OEM plus style brake pads

[perryis5150]

I am in the market for new pads up front. I'm not tracking my car but I put a lot of in town miles on it. The factory pads are ok but I am looking for better pads. With the the large amount to brands and manufactures I'm having a hard time navigating through them all. EBC and Hawk are on my radar but not sure even what level of pad I should be looking for. Looking for suggestions as I'm not brand loyal or super picky on what brand to try. Thanks in advance.

 

[odessa.filez]

My experience with BMW and VW has been: non-oe pads are a crap shoot in terms of noise.

Even oem pads made by an oe manufacturer gave me noise problems. Switched back to oe and noise went away.

The Akebono low dust pads were great for dust control and made no noise, but lacked feel. Porterfield had great feel but made noise.

If your looking for better stopping, my advice is upgrade your tires when you change. More meaningful effect with that than pads.

 

[gixxerfool]

I bounce around between here and the Vortex and I thought I saw someone recommend iSweep pads. I could be way off.

 

[Hammersticks]

Isweep 1500’s all day for street. Performance is roughly the same as stock but they dust WAY less than stock. Very minimal. They also fit perfectly when properly installed. No rattles which I can’t say for all aftermarket pads per above. I have the fronts now and will be getting the rear pads too. A little bit in my build thread if you are interested.

 

[jimlloyd40]

I have Brembo ceramic pads. No dust and no noise.

 

[hoffnung]

Clubsport S pads. I just installed a pair along with the Clubsport S drilled rotors. No issues thus far and they are smooth. I suppose if I had to guess braking has improved 10-15%? I don't have any objective evidence but they are supposedly built to be more heat resistant (track oriented) than standard.

 

[GolfRRRR1]

TRW makes the stock pads for PP and R, I switched to the TRW TPC-1633 pad which is an upgraded ceramic pad. Significantly less dust, same braking but more consistent, less grabby but with good bite. No noise even at -14* below 0*, good for 2 hot laps at the track before they start to overheat. I think they are a fantastic daily driver pad. $60 set.

 

[tmw2442]

on a daily...that you have fun on the twisties on weekends.....hawk hps 5.0s.
If you want minimal dust ceramics....
I have had bad experiences with EBCs in the Mk5 days...they are cheaper for a reason...
If you haven't done fluid since 2017....that should be first on your list.
stopping power....noise....dust.....the engineering triangle problem of brakes....you only get two of the three...compound are getting better as time goes on, but in general no noise, no dust = no stopping power

 

[perryis5150]

Thanks for all of the replies. I think this gives me some where to go now. I did just get the brake fluid changed this past week.

 

[SouthFL_Mk7.5]

I use Porterfield R4S on the street. Quiet and low dust for the amount of performance they offer.

 

[bfury5]

I use Porterfield R4S on the street. Quiet and low dust for the amount of performance they offer.

Always a +1 on Porterfield for me. SCCA discount is 25% which makes them the bargain of the bunch (at least in price, great performance even at full price)

 

[reddaugherty]

Isweep 1500’s all day for street. Performance is roughly the same as stock but they dust WAY less than stock. Very minimal. They also fit perfectly when properly installed. No rattles which I can’t say for all aftermarket pads per above. I have the fronts now and will be getting the rear pads too. A little bit in my build thread if you are interested.

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but if you remember, how does the initial bite of the iSweep 1500s compare to the OE pads? I'm looking for something that has a good bite and makes me feel confident in the cars braking abilities.

 

[SPLR337]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but if you remember, how does the initial bite of the iSweep 1500s compare to the OE pads? I'm looking for something that has a good bite and makes me feel confident in the cars braking abilities.

I went with the iSweep is2000 pads at the recommendation of Neuspeed. They suggested the 1500s for Golf's and Tiguans, etc, and the 2000s for GTIs and Rs. The initial bite doesn't feel as noticeable as stock, but the brakes perform much more linear. Good stopping power, no noise, and still less dust than OEM.