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View Full Version : Thoughts on Cool Carbon Sport Brake Pads?


Terri Kennedy
05-17-2009, 02:32 AM
Bavarian (http://www.bavauto.com) is having a sale on Cool Carbon Sport Brake Pads.

I'm looking at replacing my rotors / pads and was wondering if these would be a good fit. I'll be buying the cross-drilled rotors again. These pads are supposed to be friendly to drilled / slotted rotors, have better cold grip, low dust, and long life.

Anyone here have any experience?

Terri Kennedy
05-19-2009, 07:39 AM
Anyone here have any experience?
Anyone? Bueller?

John V
05-19-2009, 08:03 AM
Don't know why you're installing cross-drilled rotors, but other than that I have no comment. Never used those pads.

Terri Kennedy
05-19-2009, 10:10 AM
Don't know why you're installing cross-drilled rotors, but other than that I have no comment. Never used those pads.
Ok. Frankly, when I originally switched to the drilled rotors (see here (http://www.tmk.com/shocks_brakes)), I was doing it mainly for the looks. With the combination of those rotors, the caliper bushing upgrade, Axxis Deluxe pads, and StopTech stainless brake lines, I did think that performance was better. I can't say if it was due to one or more of the changes, or if it was all in my mind. It is now 30K+ miles later and time for new rotors and pads (I've got some odd grooves on the rotors, not related to the hole locations).

On the Atom, that's a different story. The rotors are an unusual size Wilwood 6-bolt model which mounts to a custom hat. Brammo cut slots in smooth-face Wilwood rotors, since Wilwood didn't offer that size pre-slotted. I expect that causes a bit of stress cracking due to the heating when cutting the slots after Wilwood heat-treated them during manufacturing. The internal vanes on these rotors are also straight.

Wilwood does offer that size rotor in a directional-vane slotted + drilled version, which is what I'm using now.

I've had all of smooth / Brammo slotted / Wilwood slotted + drilled on the car at different times and the Wilwood slotted + drilled are a much better performer. With the smooth rotors and non-power / non-ABS brakes on an open-wheel car, stopping with wet rotors was always an adventure.

Nick M3
05-19-2009, 10:24 AM
The cheap pad that I like is the Axxis Deluxe Ceramic. IMHO, the Hawk Ceramic is a better pad (for a lot more money), but I couldn't quite get motivated for this round.

Terri Kennedy
06-30-2009, 12:00 AM
Ok. Frankly, when I originally switched to the drilled rotors (see here (http://www.tmk.com/shocks_brakes)), I was doing it mainly for the looks. With the combination of those rotors, the caliper bushing upgrade, Axxis Deluxe pads, and StopTech stainless brake lines, I did think that performance was better. I can't say if it was due to one or more of the changes, or if it was all in my mind. It is now 30K+ miles later and time for new rotors and pads (I've got some odd grooves on the rotors, not related to the hole locations).

I figured I'd update this with the curent status of the BMW project. I've got the new rotors (Bavarian Ultimate slotted + drilled) and pads (the previously mentioned Cool Carbon ones) on the car with the mostly-stock calipers (upgraded bushings, DOT-marked stainless lines) and the car is stopping much more predictably.

Since I ordered them from Bavarian, I've seen a number of reviews praising them (Cool Carbon S/T). When I installed them, I did experience a minor issue (once I figured it out) where I couldn't get the front calipers to line up with the caliper bolts. It turns out that the Cool Carbon pads have a full-length inverted "V" as their main retaining chip, while other brands seem to use a style that looks like an inverted "7", where one of the ears is shorter than the other. The free piece of the V ear that isn't bolted to the stainless backing plate of the pad will hit the pad when the center bore of the caliper tries to squeeze it shut. This means that the pad is forced out of its normal position and you can't slide the caliper to where it needs to go.

I did contact a tech rep at Cool Carbon the next business day and he said he'd check and get back to me. He says all boxes in his inventory seem good, but that this could happen with rough handling during shipping. He was going to hav a note placed in each box pointing out where the potential interference would be, and how to correct it. Overall, I was quite impressed by the level of support I received from Cool Carbon.

The Atom, of course, has very different braking requirements and there's no Cool Carbon pads for it. Fortunately, PAGID makes each of their compounds available for the Atom, as long as there are orders for at least 10 sets (doesn't have to be all the same compound, though no mixing within axle boxes is allowed).

You've seen the saga of the CV joint elsewhere, so no need to repeat that part here.

I ordered 5 new Bridgestone RE760 tires (205/50R17) from Tire Rack at $121 each, shipped to Wheel Collision in PA. The tires on the wheels now are the RE750 and 6+ years old. I had them on when I drove to Bimmerfest 2004. They'll pass on tread life, but they're getting close to end-of-life for other reasons. The RE760's came out on top of Tire Racks most recent customer survey (for Ultra High Performance Summer models), and there's a $100 cash back card (for four tires) provided by American Express once you fill out the form.

So, Wheel Collision calls me today and tells me that 4 of the 5 wheels I dropped off needed straightening and refinishing (the 5th was another one I had them do last time and was my spare tire, so it was never out of the trunk). 3 of the 4 remaining wheels are so bad that the itemized costs would exceed their scrap-and-trade price, so they'll limit the charges on those to the same as the exchange price, $165 each. For the one that wasn't so bad, it'll be $135 (I think - I don't have my notes in front of me).

I asked them to evaluate each wheel for true running before mounting the tires, and then to put a RE760 mounted left on the one that needed the least weights applied, and to right mount an RE760 on the next best wheel. Those will be my fronts. With the remaining 3 wheels, give me 1 left and 2 rights. These are the rears plus one spare.

The RE760s aren't directional like the RE750's were, but the tread pattern still looks like it is, so I figured it would be best to have all the tread patterens looking like they were going in the same orientation.

Once I get all the bills for this work in one place, I'l going to send them to our Mayor who claims that streets have improved greatly under his administration. This is the same guy who spent over $1500 per vote he received in the general Mayoral election. The Wikipedia article on the mayor has a link to a NY Times story where photographers in the employ of other candidates took pictures of the mayor passed out, drunk and naked, on his front porch. NY Times story here (http://tinyurl.com/l5ljqq).

This is the guy who replaced the last mayor (Cunningham) when he died unexpectedly. They had him stuffed (I guess by a taxidermist) and on a stand at the entrance to City Hall for a week or two.