ESPTuning tests out their brake pads. Some interesting results! - Genesis Forum: GenCoupe Hyundai Genesis Forums

**chris@vtengineering** · 05-10-2009, 09:15 PM

pictures of the street pad

I decided to test out the brake pads today. We had the street pads installed because that's what most people will be upgrading to if they were to upgrade (and we suggest that you do - not because i want to make money, but because it's safer!). i can't wait to test out the competition ones.

again, let's pull up the two charts that I have on the brakes -

in the first chart, we can see the red as the temperature the pads are taking. the fuchsia (r3) is the competition pads. the green is the oem pad (r2). the blue is the street pad (r1). at the cold start, it already starts off at .45 u. that's a great amount of stopping power. at extended high heats (hard braking for a long time), you see how the street pads just lose that friction coefficient, dropping dramatically.

on the second graph, we find a test on the street pads. they are rated at .4 u. (see the blue line on the first graph).

going from the top, the dots are the brake pad temperature, the series of dots below that is the ambient temperature. the lines show real time friction coefficients of the brake pads. and the two solitary dots at the very bottom right hand corner is the noise.

starting with the noise, we see that it's relatively quiet. sound wavers around 0.6-0.7 at the end of the test. not bad!

next we look at the ambient temperature. please note we kept the ambient temperature very stable. next, let's look at the brake pad temperature. the temperature comes from how much brake force is being applied. we can see 2 soft braking, followed by a hard brake, then another soft, immediately followed by a hard brake, then finishing at one soft braking.

what we see here, is that brake pad temperatures recovered rather quickly. this also replicates something the pads would experience on a road course - trail braking and hard braking.

finally we look at those pretty lines. the red line shows the average during the tests, with the black lines that run pretty parallel are teh fluctuations (highs and lows). what's the biggest thing you can take back from this graph is that the brakes never really lose the friction coefficient - there is no noticeable fade. There are moments where there seem to be some slipping, but overall, it's very consistent and very predictable. This is good!

please read this thread for more info:
ESPTuning just received their brake pads!
especially this post for teh first graph: http://www.gencoupe.com/71170-post17.html

**chris@vtengineering** · 05-10-2009, 09:16 PM

so how did the brakes do? i must say, for street pads, these did amazing. they pass the annoying noise test. there is no noise, just increased brake feel and response. it has the normal stop and go feel, no abruptness, no loss of balance in braking. why oh why hyundai did you shave the front pads? these feel like what stock pads would and should feel like if they weren't shaved. but who cares about this right? you want to know how the brakes performed. Is it worth changing to Frixa? or should you go with something else like hawk, ebc, axxis, porterfield, or heaven forbid, keep replacing the OEM pads?

i did a series of tests in about 75 degree weather. 3 sets of 30 to 0 mph. 3 sets of 40 to 0 mph. this would take care of normal street braking distances. then i did 3 sets of 60 to 0 mph. this would take care of emergency highway speeds braking and give some idea of the actual abilities on the track.

for the 30 to 0 mph, my average came out to be 14'7". edmunds took 28'. that didn't seem likely. did i honetsly almost cut down 1/2 of the braking distance on STREET PADS? luckily i invited 4tgen to come out and do a test as a control. it wasn't the best control - he has an i4t. lighter and slighter different balance. his braking distance was similar to mine, at 15' to 15'5".

from 40 to 0 mph my average came out to be 30'7". I'm not really sure why i did a 40 to 0. no magazines did that. i just felt like it. 4tgen's results were similar again, at about 31'.

who cares abotu those low speed yawners. let's do a 60 to 0 mph. this is where we find something really interesting. edmunds finds the 60 to 0 to be 111 ft, popular mechanics at 112.44 ft, motor trend at 113 ft. I got 90'11". did i just cut 22 feet from magazines? weird...so 4tgen was kind enough to sacrifice his brakes to verify the data. he averaged at about 94-95'. not extremely impressive. but at this speed, we see the brembos not working as well as we would hope. the braking distance became wildly erratic. sometimes it was extremely responsive and finished braking really well. sometimes the braking couldn't stop the car till much past where his average was. i actually had him do 4 passes because it was just so erratic. where he started braking was very consistent, so his distances varied by as much as a 3-4'. this isn't good on a track when you have a set braking zone. if you can't predict how your brakes will act, it becomes a very scary situation.

frixa brakes on the other hand consistently slowed the car sooner on a 100 pound heavier car (the curb weight of the v6 versus the i4 is about 100 pounds), and extremely consistently (wihtin 6 inches each time). the brembos slowed a lighter car slower, and became pretty erratic at higher speeds.

were teh street pads worth it for frixa? yes! i was thoroughly impressed with just the increased brake feel. i couldn't ask for more from street pads. they haven't took extreme abuse from a track (which i am unlikely to test, but will test a competition pad for that).

i looked up what hawk hps pads would cost for front and rear for the evo. they cost $220 for the front and rear. i don't know what hawks would stop the car at, though i do know they are a great brand of brake pads. however, while i need to verify pricing, i can see the Frixa's i will be offering at 1/2 the cost of the hawks. these pads aren't really meant for tracking, but to be comfortable street pads that won't destroy your rotor.

**chris@vtengineering** · 05-10-2009, 09:16 PM

will upload some pics and videos later when i have a chance

dogstar · 05-10-2009, 11:16 PM

Thanks for the writeup.
Is frixa planning on producing pads for the non-brembo brakes as well?

Jabberwocky · 05-11-2009, 05:16 AM

Thanks for the write up on the Frixa street pads. This is good news.

I just put a full set of Hawks on my Grand Prix. Don't know much about brakes but know that Hawk is a good brand. What's weird is that the brake aggressiveness didn't seem to increase when I first depress the pedal, but once I'm down to about 30mph it's like I fired a parachute out the back!

Paulicat · 05-11-2009, 05:18 AM

Very good info esptuning, here's hoping you'll ship up to Canada!

RudyH · 05-11-2009, 05:21 AM

That seems to be quite a large difference between magazine results and your results.

How were you determining braking ?

4TGEN · 05-11-2009, 07:17 AM

He had cones to designate the intial braking point an from there he calcualted the stopping distance, it was a very significant difference from
60-0.

El_STiG · 05-11-2009, 07:20 AM

interesting...

Great write up brother!

Jabberwocky · 05-11-2009, 07:28 AM

How full was your fuel tank? I read on Edmunds once that they always test cars with a full tank of gas to simulate real-world performance conditions. Still don't think that would make that much difference in braking though.

**chris@vtengineering** · 05-11-2009, 08:05 AM

Mags test on a skidpad. It makes sure the road is perfectly flat. I don't have that luxury nor the time to find one. I used the flatest and safest place I knew of. An empty parking lot. It's likely the road wasn't perfectly level. My car had a half tank. Don't know about 4tgen. This is by far not the perfect test. If I had the equipment and the money I'd get a laser speed tester. Braking was determined by cones. Again not perfect but if results were saying consistent like they were we can reasonably deduct that braking was around the same location. It's a ghetto test. By no means perfect but it gives you a good idea

Does anyone have test results from a magazine for the turbo four? Can't find any

cant_stop_spinning · 05-11-2009, 10:27 AM

sweet! how much are the pads??

**chris@vtengineering** · 05-11-2009, 11:27 AM

for street or competition? like my previous post said, about half of what the other brands charge for front and rear for brembo applications. i was able to find pricing for the hawk hps, at 220. that means these pads would be about 110, maybe less!

MusashiRacing · 05-11-2009, 06:57 PM

Now you got me curious.

1. How miles are on these cars/brake pads?
2. Did you guys do anything special to them like bed the pads?
3. Did you guys try different braking techniques when doing these tests?
4. Was tire pressure considered or a factor in your tests?

Can you elaborate more on the erratic behavior you experienced after serveral tests. I wonder if its due to electronics or a rotor factor. Thanks for sharing the results of your test.

**chris@vtengineering** · 05-11-2009, 08:19 PM

we did bed teh pads. that's not special, that's what you should do no matter what. what different braking techniques are there? there was approximately 50-70 miles on teh pads already. tire pressure is whatever came factory, as netiher one of us has touched it, i didn't consider it. like i said, a ghetto test, but just a way of seeing if the brakes were good.

erratic behavior...i would describe it as, stopping distances were varying a lot. one stop would be a 92'. another would be a 97'. another would be at 94', and then the next at 98'. in conditions where you would actually be using your brake pads often, and require consistency, such as a race track, this is not good. you WANT predictiveness. i had this issue when i brought the stock car to the track. the stock pads are weak. i destroyed them after 1 track day. not what i would say good for the track. it MAY be electronics (TC was turned off for both). i highly doubt it's a rotor factor. i feel it's the brake pad factor. As for the frixa brakes, my brake distances were so consistent, that at the 60-0, the lines were literally 1-2 inches apart

**chris@vtengineering** · 05-12-2009, 08:17 AM

i believe i forgot to mention one thing: rstars actually uses frixa for their pads (rebranded)

Andyroo · 05-12-2009, 10:14 AM

It's very difficult to find a good street pad that can take a little heat, give a good consistent feel, not be loud as hell and dusty, and not eat through rotors.

These pads here sound like they are worth checking into.

- andrew

**chris@vtengineering** · 05-12-2009, 11:31 AM

andy, i'd be glad to allow you to test them when/if you get a shop vehicle. i'll also have competition pads.

Andyroo · 05-12-2009, 12:28 PM

Awesome....very kind of you! I'll keep you posted....current plan is to wait for the R-Spec. It's very difficult but I'm trying to hold out.

You guys are doing great work.

- andrew

**chris@vtengineering** · 05-12-2009, 01:58 PM

YouTube - ESPTuning tests out Frixa Brake Systems Street Pads

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