Dear Mark, to my eyes what you are doing in this RU-vid channel is truly superb. You have a way of presenting that makes me feel better every time I'm watching one of your videos. Their quality is top notch and I'll always be thankful to you because you provided, provide and will provide such beautiful content for the YT community. Don't stop, the world needs more people like you! Thank you again from an italian enthusiast. Grazie!! Nicola
I remember you talked with Matt on the Smoking Tire about how these videos don’t have some of the wider appeal or are too technical, or whatever it was, but I love the videos you do like this. Good work!
Glad this series is back again! Something about you explaining stuff is far easier to digest than Engineering Explained. Maybe it's that silky smooth voice
A D The Goose always uses easy to understand language and provides lots of relatable real world examples. He’s a more engaging speaker too, so its easier to stick with what he is saying.
I talked to one of the head guys at AP once and he mentioned how he was an advocate of grooved/dimpled rotors. Not drilling or slotting all the way through meant they didn't create high stress concentrations (areas more prone to cracking). It's cool to actually see them in use with the ones you had.
You clearly know your stuff. Keep up the good work. I hope you won't stop as I got used to your reviews and technical videos so much that I find any other RU-vid car channel lacking in comparison (maybe except Engineering explained).
Prefer this channel. EE sometimes is too theoretical or detailed. This video by comparison provided a concise overview and had great practical examples. I have not seen the basic brake video yet, but I hope it covers the differences between various aspects of braking (bite, brake dissipation, wear) and which components of the brake system influence it in what way (fluid, lines, cooling of rotors in various ways). I'm not an expert by any means but have learnt a lot bt reading articles online or videos like these. Its one of those technical topics that don't get as much attention (except in racing circles) as say how much power an engine makes but it matters so much for track driving, it can't be overstated.
Soooooo... you've helped me decide on the Type R, and now with the really awesome trifecta (Fundamentals of Braking, All About Brake Pads and Rotors and Performance Car Myths) I'm diligently studying so that when I'll track the CTR, I won't destroy it (or myself). I can't emphasize enough how much you're helping a community so overwhelmed with hype and buzzwords to enjoy that which is dear to us. Oh, and I forgot about the awesome oil video, which I also enjoyed immensely. Especially as the FK8 Type-R comes with 0W20 oil as standard 🤔
The Long John Silver's reference made my day. Thank you for putting so much work into these videos. I love your channel because I can always learn something new.
Was so excited when I saw I still had 1 more of your videos to catch up on for after work. Did not disappoint!! Thanks for helping me break this monotonous day and like always, I learned something 😀 You're the best.
Great video as always. For street driving I’m liking the factory Brembo pads on my Chevy SS sedan. I am running the 6 piston Brembo calipers from the C7 Z06 and 2 piece rotors up front, with Motul 600 fluid. The factory pads dust a lot, but they never give up with a good workout, and they aren’t loud. I’m sure at the track the Brembo pads wouldn’t work great, but they’d at least be decent when paired with the good fluid.
Really enjoy these technical insight videos - they provide a lot of insight to people who throw thousands at brake components without thinking of their applications and the relative performance gains.
This is kind of videos are the reason the internet was created for. This is the kind of video you can't be doing anything else while you are watching or you will loose so many quality information. Congrats for your work. Probably the best automotive vlogger in terms of what really matters(content and the way you communicate).
I appreciate the knowledge. It has taken me a lot of varies articles to find this knowledge. The importance of brake fluid would be another proper video!
Amazing educational video, as all of your Fine Print series are. This is becoming one of my favorite auto channels. Engineering Explained got some serious competition!
Just discovered your channel. The tonal sound of your voice, transduced through microphne(s) and other audio equipement and processes, is not in any way unpleasant to my blast traumatized hearing - thank you! Your enunciation and diction are exemplary. The props and graphics provided, were visually sharp and on screen long enough for me to observe adequately. 1440pHD helps my diminished eyesight see more detail - thank you! I'm an elder car guy, who can't do much myself, anymore, but, I still have much interest in civil street performance - vehicular and personnal!
Very Informative. Living In the Hudson Valley within the Appalachian Mountains. My Ford Transit Connect commercial van the front brakes get a workout. My transmission repair shop owner told me NOT to down shift going down long hills. It's cheaper to replace the brakes than the transmission, he told me. Your video is helpful for me to choose the best system for mountain driving. Thanks.
True....they all depends on your driving habits. And the driving condition environment. This is why its important to know how your vehicles perform in different environmemt and the condition.
Fantastic content for a novice like me. Absolutely worth the watch. Thank you very much! I’m starting my journey towards track driving and this content is awesome.
Mr. Goose, your production quality is of the best on RU-vid. I’m impressed by your genuine bias, and that you don’t whore out your opinion on varying products. Keep it up, and always, great video!
More of a comment on the channel in general than this specific video. Love the channel, particularly the fine print series - always able to pick up a nugget of wisdom from those. Your style is great - love the combo of technical knowledge presented with a touch of humor. Keep 'em coming.
Thanks for doing this Mark , it was great and all I can say has already been mentioned before, so I'll just say this Ditto,Ditto,Ditto, because the praise never ends.... great work and so much much more value than these lifestyle car You Tubers.... I hope Google ask some of us to evaluate the value and quality of this video...... because we only need "One Mark" Excellent, no pun intended.
Thank you for creating reference worthy content. There are so many myths in the automotive world. It's nice to see more enthusiasts spending money on slowing down (I'm talking to you, stage 2 wrx fans) but when they buy cross drilled, slotted rotors with Centric pads to daily drive I'm like "yo..."
Another nice one! I like my z1 2-piece setup for the 370z. Shaved off 20lbs from the front and 10lbs from the rear. Somehow they stand up to whatever abuse I can throw at 'em!
In my Excursion that tips the scales over 8000 lbs, I was going through rotors like underwear warping them. Until I tried cryo treated rotors and now have 50k on them with no ill effect. Nice video as usual!
I have a Ridgeline that does the same thing. It's got stock rotors with Hawk LTS pads. I was on the fence about cryo till I read this. I'm going to give it a shot. Thanks for posting.
Bless you and your videos Mr geese sir. I'm now looking into the carbotech pads for the 2013 GS 350 I just bought. Looking for the best performing street pad for very spirited driving as whatever the dealer put on I'm thinking may not have enough bite to them.
Not sure how it is in US but in Europe most semi metallic pads are around half of the cost of the ceramic ones , and from all forums seems that semi metallic have higher cold bite then the ceramic ones, most users said that when they brake it's not bitting initially as semi metallic ones , it's more gentle
Really well done overview, the only thing i would disagree with is your opinion about cryo treated rotors. I have experimented with a track car without making any other changes just cryo treated vs non cryo treated and found there was a big difference in rotor wear and cracking. The cryo treated rotors lasted 2-3 times longer with everything else being the same. I did not buy pre treated rotors but used a local company that does this type of treatment, so exact same batch of rotors even. i was very skeptical but after seeing the difference first hand.... Perhaps under certain extremes cryo treating might not be enough to make a big difference, but under certain applications it does help a lot. I mean there is a reason that cryo treating has been around for a long time.
When I was young and dumb, I needed brakes on my daily driver Miata. And my dumbass bought an expensive set of Hawk HPS pads for a stock 1.6 car that is driven almost entirely on the street. I never liked those pads. Crazy dusty, really noisy and terrible bite unless you got them super hot. I recently swapped to EBC green-stuff which is a street-only pad and it made a massive difference. Initial bite is 100% better. They don't dust as much and they grip just as well cold as they do hot. They don't dust like crazy and they are plenty good enough for spirited driving in a street car. I wish I had this video when I was 18 because it would have made choosing the right pad a lot easier. Don't buy trackable street pads thinking it'll make your vehicle stop better all the time. There is no pad that does everything great. Thank you for this video Mark. Because of your great information, I only bought the pads I needed.
Excellent coverage, great visuals mated to structured points about this complex topic and well spoken into the camera as well. Just a dirty limerick here and there to break it up and the laugh driving the Atom in the end to remind the viewer who it is, that they are watching.
Brake Fade is a lot worse than it sounds. Oh some fade, whatever. I was like that too Let me explain why it's a nightmare and my experience On the track let's say you are speeding onto a curve. You will want to brake. As you step on the brake pedal it's like hardly any braking is being done. Kind of like ABS in the snow You step on the brake harder, a bit more braking is being done. (the thing is, on the previous turn I had no brake fade, it just suddenly happens) If you are not driving on the limit of what your car can do you will have no issues. Apparently I was not driving at the limit, if I was, It would've been a crash for sure. Brake fade really takes the fun out of racing, so get it straight if you are serious about racing. And I wish for every car enthusiast to never have to experience it. It's just so horrible. It's like a near death experience, blood levels going through the roof, adrenaline pumping in a bad way
Sounds scary. I’ve never had it come on so suddenly. My experience has been the pedal going a bit further each turn and as soon as I notice, i back off. That was in a light car though, so the effects were probably lessened.
Dbn Poldermans if you can interpret the Mu vs. Temperature graphs that’s exactly what they are showing. Below a certain temperature pads will basically not work, above a certain temperature the same applies. The coefficient of friction doesn’t fall off as quickly for some pads, some have a more linear decrease with temperature but may have other trade offs.
Part 3...Should be about ABS tuning. Most road cars (and motorcycles) have conservative ABS thresholds and the ABS intervenes far sooner than an experienced driver (or rider) desires. This was very apparent in my MINI Cooper S and also in my 2017 Mustang GT.
FYI. I installed HP+ pads on my Atom 3 and it made it much more drivable by substantially lowering the pedal effort and I could approach lock-up; as opposed to being off/on.
For street driving with occasional spirited runs I prefer drilled rotors for the cooling, I know people hate them due to cracking but I don't track my car and with normal rotors I find they get exceptionally hot and suffer brake fade on those spirited runs. Just putting my 2 cents out there as I stayed away from them for years due to all the internet comments but I'm now a convert as they fit my driving profile really well. I'm even going to try drilled and slotted next time to see if I get extra bite.
@Lapsio They do get clogged that's true but not completely so they're still better than blank rotors. I'm liking my drilled and slotted btw. I've got some basic Mintex pads this time for 1/5th the cost and performance is still there but just requires a bit more pressure and three's only tiny bit of slotted noise and vibration under VERY hard braking.
I use cryo treated rotors (science of speed or Stoptech, don't remember) on my Hawk HP+ pads. I have noticed I am getting sparking under hard braking. Is that an issue that shows an incompatibility between rotor and pad material? Have not noticed any melting of wheel well plastics or paint damage, but just curious if this is a red flag or less than ideal configuration. Braking performance is excellent and this happens on bedded pads only under hard braking.
Learned a lot...great info. For 2007 Mustang Roust 427r...435Hp... finding conflicting info on OE PADS...unable to find original pad material. Ford internet says organic, or is better to go semi metallic. I like the idea on using ceramic compound. I use the car for pleasure and some spirited driving at times. Your advice will be very appreciated. Thanks, Jose
Rob E hmmm, interesting. I’m wondering about them now too. The euro driving experience is a bit different than north american driving- possible autobahn driving and possibly more mountainous. It seems to me that BMWs produce quite a bit of brake dust. I would bet that whatever pads they use are capable of handling a little bit more heat than the typical American car, while still being streetable with a bit more maintenance.
Hi, thanks for the great video, and educating me. I'm getting ready to swap out the rotors on my 2017 Honda Ridgeline. It seems as though any car I drive, I manage to warp the rotors. I have done some towing, and pretty heavy hauling in this little truck, and well as doing both through the mountains of Virginia. I'm considering the EBC smooth rotors, with the "green stuff" pads as a replacement. From what I've seen, they cost about 1/3 more, than the Stoptechs, or Powerstops, that are slotted, and drilled. My mechanic said to stay away from drilled rotors, for the same reason you explained. Should I go with the more expensive EBC rotors and pads, or one of the cheaper brands. I don't tow anymore on a regular basis, but I do haul occasionally, and ride in the mountains too. Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
Not to be argumentative or contrary, but from my experience with the ceramic pads on my car, they work better at higher temps. I almost rear ended someone trying to stop from 25MPH when the pads were cold. I wasn't following too closely or driving crazy. I was just following along with traffic, trying to slow/stop like everybody else. When the pads get some heat in them, they work pretty good.
I remember reading that carbon-ceramic are not suited for road use, they are not exploited due to the low temperatures... but u said they are perfect for the road and may be destroyed easily with high temperatures. I thought many racecars wear them...
I think ther eis nothing more important then to find the correct match between the pad and rotor. When the pad is too hard, it's gonna eath the rotor, when it's too soft it's not gonna brake as well. This is why a lot of people in racing uses FERODO DS series pads, you can find them in so many different types for pads. The drills on the rotors are was useful only in the past. In these days with the new materials it's only design, nothing else. btw I'm msing Stoptech because AP racing is way tooooo expensive :D
Police ford explorers get brake fade after about the 6th or 7th hard brake. Really not good when coming up to a red light to stop and you’re not stopping.
cryo freezing works for applications where a rotor is almost good enough... my mom's Nissan Quest would constantly warp rotors (well, pulsating pedal, idk if it was warped rotor or some other rotor issue) within a month of new rotors, I got her some cryo rotors off tirerack and the issue went away. idk if it helps with longevity or not...
It might help with cars whose rotors are pretty thin to begin with. My Honda Jazz (Fit) tends to warp rotors as well, more so if you enter corners aggressively under braking, and my local mechanics do see it as a common issue with these cars. Cryogenic treatment may help longevity in cases like ours, but still have to weigh benefit vs cost
Tend to agree. I run track days on my s2000 and wore out stock rotors eventually after about 20 track days, which isn't bad to begin with. But cryo treated rotors of the same size using the same pads seem to wear even better, have not noticed any micro cracks yet. Have not measured diameters mind you, but they seem to wear well. If price difference is not too bad (it wasn't for mine maybe 15% more) I'd say try it for a rotor that's almost good enough for a car that seens some track use. It probably won't cut it for a race car.
Thank you for a clear and informative video. I have a 2017 VW Passat and am told to use only OEM brakes and rotors, because other brake pads and rotors don't work as well. Of course, they are pricier than other types. Is there really a benefit to buying them from the dealership?
I have a 2020 Acura RDX, I do a lot of Spiriting driving mostly local in nyc. I get that spongy brake feel where I have to depress my pedal more to get a full stopping feel. Now I have addressed this with the dealer but they say it’s normal brake feel for this car, that’s not ok with me. Please advise how I can achieve a stiff brake feel. Pad recommendation? Or big brake kit with cross drill rotor?
Have you thought about getting the wheels of the Ariel ceramic coated for extra piece of mind against possible pitting? One could argue it is an area that sees too much abuse for such an investment, but if said abuse is happening it would outweigh the worry of pitting anyway.
