Canadian Winter mode : Pad and rotor selection that perform well !

[waxxonMTL]

Hey folks,

I did some research using the term '' winter rotor'' but ended up with lots of wheels thread and was now looking at 2012's thread and didn't find much information. My pad and rotor will most likely be due for a change within the next year. ( heck, it might happens this winter) Right now, i'm on stock setup. I like the braking power and wouldn't want to loose any of the braking power. I also like the initial bite at cold, because you know it will stop in emergency while I had HP+ ( on my race car) and ended to a rear bumper because it wouldn't stop and just slide at like 15km/h.. and I had HPS on my winter car and while they were OK, no where did they stop like the S4 do.

I would like to hear canadian's opinion on this as most pad will perform lots better in a +20celcius weather, but when it's icy and -10, its a different story..

1) PAD selection ;

I'm a detailer so.. washing my wheels are not as problematic or painful as other might experience it. Obviously, I would prefer all the advantage of the OEM with less dust, but I don't think that's possible. From my research, it seems like ceramic can squeal at cold and loose the initial bite that I seems to somewhat like.

2) ROTOR selection ;

I don't track the car, I don't need 2 piece, even read from ECS-jason that full floating rotor are only useful when tracking etc. Also read bad review regarding x-drilled when slush turn into ice and fill the hole of the rotor !

I also read that slotted rotor can reduce pad wear as much as 50%... is that true ? have you seen your wear much more prononced with slot ?

So my choice was mainly between zimmerman plain rotor or the stoptech slotted series ( as they use the same metalurgy found in their aero rotor). Just unsure about the slotted thing tho..

Any thought !?

P.S: Sorry to talk about winter already, but if ever my pad wear out within the next 6 months, I will need replacement and would rather do my research now :)

As for tire ; I have brand new set of studded hakka 8 !

[eurotic]

Hey folks,

I did some research using the term '' winter rotor'' but ended up with lots of wheels thread and was now looking at 2012's thread and didn't find much information. My pad and rotor will most likely be due for a change within the next year. ( heck, it might happens this winter) Right now, i'm on stock setup. I like the braking power and wouldn't want to loose any of the braking power. I also like the initial bite at cold, because you know it will stop in emergency while I had HP+ ( on my race car) and ended to a rear bumper because it wouldn't stop and just slide at like 15km/h.. and I had HPS on my winter car and while they were OK, no where did they stop like the S4 do.

I would like to hear canadian's opinion on this as most pad will perform lots better in a +20celcius weather, but when it's icy and -10, its a different story..

1) PAD selection ;

I'm a detailer so.. washing my wheels are not as problematic or painful as other might experience it. Obviously, I would prefer all the advantage of the OEM with less dust, but I don't think that's possible. From my research, it seems like ceramic can squeal at cold and loose the initial bite that I seems to somewhat like.

2) ROTOR selection ;

I don't track the car, I don't need 2 piece, even read from ECS-jason that full floating rotor are only useful when tracking etc. Also read bad review regarding x-drilled when slush turn into ice and fill the hole of the rotor !

I also read that slotted rotor can reduce pad wear as much as 50%... is that true ? have you seen your wear much more prononced with slot ?

So my choice was mainly between zimmerman plain rotor or the stoptech slotted series ( as they use the same metalurgy found in their aero rotor). Just unsure about the slotted thing tho..

Any thought !?

P.S: Sorry to talk about winter already, but if ever my pad wear out within the next 6 months, I will need replacement and would rather do my research now :)

As for tire ; I have brand new set of studded hakka 8 !

You are in about the same situation I am in. I am in Winnipeg so our winters are a little more harsh than yours. Just last night I installed StopTech Sport rotors and their Sport pads. I have yet to drive the car though. I guess I can't give you any real feedback other than to say that this is where my research lead me. The only difference is that I take my car to autoslalom regularly and I don't really care about dust. I want the initial bite and maybe a bit better fade resistance. I went with slotted as some say that you get good bite but it will take life out of the pads...also something I am not too concerned about. I guess we will see though as if the rotors just eat my pads really fast maybe I won't be happy about that. Ping me when the weather starts to get cold and I'll tell you how everything is going.

[Dkensk]

I used the ecs 2 piece rotors and hawk HPS pads through 3 Saskatchewan winters, some track driving as well as daily driving on my mk4 r32. Performance and driveability was awesome, so I replicated it this year on my s4. I've installed countless sets of cross drilled rotors over the last 10 years and never seen a failure from ice getting in the holes and cracking. If that was the case,pretty much every vehicle on the road with vented rotors would have cracked rotors

[mr shickadance]

if you are not tracking the car, just go with Myele rotors, they are cheap, they perform well, no reason not to unless you want the look of a sport rotor.

as for pads, try to go with a street compound, you are not tracking the car so there is no reason to get a pad that performs better under high heat.

EBC greenstuff is a pad that I really enjoyed when I had my b7, more so than the akebono's i had on my s4

[JohnEnglish]

I'm in Toronto and just replaced my front pads and rotors with an OEM set. Getting them installed at the dealer was the cheaper than any of the 3rd party options.

[RynoS4]

pre winter maintenance is up for me. New Hak 8s ordered, 40k service kit will be ordered today. Now I need to decide on rotors and pads, checked out ECS's offerings, ill have to check out the stop tech as well.

[waxxonMTL]

I see I'm not the only one afterall :)

[mr shickadance]

I'm in Toronto and just replaced my front pads and rotors with an OEM set. Getting them installed at the dealer was the cheaper than any of the 3rd party options.

not doubting you, but how? i always have found in the US dealers are like 30-50% more than an indie shop.

[Bruno_s4]

not doubting you, but how? i always have found in the US dealers are like 30-50% more than an indie shop.

Yes I agree. How did you find a dealer that will offer indie shop prices?
And I couldn't wait to get the stock pads off the car and be rid of the dust.
Hawk HPS 5.0's are pretty good. Missing the initial bite of stock but that's a good thing most of the time.

[JohnEnglish]

not doubting you, but how? i always have found in the US dealers are like 30-50% more than an indie shop.

Yes I agree. How did you find a dealer that will offer indie shop prices?
And I couldn't wait to get the stock pads off the car and be rid of the dust.
Hawk HPS 5.0's are pretty good. Missing the initial bite of stock but that's a good thing most of the time.

My dealer charged me CAD$700 for front pads, rotors, and wear sensors installed and with taxes. I called several indie shops and they were all quoting me CAD$770+. They said that rear brakes would be $625. I also found that the 3rd party parts were are more expensive than just going the OEM route. Everyone was telling me 3rd party parts would be cheaper but I never found that to be the case.