Anyone else noticed the lifespan of the pagid yellow RS-29 pad?

I fitted mine to replace the older pagid yellow (RS-14?) compound - which I had used for track days on, probably on top of several other Dave_t had managed prior to me buying his car.

Now, after fitting the RS-29's in February, I have done 4 track days and covered less than 2k miles in total. Took the car to FCSS yesterday, and this is what we found;



Crumbling to dust Eaten through £220

So, the expected disc change and power steering pipes replacement was added to by the need to replace brembos (RIP gold brembos ), and new pads and discs, wheel bearing and fuel pump relay.

Is the RS-29 compound softer than the older compound it replaced?!

Anyone have experience of the RS-29's?

The RS-29 is an endurance pad, i don't think its particularly suited to trackday applications in a heavy FWD car, it would probably fair better in a lighter car.

I would buy either the RS-15 Grey or RS-5 Blue next time, both are good for what is essentially qualifying driving (trackday), i think 4-5 trackdays and travel in between is pretty acceptable for competition brake pads.

I've had 2 sets of RS-29's on mine now, each set covers 12k-15k miles. I've never done a track day in them, but they have been used for spirited road driving when suitable.

I have been really, really pleased with my experience.

After checking back, mine have covered 2,400 miles, and 4 track days (Snetterton 300, Donington twice and Goodwood)

Those pads have been seriously overheated

My Pagid Yellows last around 12,000 - 15,000 road miles - although I drive hard & fast, I'll never get them as hot as I would on track

You have two options

1) Develop some kind of cooling - I've considered it many times, but never got round to it - it would need to be a proper scoop/vent arrangement, not just a hose blowing into the wheelarch

2) Go for Pagid Grey - these will stand the heat better

As I posted on another thread, I suggest you get in touch with Paul Wilkinson or Steve Liversedge at CBP, as those pads have deteriorated far more than I've ever seen before - they may be able to offer some advice

I spoke to Steve last week and he recommended the yellows for track use aswell.
I have just put them on and they feel great,but its early days for me.

Paul is on holiday until Thursday, I shall speak to him then. As I say, don't expect anything, but will be interesting to get his feedback.

Aston Martin use them to run the Le Mans 24 hours and never change them. I'd be surprised if the car was lighter than a 20vt. So I'm equally surprised to see those pads worn like that.

I have greys in and awesome when hot.they should do for spa again this year

Kayjey - the Astons ARE heavier than the 20vt, but they also have massive cooling ducts to the discs, which makes them run a lot cooler - the Coupe wheelarch gives very poor airflow to the brakes, hence the overheating that Dan has experienced. Its also the reason that the inner pad tends to wear out before the outer - it's simply getting hotter

But the crux of it is the RS-19 yellow pad lasted around 10-12 track days, whereas the RS-19 just the 3 in fact, in my car, with same setup as before. Additionally, I have Citreon brake ducts fitted on the inside of the hub and REALLY have to work the brakes hard to get them to heat up, unlike other coops I've seen on track.

Given the marketing spiel about how Aston Martin use them for le mans 24 hour racing. I reckon my car has been used for about 6 hours on track with them fitted.

Brake wear on my car is fairly even between inner and outer pads because of the ducts.

I'm not going to readily part with the readies for RS-29's again

You will find that that the astons have a better weight distribution and probably a much lower front brake bias putting a lot less strain on the pads. They also use 330mm carbon ceramic discs which problaby dissipate heat a lot quicker.

Either way i would go for a softer compound pad with a higher safe working temp. Pagid RS-5s lasted 3 trackdays and 9k in my Golf VR6 to give you an idea of longevity. I have RS-15s in my GTV on a 330mm setup and they are sensational.

Carbon ceramic disks are actually so bad at conducting heat that most of the heat goes through pads, calipers and fluid.

Thats not true, their thermal conduction is marginally inferior at the maximum operating temperature of cast iron discs but massively superior at higher temps (1200c+) where cast discs would simply melt.

If they are so good at conducting high temps, why are manifolds, exhausts,... for the top racing cars ceramic coated? It keeps the temperature inside the part, also increasing flow due to that.

The ceramic coating on exhaust parts is very different to the silicon carbide composite used in carbon ceramic brake discs.

I would have thought ceramics can withstand much higher temperatures than cast iron but its thermal conductivity will be very low in comparison, so much so that it would be considered as an insulator

As far as I understand from what a racing team engineer told me, heat condictivity of carbon-ceramic is about 20 to 30% less than carbon ceramic but they can 'store' more heat, thus putting greater temperature stress on pads and calipers and brake fluids.

I'm sure someone will point us to some article that discusses this. All I know (and believe) is the above. Unless someone proves it wrong, at which point I'll happily take that guy's place in his racing team role.

He did say something about pure carbon brakes but as he said it was of no use to them (only F1) I quickly forgot about what he said and shot some more questions to him.