EBC RP-1 AND RP-X track pad review

[tigeo]

FWIW: I have Yellows on the front and RBF660 fluid (non-PP). Normally autocross is the most work my brakes see. But I did morning autocross and afternoon track sprints on Sunday at the FIRM. It’s a track known to be hard on brakes since there aren’t many opportunities for good cooling between hard braking zones. And that was made worse by the fact that we ran one lap at a time, then immediately sat in grid to wait for the next run, just like autocross. Lots of baking. Well, I forgot to turn XDS off of strong and came off of run 4 with my LF brake smoking. But at no point in that run or any of the runs with repeated hard braking and XDS riding the brakes did the Yellows feel any different or have any lack of braking performance. Set XDS to normal and run 5 went great. I went harder and faster every run.

I absolutely would not run them in the front at a track day, but I was pleasantly surprised that they did seemingly hold up to some very hard and hot use at full speed around a brake-intensive track. Going to pull the pads this week and get a detailed look at them.

I loved my yellows for street use. My son runs yellows in front fir daily/autocross.

 

[19birel]

I ran yellow stuff for 3 track days this year and whilst they were very subpar and were toast after those 3 days, they didn't fall apart. They were also great on the street. I switched to EBC Blues up front and they're just about fine when also limited by the grip of 300tw street tyres. If EBC offers these RP1 pads for my Performance pack brakes, I'll try them next season.

 

[Waltari]

I loved my yellows for street use. My son runs yellows in front fir daily/autocross.

I've been running Yellows with RBF660, stainless lines, and RS3 ducts on PP calipers for years on street and track without issue. No excessive noise or crumbling, but they do get pretty baked on track and make a ton of dust. I may try the RP1 pads on track next season to come. Thanks for sharing.

 

[tigeo]

I've been running Yellows with RBF660, stainless lines, and RS3 ducts on PP calipers for years on street and track without issue. No excessive noise or crumbling, but they do get pretty baked on track and make a ton of dust. I may try the RP1 pads on track next season to come. Thanks for sharing.

I would say yellows aren't the best track choice but I too have used them on-track when I was new to this with street tires without issue. I used them in the rear up until earlier this year. Yellows have always been good to me on the street, I use them on my son's car. Yellows are good for 900 F max....I use Bluestuff NDX out back now with 1000 F max. These RP-1s so far have been v. good (on street as well...no noise...just dust obviously).

 

[Waltari]

I would say yellows aren't the best track choice but I too have used them on-track when I was new to this with street tires without issue. I used them in the rear up until earlier this year. Yellows have always been good to me on the street, I use them on my son's car. Yellows are good for 900 F max....I use Bluestuff NDX out back now with 1000 F max. These RP-1s so far have been v. good (on street as well...no noise...just dust obviously).

Think I may be exceeding the temps on the yellows. Got this from a photographer that was shooting our track day. Coming into the braking zone on our back straight dropping from about 125mph

 

[tigeo]

Think I may be exceeding the temps on the yellows. Got this from a photographer than was shooting our track day. Coming into the braking zone on our back straight dropping from about 125mphView attachment 294039

Definitely time for something better here....no reason to take that risk.

 

[Waltari]

Definitely time for something better here....no reason to take that risk.

My season is done for this year but yes, new pads and rotors will be on the way soon. I've never put temp indicating heat paint on the rotors so honestly seeing this shot from him was news to me and will likely include that in the next changeover.

 

[tigeo]

My season is done for this year but yes, new pads and rotors will be on the way soon. I've never put temp indicating heat paint on the rotors so honestly seeing this shot from him was news to me and will likely include that in the next changeover.

Again, yellows just aren't your pad for track use, they are a fine street pad and for that first track day but that's it. If you like EBC, the RP-1s have been great so far, will give them a go at VIR 4 more days this year to see how they handle slowing from 135mph.

 

[Waltari]

Yep, I will likely swap the yellows out for use on street but that's it moving forward. I had started using yellows back when they were marketed as a track pad and gone through multiple sets over the last 5 years. Since I never had any issue with crumbling, them not biting or fading over the course of a session I hadn't given it a much additional thought. However with getting more seat time and my lap times decreasing, brake upgrades have been on the top of my mind so I appreciate the reviews on the RP-1 pads.

 

[tigeo]

Ok, an update after 2-days at VIR on a track with higher speeds and a v. heavy braking zone (T1) that I can hit at 130+.

I had no issues beyond struggling with some rear end squirm under heavy braking (T1) that I am attributing to the rear Mu of the BS NDX (0.52) being higher than the front (0.45). I’m going to try the higher-torque RPX before the December TSCC event. The RP-1s were dead solid both days and over a 40 min session, no issues with pedal feel change or fade….just felt like I had to push them hard and I think I prefer a higher torque pad mentally now (it just instills more confidence for me) now that I’ve tried them both (how do you know unless you try?). I think these RP-1s would be fine on a lighter car and I suspect that the RP-X came out b/c of that issue; my car is about 3600 lbs with me in it. I didn't get this issue as much at Shenandoah during Fastivus but I was only slowing from 115 at the most.

After 3 track days and several ‘000 miles of street driving, they are sitting at 6mm of friction material....BUT...my brand new Bluestuff NDX rears are just less than the backing plate thickness only after 2 days! It's got to be related to the rears having to work harder with the lower friction fronts....so we'll change it up and see! It really shines light on the need to balance your front and rear more than I thought. Always learning....

 

[tigeo]

Ok folks, the hard-hitting info you have been craving! Or not....

Pertinent background info:

Car. 2018 Golf Sportwagen w/4Motion. IS38. Unitronic ECU/TCU tunes. United Haldex tune. B8s/H&R springs/H&R front/rear sway bars/Eurosport mounts/Superpro LCAs. APR 350mm BBK. ESC OFF typically (or Sport). XDS weak. Straight ahead brake stabilization and Hydraulic brake assistant deactivated. My wagon weighs ~3,500 pounds with me in it.

Driver. I have 17 days on track at this point since starting this 3 years ago. I’m a solid upper intermediate driver at this point in the groups I have been running with. HPDE only. I drive to live/drive my car home from the track. At this point I can consistently turn 2:18-2:20 laps at VIR.

Brakes. I’m coming off APR’s “Advanced Track Day” pads which worked great but are very expensive (~$600). I run EBC Bluestuff NDX in the rear with the small-ish 272x10mm solid rotors (same as came on the non-PP GTI) which have limited pad choices w/r to track-focused compounds. The NDX version are a higher-torque compound than the regular Bluestuff at 0.52Mu with a MOT of 1000 deg F. I run Motul RBF600 fluid with a fresh bleed before each event. I purchased both sets of pads from buybrakes.com and you can find discount codes frequently. EBC has some good info on these two pad models here (I’d say based on my experience this info is spot-on):

Should I choose RP-1™ or RP-X™ Pads? - EBC Brakes

EBC RP-1 front brake pads

I had 3 days on the RP-1s, one at Summit Point Shenandoah and two at VIR. ~3K street miles. Pads started at 9.5mm of friction material and were worn quite unevenly with taper back to front and more wear to almost the backing plate on the inners. Not sure there, haven’t had abnormal uneven wear before now.

The brake feel is very different than the APR track pads I had previously that I’m sure have a much higher torque value (not listed). The RP-1s have a lot more pedal feel/modulation due to their lower Mu at 0.45. They made it v. easy to trail brake as I could really push the pedal during braking allowing me more travel to come off of to trail brake/modulate vs. before where the brake seemed to be at full-steam after a lighter touch of the pedal making the easing off more challenging. The RP-1s are rated at ~1,400 deg F MOT so similar to many other track compounds out there. They were fine for daily use over the last few mos. with good (but mellow) cold bite (was below freezing here recently and no issues) and the dust isn’t as bad as the APR pads that seemed to form hardened piles that were a bitch to remove…the RP-1 dust cleans up easily with a bit of wheel cleaner/soap/brush and a hose but are still v. dusty as they are a track compound. I had no noise at all on the street. I actually quite like these for street pads.

At VIR I struggled with more rear end squirm than I had previously and I’m attributing that to the rear Mu being higher/mismatched than the front while slowing from 130+ at the higher speed straights at VIR. It was clear however that the rears were having to put in more work…I used almost all of my brand new rear pads in 2 days! Starting friction material thickness was 10.5mm and now 2-4mm with tapered wear on the front vs. back. The RP-1s were dead solid both days and even over the last longer 40 min session, no issues with fade or pedal feel changes on track….just felt like I had to push them harder is really all which I wasn’t used to, and they didn’t inspire confidence in the higher-speed braking zones like the higher Mu pads I had previously did.

EBC RP-X front brake pads

I had ~2 days on the RP-Xs at VIR. Less than 1K street miles.

The RP-X have a bit higher MOT than the RP-1s at ~1500 and a higher friction coefficient at 0.55 Mu. After install/prior to bedding these had a shocking initial bite on the street and provide VERY strong braking. After swapping to new rotors, mating them up and getting them bed in, they didn’t seem as graby as they were on the old rotors. At VIR this past weekend, they were great and I was able to brake much later/achieve my highest top speed on the back and front straights (141, 136, respectively) b/c I was confident with the braking. The weird squirm with the RP-1s/Bluestuff NDX due to the mis-matched Mu was completely gone. Smooth straight braking with the RP-X and Bluestuff NDX. After a day and change of track use they were sitting at 6-6.5mm of friction material down from 9.5mm to start so about 35% used. Wear was about as even as expected with some minor taper/variation but nothing like the RP-1s. Rears looked good with only min. wear indicating they were not working as hard as they had with the RP-1s. These should last 2-3 weekends at most is my takeaway so not a long-lasting pad on my heavier car but commensurate with the lower $200s price tag (buybrakes.com coupons/discounts are easy to find). Note that the $600 APR pads lasted 10.5 hours ($57/hour track time) and the RP-X is projected to last about half of that so call it 6 hours ($37/hour track time) so overall a lower cost but changing the pads more often. To be fair, I wasn't driving as hard on the APR pads as I progressed so they may not last as long now but I have to believe they will still outlast the EBCs.

Now that I’ve had both types of pads, I prefer a higher torque pad with higher initial bite (how do you know unless you try?). EBC notes that the RP-1 is for lighter cars and I’d say that is accurate…my wagon is just too heavy for them as evidenced by going through them and the rears so quickly. I’d buy the RP-X again but I'd try other popular track pads by Ferodo (1.11 or 3.13), Carbotec (10 or 12), G-Loc (10 or 12), and PFC (08 I believe is the compound that folks often use).

Some videos of using the RP-X at VIR last weekend with TSCC:

 

[Redslaya]

Ive been tracking the 3.12s for a while now and have calculated operating costs. between my wife and I we get about 28 hours out of a set, which at $500 comes out to $17/hr. Granted, she runs at a slower pace than I do and my hour tracking isnt perfect.

 

[tigeo]

Ive been tracking the 3.12s for a while now and have calculated operating costs. between my wife and I we get about 28 hours out of a set, which at $500 comes out to $17/hr. Granted, she runs at a slower pace than I do and my hour tracking isnt perfect.

Good data! Tony...er...sorry....@derhase also reports that they last forever with 1mm per weekend which is insance and clearly justifies the $500 price tag. Need to see if they make one for my BBK which is a common size on several OE performance cars. It's a good way to look at it the $/hour. I think the APRs I had would not have lasted as long driving like I am now vs. then but still longer than these. I think I'm going to try the ever-popular G-Locs (R10s) next...then try these Ferodos if I'm not happy with the time/$ on them. EBC BS NDX out back is about all I'll do b/c nobody makes anything as aggressive for the rears on the 272s and they are $95.

 

[scrllock]

Ive been tracking the 3.12s for a while now and have calculated operating costs. between my wife and I we get about 28 hours out of a set, which at $500 comes out to $17/hr. Granted, she runs at a slower pace than I do and my hour tracking isnt perfect.

Depending on whether my sponsored pads come through I might just preorder a set of 3.12/1.11 from the UK. That's really hard to beat.

 

[Redslaya]

Depending on whether my sponsored pads come through I might just preorder a set of 3.12/1.11 from the UK. That's really hard to beat.

I purchase mine through Essex in North Carolina. service is great and they usually ship really quickly.