Rear Brake Pad Choice

[M.A.R.C.]

After having a blast at my first track day back in October I'm planning fo my next one some time soon.

After reading a lot about how hard on the brakes track days are I hastily ran out and grabbed some Pagid RS19 yellow pads for the front brakes (stock rotors). I didn't end up using them because I decided to give my stock brakes a shot since it was my first time out. The stock brakes held up well but the 3 sessions took some significant life out of them.

For the next track day I'm considering running the RS19's up front but not quite sure what to do about the rears or whether I should pick a different set for front and rear all together. Turner Motorsports has the RS19 blacks available but there are some other Pagids I haven't seen others mention on here.

Any recommendations?

Side note: I understand the RS19's do not have the spot for the factory brake wear sensors. Since I'd be swapping between track and street pads, what do you do with the sensors while running the Pagids? Sorry for the silly question but I've not actually done any brake work on this car myself outside of a brake fluid flush/bleed.

[wheatpaste]

The front brakes do a lot of work compared to the rears. I would probably just leave the rear pads stock for now. If you end up doing lots of track days you can step up to a more aggressive compound in the rear, but you probably won't notice a huge difference. Does the RS19 not come in a rear pad for our stock calipers? That seems like the logical next step but see if you like them on the front first.

As far as the wear sensors, most people just zip tie them up to the strut body. Use quality zip ties that can handle some heat if you're going to leave them disconnected for long periods of time.

[M.A.R.C.]

Originally Posted by wheatpaste

The front brakes do a lot of work compared to the rears. I would probably just leave the rear pads stock for now. If you end up doing lots of track days you can step up to a more aggressive compound in the rear, but you probably won't notice a huge difference. Does the RS19 not come in a rear pad for our stock calipers? That seems like the logical next step but see if you like them on the front first.

As far as the wear sensors, most people just zip tie them up to the strut body. Use quality zip ties that can handle some heat if you're going to leave them disconnected for long periods of time.

yes there is a rear RS19 black for the stock calipers. I mentioned "not knowing what to do" because I've read some people running different front and rear compounds so I was more looking for suggestions on the rear options if it was recommended to use a different one.

On that note, I've also seen a few mentions about NOT running stocks in the rear due to brake bias, etc. so that's why I was looking for some input.

[dparm]

Do you swap the front to RS19s when you get to the track?

[M.A.R.C.]

Originally Posted by dparm

Do you swap the front to RS19s when you get to the track?

I haven't used them yet. I bought them prior to the event but never ran them.

[wheatpaste]

Try just the RS19's on the front first with the stock rears and see how you like it.

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by M.A.R.C.

yes there is a rear RS19 black for the stock calipers. I mentioned "not knowing what to do" because I've read some people running different front and rear compounds so I was more looking for suggestions on the rear options if it was recommended to use a different one.

On that note, I've also seen a few mentions about NOT running stocks in the rear due to brake bias, etc. so that's why I was looking for some input.

Just go one step lower in the same pads for the rear.

Are the rs29 the next step down? Try that. No point wasting stock pads on track when they last forever for daily duty.

[bigjae1976]

IMO...the car brakes much better and is more stable with a little more bite in the rear. I liked the front yellow/rear black combo on my E90 at Road America.

[///Mobbin]

I've run RS-29's (more aggressive than RS-19's) and PFC 08's up front with Stoptech Street Performance rear pads with no issues. If your rear pads are worn I would at least consider throwing in some new Stoptech Streets, they are available from rockauto.com for fairly cheap. New pads will have a bit higher thermal capacity due to their new thickness. Then the benefit of running like this is that I'm only swapping the front pads before/after track days.

[M.A.R.C.]

I ended up just buying a set of RS19's for the rear. I don't put a lot of daily mileage on the car so I figured it'd be more cost effective to run a complete set for track only and keep the life in my stock pads

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by M.A.R.C.

After having a blast at my first track day back in October I'm planning fo my next one some time soon.

After reading a lot about how hard on the brakes track days are I hastily ran out and grabbed some Pagid RS19 yellow pads for the front brakes (stock rotors). I didn't end up using them because I decided to give my stock brakes a shot since it was my first time out. The stock brakes held up well but the 3 sessions took some significant life out of them.

For the next track day I'm considering running the RS19's up front but not quite sure what to do about the rears or whether I should pick a different set for front and rear all together. Turner Motorsports has the RS19 blacks available but there are some other Pagids I haven't seen others mention on here.

Any recommendations?

Side note: I understand the RS19's do not have the spot for the factory brake wear sensors. Since I'd be swapping between track and street pads, what do you do with the sensors while running the Pagids? Sorry for the silly question but I've not actually done any brake work on this car myself outside of a brake fluid flush/bleed.

You should run a matching pad in the rear as the rear brakes on a BMW actually works pretty hard. If you ever see painted BBK rear calipers change color, you will know what i mean. Running the same pad will also prevent early ABS in the front brakes.

As for the sensors, just zip-tie them away for your street pads installation.