US Racing Driver Richard Nelson Gives EBC Bluestuff Brakes the Thumbs Up!

Posted by admin

June 17, 2010

Sorry for the time it took to get back to you about the 2116 compound. I’ve been on business travel near constantly for the past month and just had a chance to get the 2116 compound on the War Goat yesterday.

I have not had a chance to get them on a track or even an autocross yet but so far I am seeing a difference between these and the previous set, the 2084.

First, the bed in on them was phenomenal. In addition to the pads, I also changed the rotors. With new rotors it was easy to see how quickly and how evenly the pads burnished and the 2116 burnished nice and even. The front burnished faster but I expected that since my fronts do the majority of the work. I think the pre-firing maybe did better for the burnishing than the coating on the Bluestuff brakes.

Second, I can’t believe the grip these things have even when cold. I can’t wait to get these things up to higher temps and see how they perform. No matter what pad I had before, I really had to work in order for the ABS to kick in. These 2116 compounds are slowing the car so fast the ABS sometimes cannot compensate and the tires will occasionally skip as if the brakes are locked up. It is not a screeching slide like you would expect from a lockup, just a brief tire chirp as the tires skip. The ABS is still pulsating but I think the momentum of such a heavy car slowing so fast overcomes the ABS modulation. I could get the slight tire chirp with the 2084 when they started warming up but with the 2116 it is practically a given if I stand on the brakes. The Yellows never slowed the car fast enough to do this.

Third, is just dust. This I don’t care about. Good performance pads will always dust. I only mention it since I feel some folks might get these for street driving even though you are gearing them more for race and sport driving. Plus if you are concerned about dust on your wheels, you are likely not driving the car in a manner that you would need the Blues anyway.

I’m looking at getting to VIR next month. It looks like George Penn will be accepted into the Grassroots Mototsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge and I plan on giving him a hand if he needs any as well as participating in some of the other events that weekend. Other than that I have 4 autoX practice events before the Virgina Autocross Championship in August. Hopefully I can put up a good showing and push some people toward EBC. It is inevitable that I am always asked why I try to Autocross a 4000 pound car. Well, good brakes sure as hell help.