Hey, I track. MK7.5! The floating calipers flex which means you get more pressure on the outer half of the rotor. It's annoying but it's not a problem in my experience.
Something like a Carbotech XP12 pad might do better with the heat but adding brake ducts from the RS3 is cheap and will help quite a bit.
Girodisc should have a 357mm disc available when you've gone through the OE rotors. They're slotted instead of drilled and are 2 piece (aluminum hat).
I have been running Akebono on most all of my cars and have 3-400k worth of driving on them. I tried some semi-metallic pads once. Loved loved loved the initial grab, but hated hated hated the dust and the way they wore the rotors. If I was tracking, I wouldn't run the Akebono's, though. There are better pads for that. As someone mentioned, the Akebono's don't have as much of an initial grab as they need to heat up. I did try the Pagid pads once that I got from the now defunct BavAuto. They were just OK.
I run AkiBono pads with Brembo rotors on both of our E39’s and both E46’s ( and Volvo xc90 ???? home depot use-free vehicle) and love the setup. On the E46’s very similar feel to OE Jurid or Pagid and on the E39’s ( US spec 2003 540/6 and 2001 530 sport auto) softer initial bite yet excellent braking with great modulation and stopping power, quiet, long lasting, minimal rotor wear and the light dust is barely noticeable, easily rinses off and is non-caustic.
I am currently using Carbotech XP10's in front and the XP8's for the rears. I really like them and have not had an issue so far. Plus the company has great customer service. They are definitely NOT a street pad, and I need to swap them the night before a track meet and put street pads on the day after, but the effort is worth it.
Just replaced mine with Akebonos and no complaints so far.
Akebono ceramic pads with OEM or Zimmerman rotors is an OEM+ solution. They produce almost 0 brake dust and maintain OEM feel and performance.
I just replaced my pads all around with Carbotech so i get majorly reduced brake dust and just OEM rotors.
I just did Akebono ProAct pads and Advics ultra-premium rotors from Rockauto. I'm pretty happy with these. Was using Wagner pads, the initial bite was better but the amount of brake dust was pretty substantial in comparison.
I'm in the "Akebono are not better" camp and I have done some extensive testing.For a ceramic pad, yes, the Akebono are better than ceramic competitors. However, they do not have as much bite as the semi-metallic pads. This is something that can't be debated, they can't bite as hard as the semi-metallic compound.I too hate brake dust and tried the Akebono pads on my wife's VW and I immediately noticed that they didn't bite as hard as the OE pads. That same week, I ordered the OE pads and it fixed the problem.I've also tried the Akebono on an E350 and I came to the same conclusion. I actually think the EBC Red ceramics may bite a little more (when new) than the Akebono. However, the EBC reds always left this weird deposit on rotors that would make it feel like they were warped and they would need to be turned down.
Will they fit? Probably. But without the slot you can't use the anti-rattle springs. I purchased a set of Akebono's from ECS a few years ago and ended up sending them back because they don't fit as the car was designed to work (if that makes sense?).
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