Audi S2 Brakes & Upgrades

Background

There are a lot of brake pad manufacturers who can provide decent pads that are suitable for the S2 in normal use. As far as I know, the standard pads supplied by Audi are usually made by LUCAS or ATE - highly respected sources. I think it is fair to say that no self respecting S2 driver would ever consider purchasing brake pads from some of the 'budget' parts manufacturers. Nuff said...

Upgrade Options

With a view to retaining the cars standard calipers and discs it is possible to substantially increase the braking performance with a set of heavy duty brake pads. Such materials are generally sold as suitable for 'Fast Road' use. The key to a good set of 'fast road' pads is that they must provide decent stopping power when cold as well as providing superior fade resistance when hot.

Anyone who has driven a car with brakes designed purely for motorsport use will know how bad these brakes are when they are cold. Full spec racing brakes are NOT suitable for road use due to their poor cold performance.

There are three main options for vendors of 'Fast Road' pads on the S2 that will briefly be covered here. Many others exist and they will be added to this list if there is sufficient interest. First off, I have no personal preference for any of these products. In fact I have never used any of them on the S2 - I just know they are available.

Vendor	Description	Friction co-eff.	Temp. deg C
EBC	GREEN STUFF EBC market pads under the name of 'Green Stuff' which fall into the fast road category. The most recent concoction is 'V4' material on the pads. EBC Green Stuff pads use a Kevlar construction which is alleged to provide the minimum of brake dust collecting around the wheels (which we all know is a pain to get rid of). S2 Part numbers - FRONT = DP2711, REAR = DP2370	0.46	0 to 550
	RED STUFF In addition they also have pads marketed as 'Red Stuff' which are rated for even higher temperatures to make them suitable for track days and motorsport use. The most recent flavour of this material is marketed as 'V2'. These carbon metallic pads can also be used for road applications but cold performance won't be as good as green-stuff or standard pads. Furthermore, all carbon metallic pads create a LOT of brake dust. S2 Part numbers - FRONT = DP3711, REAR = DP3370	0.30 to 0.33	0 to 750
	YELLOW STUFF and BLUE STUFF These are suitable only for endurance racing purposes. They are NOT suitable for road use. The hardest wearing of these two compounds is the BLUE variety. Click here for a graph of how EBC reckons all their various compounds compare to each other.	0.34	100 to 900
Mintex	M1144 A long standing supplier of wonderful brake materials to the world of rallying and motorsport all around the world. Highly acclaimed through the 80's and 90's for the wonderful '171' pads which are suitable for fast-road applications. The '171' construction has now been superseded by asbestos free '1144' material. Mintex market all of their performance pads under the 'C-Tech' branding. S2 Part numbers pending...	0.45	450
	M1155 Mintex also have higher specification compounds for track applications in the form of their 1155, 1166 and 1177 materials. The M1155 material is a popular choice in GpN and GpA raca and rally applications. This material is NOT suitable for 'normal' road use.	0.42	550
	M1166 The M1166 material is a full-on endurance racing compound - totally unsuitable for road use. Rated to even higher temperatures than the 1155 compound.	0.48 to 0.44	650
Pagid	Another highly trusted vendor of brake products. Their standard road pads are good, but they also have a fast-road material with even better fade resistance. In fact, Pagid have a complete range of pad materials suited to varying degrees of heavy duty applications. To the best of my knowledge, the fast road pads are marketed with an 'FR' prefix and I believe they are constructed from Pagid's RS-4-2-1-BLACK material. More about those compounds here for now. S2 Part numbers - FRONT = FR5052, REAR = FR5056	?	?

All of the vendors listed above can also supply pads that confirm to latest REG90/E-mark specifications from Europe. These are really only suitable for road use, but you do get the satisfaction of knowing that they are manufactured against tough regulations whereas all the 'fast-road' materials have no compliance to such specifications.

In time I would like to have a much more objective description of how these pads perform on the S2. This will take some time and will require the investment in several sets of pads and a G-Force measurement device to even try and determine which pad works best on the standard discs/rotors. Meantime - you pays your money, you takes your choice.

Don't forget that the main trade-off for improved brake performance with any kind of 'fast-road' pads is going to be increased pad wear so don't expect the same pad lifetime as you get with standard components. You canny change the laws of physics...

Brakes & Upgrades - Pads