New Pads: So Many Choices to Stop The Shudder

[ldusseau]

My shop said it's time for me to get new brake pads and yes, I'm just like most of you, I have the dreaded wheel shudder on braking. My OEM pads have just about 50K miles on them. Even the 2020 (or so) Hyundai Tucson I just rented in Florida had the same issue. My shop said nothing about new rotors so given I just retired last year I don't want to replace them unless I absolutely have to. I read through quite a few posts about this topic and there are a lot of pad choices out there. What I'm looking for is a recommendation on a couple of choices that will take care of it and won't break my retiree bank.

My driving habits are "spirited" but I don't track my car. Where I notice the pulsing the most is on expressway off ramps. Therefore I don't need or frankly want the expense of "track" pads. Just something that won't squeal like a angry child and won't leave a ton of deposits that need constant re-bedding. And to that, yes, based on your posts I plan to ask my shop to resurface the rotors and properly bed the new pads too.

 

[Thomby]

based on your posts I plan to ask my shop to resurface the rotors and properly bed the new pads too

I don't know how bad your shudder is, but it's probably worth a handful of aggressive braking sessions on your old pads to help clean up the rotors before swapping to new ones. Just getting up to 60-70 and braking at ~80% to a <10mph, a few times in a row, followed by a short cruise to let things cool down (if you sit at a stop with the hot brakes applied, you may just re-deposit material), and see if that reduces or eliminates it.

I'm only at 30k miles, but the couple times I've noticed a vibration start to creep in, I've done a few decent brake applications and it's cleaned up right away.

 

[KDM Racer]

If you are looking for a good street pad our most popular are the EBC Redstuff. Their bite is stronger than OEM and also are a low dust brake pad. We do have other options as well if you want to check it out. Here's a link:
KDM Racer | Stinger Brake Pads

 

[Daniel @ K8 Stinger Store]

Hey @idusseau,

Considering your driving habits, I think our K8SS Elite Sport Ceramic Brake Pads are going to be the perfect choice for you. Not only are these pads affordable, but they ship for free and we would be happy to help you out with a discount! These pads will outperform your factory brakes as well as produce less brake dust, prevent brake shake issue, not squeak or squeal, and they won't clunk.

If you are looking for a bigger step up, or if you drive the backroads daily, the EBC Red Stuff Brake Pads would be my next pick. (I can also discount these!)

Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[Volfy]

I don't know how bad your shudder is, but it's probably worth a handful of aggressive braking sessions on your old pads to help clean up the rotors before swapping to new ones. Just getting up to 60-70 and braking at ~80% to a <10mph, a few times in a row, followed by a short cruise to let things cool down (if you sit at a stop with the hot brakes applied, you may just re-deposit material), and see if that reduces or eliminates it.

I'm only at 30k miles, but the couple times I've noticed a vibration start to creep in, I've done a few decent brake applications and it's cleaned up right away.

At 30k miles, your stock rotors are likely still serviceable after resurfacing. We've run only Yellow and Bluestuff on our Stinger/G70's, but for your use case, Redstuff would be ideal. CAUTION: not all brake pads need bedding in. Read the manufacturer's instructions. Here's what EBC says:

1. EBC Redstuff – is NOT recommended for track use and self seats during the first 100-150 miles of street driving. With new pads and especially when fitted with new rotors however drive cautiously for the first 300-400 miles during which time dust will reduce and the pads will feel better and better but if you are a driver who works the brakes hard on his vehicle read the above two paragraphs .

So basically just take it easy for the first few hundred miles. That's it. Don't try to do the high speed, aggressive stops with these types of pads. You're liable to do more harm than good. Street-oriented low-dust pads cannot handle high temp as well as track pads. Cook them too hot, and they could glaze over and cause problems. I cannot stress this enough... Buy the correct pad compound for your use case, and READ/UNDERSTAND/FOLLOW THE MANUFACTURER'S INSTRUCTIONS.

Don't listen to internet yahoos like me telling you what to do.

 

[D.J.]

Don't listen to internet yahoos like me telling you what to do.

I love it, I would listen to that man!

 

[Volfy]

Oops... I actually meant to quote the OP in my reply above. Instead, I clicked on Thumby's post, thinking that was part of OP's post. My apologies for that snafu.

 

[Snicklefritz]

Oops... I actually meant to quote the OP in my reply above. Instead, I clicked on Thumby's post, thinking that was part of OP's post. My apologies for that snafu.

Hilarious reinforcement of your advice to not listen to internet yahoos. You have never come across as a prideful man.

Since I am commenting on brake pads threads from time to time, I'll just say that your advice to pick the pads that suit your driving style is good advice. And if you don't have issues with the OEM US compound - I don't - then there's no reason to go looking around. I have 75,000 miles on my original OEM pads, and rotors of course. Still have c. 6 mm of pad thickness front and rear. They'll go a bit more I reckon. Never a moment of shudder in over seven years.

 

[Bbrownjohnd]

I had bad shutter with OEM, EBC yellow and other pads. Fixed it with OEM rotors front and rear with PowerStop Z23 all around. Removed rust wherever seen on brakes, torqued everything to OEM spec - absolutely ZERO shudder

 

[D.J.]

I had bad shutter with OEM, EBC yellow and other pads. Fixed it with OEM rotors front and rear with PowerStop Z23 all around. Removed rust wherever seen on brakes, torqued everything to OEM spec - absolutely ZERO shudder

Did you reuse the OEM rotors or replace? Or machine?

 

[Bbrownjohnd]

I ended up replacing all 4. I had the rear rotors resurfaced at first then installed EBC yellow. Shudder came back in 2 weeks. CarMax had already replaced fronts with some cheap rotors but still had issues. I've heard people say all you have to do is do the fronts. In my case both front and back were messed up. When I finally when OEM and powerstops I did fronts first. Things improved but not perfect. Then I did the backs, and finally everything was fixed

 

[D.J.]

I ended up replacing all 4. I had the rear rotors resurfaced at first then installed EBC yellow. Shudder came back in 2 weeks. CarMax had already replaced fronts with some cheap rotors but still had issues.

So you resurfaced the rear rotors, and replaced the rear pads with EBC yellow, and the shutter came back in 2 weeks?


And now you are on Power Stop Z23 with OEM rotors - how long has it been?

 

[Bbrownjohnd]

Yes to 1st question. 2nd question: It's been about a month and over 1000 miles.

Previously the issues were back within 200 miles. You could see the pad prints on the disc. Now, none of that. Plus I've recently gotten on the brakes quite a bit and aggressively, no issue whatsoever

 

[D.J.]

Yes to 1st question. 2nd question: It's been about a month and over 1000 miles.

Previously the issues were back within 200 miles. You could see the pad prints on the disc. Now, none of that. Plus I've recently gotten on the brakes quite a bit and aggressively, no issue whatsoever

That doesn't sound very good for EBC yellows!

 

[Bbrownjohnd]

Yeah I was very disappointed, I spent $300 for the set. I did the bed in process and all that. After the yellow stuff, I had already decided, if the powerstops didn't fix it, I was gonna drop big money for a Big Brake Kit, not for the performance, but because that shudder was driving me crazy. I have and AWD stinger, I was starting to wonder about the drive shafts, bent rims, all that jazz. Glad it's fixed

 

[Volfy]

I had bad shutter with OEM, EBC yellow and other pads. Fixed it with OEM rotors front and rear with PowerStop Z23 all around. Removed rust wherever seen on brakes, torqued everything to OEM spec - absolutely ZERO shudder

With troubles spanning that many different pads, that right there should clue you in on the fact that the problem lies elsewhere.

As of right now, both of our '21 G70 6MT and '23 Stinger GT-Line are running on EBC Yellow for several years now. '19 2.0T is still on EBC Blue. Most of the time, I take it real easy on every day driving, but we don't always go easy on our cars either, having done track, AutoX and some pretty gnarly twisties, including Tail of the Dragon. No issues of any kind to speak off.

Of course, we do our own brake jobs, so we know exactly how the work is done. Besides, all our EBC Yellows were bought off Amazon Resale, for cheap. That means these were returned by previous buyers, who I'm guessing were put off by the rather tight tolerance that makes installing them into the caliper a bit of a trick. Some of then show some very light wear marks (attempt to install?), some look brand new. Whoever bought them previously tried and just gave up, it would seem. Oddly enough, this happens often enough I've got another set as spares, ready for install.

Well, that tight tolerance is precisely what keeps these pads from wiggling loose, vibrating and making noise. Once installed, pads don't need much clearance to move that tiny amount with each brake pedal application. Nor is any lube or grease required. All ours are installed clean and dry.

There is but 1 way to do it right, and 16 ways to mess it up. That's an unfortunate fact of life.

 

[Volfy]

Since I am commenting on brake pads threads from time to time, I'll just say that your advice to pick the pads that suit your driving style is good advice. And if you don't have issues with the OEM US compound - I don't - then there's no reason to go looking around. I have 75,000 miles on my original OEM pads, and rotors of course. Still have c. 6 mm of pad thickness front and rear. They'll go a bit more I reckon. Never a moment of shudder in over seven years.

Quite right. I drove our 2.0T on OEM pads for some 1-1/2 yrs, with ZERO issues. It wasn't until we started taking it to AutoX that I felt it needed an upgrade. If we haven't done that, I would've stayed with the OEM pads, no question.

Brake pad compounds are compromises, just like tires. Quite often it's not bad brake pads... just bad usage cases.

 

[Bbrownjohnd]

With troubles spanning that many different pads, that right there should clue you in on the fact that the problem lies elsewhere.

As of right now, both of our '21 G70 6MT and '23 Stinger GT-Line are running on EBC Yellow for several years now. '19 2.0T is still on EBC Blue. Most of the time, I take it real easy on every day driving, but we don't always go easy on our cars either, having done track, AutoX and some pretty gnarly twisties, including Tail of the Dragon. No issues of any kind to speak off.

Of course, we do our own brake jobs, so we know exactly how the work is done. Besides, all our EBC Yellows were bought off Amazon Resale, for cheap. That means these were returned by previous buyers, who I'm guessing were put off by the rather tight tolerance that makes installing them into the caliper a bit of a trick. Some of then show some very light wear marks (attempt to install?), some look brand new. Whoever bought them previously tried and just gave up, it would seem. Oddly enough, this happens often enough I've got another set as spares, ready for install.

Well, that tight tolerance is precisely what keeps these pads from wiggling loose, vibrating and making noise. Once installed, pads don't need much clearance to move that tiny amount with each brake pedal application. Nor is any lube or grease required. All ours are installed clean and dry.

There is but 1 way to do it right, and 16 ways to mess it up. That's an unfortunate fact of life.
View attachment 90614View attachment 90615

I'm glad they are working out for you. They look great with the rims etc. Although that was not my experience with them, and I also do my own work, it's good to know for some they do work. I wanted a pad/rotor setup that didn't require me to baby them or constant bed. As an example, I drive a fleet vehicle for work, a 2023 Chevy equinox econo SUV. The brakes on that vehicle have up until the recent changes I made, been far better performing than the Stinger. In 25,000 miles no issues with vibration or anything else, just brakes doing their job. Now I can include the Stinger into this category. As it has turned out, there were no other issues, just pads and rotors

 

[djerickd]

DuraLast Gold from Autozone have been good for my daily driving needs and they are WAY CLEANER than EBC REDs

 

[Buzzman12]

Switched to EBC reds, front and back, shortly after I bought the car. OEM rotors. It's a 2023.
I don't have a lot of miles on it yet, less than 3,000, but the stopping power is much better than OEM, with no shudder.