Dustless pads

[Trevor]

How about some thoughts on dustless a pads guys?

I have had EBC Greenstuff all round on OEM rotors for a year now and have been been very happy. The only tip I have is to use "shims" (available from brake specilaists) on the back of the pads. Shims work better than the brake "goop" at preventing the inevitable squeal from the dustless pads.

Why do dustless pads squeal?
The squeal is caused by a rapid vibration of the pad against the rotor. The squeal you hear is actually the virbration telegraphing thorugh the metal back of the pad to the metal brake caliper via the piston. Using a shim (combo of rubber and aluminium) dampens the vibration, thus eliminating the squeal.
Due to the composition of dustless pads (mine are kevlar with copper) you will get the vibration and potentially wear our your rotors sooner than with OEM pads. I checked my front pads/rotors after 6 months of daily driving and they still looked near new. In my humble opinion it is all worth it for the superior braking power and reduced brake fade.

Why greenstuff?
My car is a daily driver, which I at times push a little hard. The EBC greenstuff do not require any warm up time and can be a good choice for a daily driver. Also work well on minimal track use.

Other brands are used and recommended by other onthis forum and they of course all have their merits. I'm happy with my choice and woudl recommend for a daily driver.

Cheers,
Trevor.

[shragon]

seriously, i think australia and europe must get different spec ebc greens than the US. i had them on my car, and they suck. the fronts left a ton of pad material on the rotors (ate power discs), making the rotors feel like they're warped.

i have sinced switched the axxis ultimates. good braking, but they're still kinda dirty. price is good tho.

i still have ebc greens on the rear, and those are working fine.

if you go to other bimmer boards, such as bimmerforums.com, you'll find a ton of complaints about ebc.

[bahnstormer]

wow thanks for the tip on the shims i'll call up a couple places and ask

[bahnstormer]

i always thought the noise was attributed to the dustless pads having more metallic composition and metal on metal noise...

my dad's ml55 has high performance brembo brakes and they squeal like if u lightly press them, when u put your foot down though, they just STOP

[henryw (Sydney)]

Here is my situation


EBC GreenStuff on the front of the car. Was new pads being installed on brand new rotors with that paste stuff that Trevor talks about.

my ebc setup

Brakes hard
No shimmy ATALL
done 15,000kms and no noticeable lip on rotor yet and plenty of pad left
no squeal
hardly any dust


I dont know why ppl complain about them coz they work fine on my car, I think it has alot to do with the correct installation of them esp not putting EBC Pads with rotors that still have carbon compund from other pads :dance:

I still have stock pads on the rear, but will change over to EBC when I need new rotors

[philbyil]

I use Greenstuffs on SWMBO's A4q 2.8 and Redstuff on my 5er. Both pads work well but the Red's are definitely the way to go for high speed work!!!