I bought a pair of non-Brembo front Nismo pads, and after driving around for roughly 400 miles, these are my observations:

- What I like -

-Very little brake dust! During initial brake-in period (100-150 miles), it gave of about 1/2 the amount of dust as the stock front pads. Then after that period, I washed my car and began the dust test. Basically, it gave off about the same amount of dust as the rear stock brakes, or maybe a little less. My front wheels actually look the same as the rears, a week after washing. Very nice. This reason alone would make me buy them again.

-Good brake pedal feel. With the oem pads, the brake felt flat - meaning when I step on the brake, I would get a little stopping power, then it would suddenly grab, making it kind of difficult sometimes to stop smoothly. With the Nismos, the pedal feels firm, with a very smooth and gradual stopping feel - step on the brake lightly, and I would get some friction; step on it a little firmer, and I would get more friction, and apply great pressure and the car comes to a halt. Basically, with the stock pads, there is low or high grip - nothing in between. With the Nismos, there is low, medium, medium-high, and high. It's good.

- Smooth and quiet When warmed up (about 1 or so mile of driving). After brake-in, the brakes seem to be smoother than stock during medium to hard braking at 45-60 mph. Slow speed stops seem pretty quiet too.

-Good stopping power. I took my car to Ortega hwy to see how these pads performed during constant high-speed braking, and they seem pretty good - no brake fades, though I had never had brake fades with the stock pads either. While I wasn't pushing it to the limit, there were some high-speed braking down hill, and pedal feel is nice and communicative, with smooth and gradual stopping control. I'm sure those who track their cars would notice what these pads have to offer over stock during extreme conditions.

-It evened out the surface of my rotors. Yeah, its weird, but when I installed these pads, my rotors had streaks and uneven surfaces on them - kind of like what you see on the surface of a "record" disc. After a few hundred miles, my front rotors seem and feel flat and much less shinny.


= what I don't like =

-Squeaky noise. When cold and braking at 5-7 mph, there is brake noise that, to the average person, seems like it's time for new brakes. Sometimes it sounds scratchy, other times just some "creak creak creak." After about a block, it gets quieter, and slowly disapears. If you want stock-brake quietness and can't stand any noise when they are cold, these are not for you.

-$125 bucks. Yeah, I don't like paying more money for more performance - I want more performance for the same amount of money! lol



Overall, would I buy these again? Sure. Are they worth $125 bucks? The noise when cold: no. The dust-less part: YES! The stoping power: quite positively. The pedal feel: sure, it's worth it.

Would I recomend these? They seem good, so of course I would recomend them. I think those with Brembo would enjoy these, as they give off a lot less dust, and the fact that it's rated for track is a plus. And since these have more metallic particles in the compound, I guess they would last longer than the stokers - not sure, time will tell.

 

Thanks Mc. It's good to hear you've used two sets and liked it. How many miles did these pads last for you? I'll keep an eye on my rotors for any signs of scaring and stuff.

 

i dont know about you guys but in my experenice , brake pads are brake pads. I will agree that the oems suck. I will be changing by brake pads in a week and i will be using bendix. I have use them on my other two cars and i always thought they were the best. Low dust, great stopping power, great price. Nothing near 125 bones. imo

 

Nice Review!

They lasted over 35000 miles for me and more... I dont know how long for sure since I sold the car with them on it but half the pads were left!

http://www.mynismo.com/products/?id=2463

 

nice poll choices

lol

 

Did you bed them in properly? My NISMO pads to do not squeek at all. We'll see how they hold up on the track this weekend.

 

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Every brake pad has different behavior, and they also differ in their useful temperature ranges, and how well they brake in different temperature conditions. They also have different compositions which make for different dusting characteristics.

For example I didn't like hawk HPS because in my experience, I could not get them to bite until they heated up, and it felt very dangerous if I were to get on the freeway before they were warm. Some people dispute this fact, but I know others have had the same problem. The problem with this is that HPS are not a great track pad, because they fade at higher temperatures. But they also don't have bite at cold temps. So IMO hawk HPS are worthless for street or track.

Now that I'm on the Axxis Ultimates, I can say WOW, these are a great street pad. Night and day difference between hawk HPS.

The OEM pads still had the best bite out of any pad I've tried. The OEM pads are a GREAT street pad. The only problem is that they dust way too much.

 

Hmmm, not sure what the relevance of weed is on this thread but...trees are str8, smoke em' all the time...

 

Nice! I just got the Endless Vita Nuova's for my car (front/rear), and so far NO DUST! But then again, I washed the car the day after I got them installed and haven't driven at all in about a week..

I didn't hear any squeaking yet, but I've only driven on them for less than 100 miles. I'll be satisfied if the front pads dust is equal-to or less-than the OEM rears.

 

I have the Nismo Brembo pads in the front, and the OEM pads in the rear (brembo caliipers).

The Nismo pads have excellent bite, and pretty good cold stopping feel.

They have LESS brake dust than the rear OEM's. I would say about 1/2 less.

 

Thanks for the complements guys. Hope the info helped shine some light for who are curious about the characteristics of these pads.

Yeah, I think I beded them in ok, Andy. Did about 4 regular slowdowns at 45 mph, and about 2 semi-hard stops. But, I don't think they are completely beded in though, as they seem to get more quiet as I use them day-by-day.


I share the same point of view. Brake pads characteristics can be as different as the cars on the road - some are soft, while others are extreme, and some are in between. The idea is to chose a pad with a character that suites what you're looking for. These Nismo pads seem to have that good balance between track & civility I was looking for.


BhashaZ, yeah, I was thinking of getting those Vita Nuovas too, because I was told they offer similar performance as the Nismos but cost a bit less. Then I just bought Nismos anyway just to see what they were all about.


E_K, isn't it nice to have so little dust on the wheels? I was really surprised these pads give off so much less dust than OEM. Anything that has less dust is a big plus.

 

I'm looking to replace my OEM brembo pads next spring with the nismos... are these the R-tune pads you guys are using or S-tune pads?

 

NISMO Does have an S-Tune compound, but it is not sold in the US...

What the differences are, I do not know... if there even is a difference...

It could be like the USDM NISMO S-Tune suspension compared to the JDM one... same thing, just one has a warranty the other doesnt...

 

Will the pads work with stock rotors? I read from a vendor that it is not recommended ofr stock rotors. I tried to order from mynismo but I guess your site is having problems again. It denied my card. It did it once before. Guess I have to wait until Monday.

 

Yeah, it works fine with stock rotors. I have stock, non-Brembo rotors, and the surface looks nice and flat after 500+ miles now.