newbie needing brake pad replacement
Depends on your goals for the car.
Daily driver? I vote OEM
If you do some autocross or a very aggressive driver you might want to go Hawk or another aftermarket pad. So you kinda need to decide for you what you'd like.
I went OEM because my car is a DD and they function well for my needs.
Daily driver? I vote OEM
If you do some autocross or a very aggressive driver you might want to go Hawk or another aftermarket pad. So you kinda need to decide for you what you'd like.
I went OEM because my car is a DD and they function well for my needs.
when i did my brake job (brakes started to vibrate when coming to a stop on the off-ramps) i went with centric brand (makers of stoptech rotors) oem spec rotors and went with oem pads. the fronts had at least another 15K miles left on them but the rears were worn down to the backing plate. This is with about 60K miles on the odometer. THe oem pads are not grabby at all. In comparison the 08 g sedan loaner i drove when my car was in for the leaky valve work had very touchy grabby brakes... After half a days worth of driving I'd miss the more progressive braking on my g.
With the proper tools and a good helping hand, you should be able to do the brake job yourself. After reading some more about warped brakes i could have just bought metal pads to scrape off the uneven transferred pad material and reused the stock rotors without turning them. The 05 oem brakes don't dust that much at all and the g is my DD.
With the proper tools and a good helping hand, you should be able to do the brake job yourself. After reading some more about warped brakes i could have just bought metal pads to scrape off the uneven transferred pad material and reused the stock rotors without turning them. The 05 oem brakes don't dust that much at all and the g is my DD.
Am i the only one that likes touchy brakes? Im not a fan of having to push my foot to the floor to get it to stop.
I miss the brakes our 04 had
waaay better than the ones i have now.
I miss the brakes our 04 had
waaay better than the ones i have now.
11.3" front rotors on the 05x and 12.6" rotors on the 06x, plus the calipers are dual-piston calipers.
Out back the rotor diameter increased from about 11" to 12.1".
However braking performance is the same. They used aggressive pads on the 03-04's (and 05 x) which made the wheels black as a byproduct. When they went to a less aggressive pad in 05 (2006 on the x) they had to compensate with mechanical advantage (larger rotors) and more clamping force (2-piston caliper vs 1-piston prior) to equal the same stopping distances.
You can prob track down an 05-06 owner who upgraded to a BBk and buy their brakes.
Out back the rotor diameter increased from about 11" to 12.1".
However braking performance is the same. They used aggressive pads on the 03-04's (and 05 x) which made the wheels black as a byproduct. When they went to a less aggressive pad in 05 (2006 on the x) they had to compensate with mechanical advantage (larger rotors) and more clamping force (2-piston caliper vs 1-piston prior) to equal the same stopping distances.
You can prob track down an 05-06 owner who upgraded to a BBk and buy their brakes.
I may actually look into that the next time my brakes need to be replaced. I'll probably go to a less aggressive pad to reduce some of the dusting so the larger rotors and better calipers would be nice. Basically all I would need is the calipers because I could get the pads and rotors online or from a local auto parts store. Can I also assume the calipers are direct bolt-ons?
When i asked the question, i was told yes. I almost bought an '05X with the smaller brakes but ended up getting an '06x and already had them.
Basically my understanding is you upbolt the calipers and swap them. Easy as that. However please don't take my word as 100% truth on that since ihave't done it myself. If you search around on here, you'll find guys who have done it and they are the ones to ask.
If you have aftermarket or bigger wheels, the larger OEM brakes do fill them up better. Guy up the street from me has a black '05X and even though it's a 1" difference in rotor size F&R, my brakes fill up the wheels better (same OEM 17's)
Of course BBK's do a much better job, but i'm not gonna spend that kind of money on a commuter car
When i asked the question, i was told yes. I almost bought an '05X with the smaller brakes but ended up getting an '06x and already had them.
Basically my understanding is you upbolt the calipers and swap them. Easy as that. However please don't take my word as 100% truth on that since ihave't done it myself. If you search around on here, you'll find guys who have done it and they are the ones to ask.
If you have aftermarket or bigger wheels, the larger OEM brakes do fill them up better. Guy up the street from me has a black '05X and even though it's a 1" difference in rotor size F&R, my brakes fill up the wheels better (same OEM 17's)
Of course BBK's do a much better job, but i'm not gonna spend that kind of money on a commuter car
Basically my understanding is you upbolt the calipers and swap them. Easy as that. However please don't take my word as 100% truth on that since ihave't done it myself. If you search around on here, you'll find guys who have done it and they are the ones to ask.
If you have aftermarket or bigger wheels, the larger OEM brakes do fill them up better. Guy up the street from me has a black '05X and even though it's a 1" difference in rotor size F&R, my brakes fill up the wheels better (same OEM 17's)
Of course BBK's do a much better job, but i'm not gonna spend that kind of money on a commuter car
Hawks give up cold braking dist performance for less dust on the early 03-04 Gs. They actually probably brake worse when cold and maybe marginally better when very hot.
For early Gs, go oem and put up with the dust unless you accept the loss in performance
On the 05+, no other reason to go aftermarket when these oem pads maintain the world class brake performance and dust very little.
For early Gs, go oem and put up with the dust unless you accept the loss in performance
On the 05+, no other reason to go aftermarket when these oem pads maintain the world class brake performance and dust very little.
for the price of what most shops quote for new rotors/pads/labor, I bought a slightly used set of 06 Z (same as 05+ non X Gs) front/rear calipers, lines, rotors and almost new pads. But I went ahead and put SS lines in. I'm OEM, get to use oem pads, little dust, same world class performance and my rotors last way longer.
They just felt way more responsive.
That could be individual cars "personalities"
I've driven multiple vehicles of the same model, and each one felt a little different. Cars would have the exact same brakes, but one would feel a little more responsive than another
When was the last time you bled your brakes?
I've driven multiple vehicles of the same model, and each one felt a little different. Cars would have the exact same brakes, but one would feel a little more responsive than another
When was the last time you bled your brakes?
