I used OEM replacement Textar pads. At some later date I may go with something a bit more grippy, but for DD duties the Textar/Porsche pads seem to be more than up to the task.
I recommend Textar, great bite and no need of pre-heating. They also don't cause too much wear on the discs and on the other hand don't generate much brake dust.
The stopping power was already crazy good with just the fronts an I could feel it right away its already better, I can't wait till they are bedded in. As far as 4 piston brakes goes I think these are by far the cheapest an best option to go.
If you never get the brakes terribly hot (single high-energy braking events are fine, I'm talking extended periods of track or track-like driving here when I say "hot"), porsche OEM pads work great. If you do run the car under track or track-like conditions, the OEM pads never fade (in my experience), but they do wear out alarmingly fast.
I tried looking at different brands of pads for my 911. Just ended up going with OEM pads. Turns out most people think Porsche OEM is the best stuff and I've learned for many aspects of these cars that is true. This is very different from every other car I owned where you could either get better performance or reduced costs by going aftermarket. With my Porsche I couldn't find a pad that offered better daily driver + some hard driving performance... or was cheaper without sacrificing performance.
Textar is an OEM supplier, and they're not that expensive - run with those. Same amount of dust as stock, but no noise, and stock like braking characteristics.
It's honestly very low maitenence, the only thing that's slightly more costly than "normal" is your oil change due to the larger volume needed for these engines. Brakes are cheap of you do them yourself, not really different than other cars though. As far as reliability is concerned, it's top-notch.
For whatever it's worth, I had these on my B7 A4 and then S4...I had no issues with the brakes on the S4. Felt great and definitely an improvement. I definitely felt a difference when I had a full car of people and did a complete stop with everyone inside the car. Car just stopped.
I've already had my 3.2 TT at the track (same brakes) and after the 3rd session (out of 5) the brakes began to fade. Also by upgrading you would also get a weight saving although with these HUGE brakes prob the same (lol). Actually I still think even with these you'd save 20-30lbs for both corners.
Textar pads are OEM I believe. My advice is just avoid brembo pads. Mine create so much dust my wheels look awful a day after being cleaned
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