The truth about EBC Bluestuff in race use comes after a gruelling test in New Zealand, full report below.

Posted by admin

August 9, 2011

EBC Brake pad comparison & comments used for North Island Endurance Series 2011

Our car is BMW 318is, producing approx 130whp. Utilizes BMW 325i calipers, vented discs and single pot calipers.

FRONT	YELLOW	Used for 6 Hour Endurance at Pukekohe May 2011, including Friday practice and set up as well as qualifying, total of approx 7 hours of track time.Weather was fine and dry.
		New: friction material is 11.4mm ( excluding backing plate) After 7 hours friction material ranged between 8.1 and 8.9mm (average 8.44mm) a use of 2.96mm. Pad wear was fairly even accross the leading and trailing edges.Pukekohe of course is a circuit which is not heavy on brakes and only two applications per lap.Yellow is our normal choice of pad both back and front for both sprint and endurance racing. We like it and have used it for years.

FRONT	BLUE	Used for 4 Hour Endurance at Taupo, June 2011, including Friday practice and set up as well as qualifying, total of approx 5 hours of track time. Weather was wet and cold. Approx 2.0 hours on a dry track and the balance wet.

		New: friction material is 11.4mm ( excluding backing plate) After 5 hours friction material ranged between 9.7 and 10.25mm (average 10.1mm) a use of 1.03mm.
		Taupo is a circuit of hard braking, with approx 6 applications per lap. Interesting that the leading edge of each pad wore approx 0.5mm more than the trailing edge. Pad measurement (which we had not carried out on yellow pads):-

FRONT	YELLOW	LH Inner	leading edge	10.25mm	RH inner	leading edge	9.93mm
		LH Inner	leading edge	9.75mm	RH inner	trailing edge	10.65mm
		LH Inner	leading edge	10.25mm	RH inner	leading edge	9.7mm
		LH Inner	leading edge	9.65mm	RH inner	leading edge	10.7mm

REAR

YELLOW

Both events used approx 3/4 of the pad friction pad material

OUR OPINION FR

Bluestuff NDX brake pads gave as good cold bite as Yellowstuff brake pads, however the pad gave much more feel back through the brake pedal. The pad almost seemed less harsh than yellow, but gave a more confident feel, and also felt like increased control through the pedal. Really like the Bluestuff NDX brake pads and would like to continue use for the new season sprint races. All pads retained their integrety and show no signs of any crumbling on edges such as many pads do. Including to a small degree the Yellowstuff brake pads.