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| Pros: | Possibly Better Performance, Almost No Brake Dust Mess |
| Cons: | Initial Brake Squeal, but Easily Fixed |
| Cost: | $94 Front, $75 Rear from MyRoadster.net |
December 28, 2001
By: Robert Leidy
After 60,000 miles on the stock brake pads I assumed I was getting close to needing to change them. I've been pleased with the performance of the stock BMW brake pads, but the brake dust was always a mess. The photo to the right is for real, this is how my wheels usually look. I wanted to find some replacement pads that offered equal performance but without all the brake dust mess.
The Porterfield brand caught my attention, it appeared it may be what I was looking for. MyRoadster.Net carried the Porterfield brand so I asked some questions via their info@myroadster.net address. I learned that Porterfield makes three different kinds of brake pads depending on your needs.
- R-4 for track use only
- R-4S for street and light competition
- R-E for endurance racing events
The "Porterfield R4-S Carbon/Kevlar Street Brake Pads" matched my needs, and the feature list impressed me.
- Low Dust
- Light Pedal Effort
- Rotor Friendly
- High Friction, Hot or Cold
- Low Wear Rate
- Fastest Stopping Road Pad Available!
- Friction Coefficient:
- OEM: Between .2 and .3
- Porterfield: .4
- Temperature Tolerance:
- OEM: 500-700 degrees F
- Porterfield: 1,100 degrees F
After installing the pads (see ///MZ3.Net's brake pad installation article for details) I resisted the urge to make any judgements until I knew the pads were really broken in. I was also cautioned to avoid excess hard breaking during this initial period. When new, brake pads have a slightly rounded surface that ensures once broken in you get a maximum contact patch. But until they get fully broken in you are concentrating the friction to a smaller patch. This means that when brand new the friction/heat is in a smaller area so you should avoid overheating the rotors. At least that's how a BMW tech explained it to me, it wasn't something specific to the Porterfield brand, just a general caution for all new brake pads.
8,000 Mile Update: How does the saying go, if I knew then what I know now....
I put up with the stock brakes and their mess for 60,000 miles. From my experience, the Porterfield R4-S brakes offer at least equal performance (maybe even a little better) but with almost no brake dust mess. That was exactly what I was looking for so I am very happy with the Porterfield R4-S pads brakes. My only complaint with them was some initial brake squeal, but that was easily fixed (see Stopping Brake Squeaks article for details). For the cost ($94 front, $75 rear) and backed with MyRoadster.Net's money back guarantee, the Porterfield R4-S pads seem to be what most Z3 owners should be looking for when either they need to replace their stock pads, or are just fed up with cleaning up after the BMW pads.