

 

This doesnt make sense, nor is it why you spend more money on track or track oriented pads. In spirited street driving and/or a panic stop, you arent going to get brake fade from cheaper pad selection.

Theres plenty of reasons to buy nice pads. Street driving isnt really one of them. At least not on this car, where your options start around, what, 220 bucks a pad? Thats laughable for no discernible street performance difference.

 

With this logic, I don't think we need a street driven car with 467hp.

 

With this logic then all high performance cars should be driven like you’re on a track all the time.

How many high speed repeated stops do you make in the street?

 

So tell us why do you need a high performance car on the street then?