EBC Greenstuff pads

[pimkeirle]

Does anyone know if fitting EBC Greenstuff front pads will increase the pedal effort required on my Elan +2 130/5?
I have heard lots of good reports on these pads, but my car does not have a servo (by choice) and I am worried that harder pads may require an unacceptably high pedal pressure.

[paddy]

I have them (on Elan, not Plus 2) with no servo and I don't think there's any problem with pedal effort - the differences between them and normal pad are improved initial bite and fade resistance (so presumably pedal effort is lower?). I have type 14 calipers and 5/8" m/c.

Paddy

[alexblack13]

Me too. I like them so far. A fair push needed but I can't give a comparison as I have not tried anything else yet. warming them up helps. They get better !

They were on the car when I got it. One of the few parts to be refitted. It had new front disc also... YES!!

Good choice I think.

Alex B....

[stugilmour]

I have a Federal Plus 2 with the dual circuit system with dual Boosters. Just refurbishing now.

I discussed with Sean at Spyder regarding possibility of removing the boosters, and he recommended going to the Green Stuff pads if I did. Understood this to mean less pedal effort, but stand to be corrected as I have not tried them.

For various reasons my thinking has changed a bit, and plan is to proceed with my build with dual boosters and stock master cylinder with the new brake lines. Will be installing the Spyder supplied pads & rotors, which appear to be EBC Ultimax Red Stuff ceramic if the box is to be believed.

Not sure what was on the car when I picked it up (they were new however). I was concerned because I was unable to lock up the fronts even with heavy brake application, and I am still unsure if this is just weak performance from one or both boosters, pad selection, etc.

Anyway, I would give Green Stuff a try without the boosters. Do report back as to how they compare, as sure lots would be interested .

[kstrutt11]

I have green stuff pads, no servo and a slightly smaller bore master cyl, the brakes are good, the green stuff pads did make a difference, slightly reduced pedal efforts, better initial bite and much less fade.

[Stuart+2]

I replaced the standard pads in my +2 with Greenstuff about 2 years ago.
When cold the pedal effort is about the same but even with a bit of warmth the bite is better.
Cheers
Stuart

[andyhodg]

Hi All

I too use Greenstuff pads on my +2, Standard servo in use and found them to be great with very good fade resistance good and predicatble bite etc.

Regards

Andy

[Jas]

Hi all

On my S4SE I?m going to run without a brake servo, and I have ordered a new 5/8? master cylinder, dicks and brake pads from TTR. Tony have supplied me with Mintex 1144 pads, it says ?only for racing? on the box, but he told me that they would be fine for the road and didn?t need to heat up before working.
Has anyone tried them?

[peterako]

Word of warning.

I've always had Greenstuff pads on the front of my +2.

I've run with and without servo.

With Servo....perfect!

Without......

My heart could not take it, effort was huge to get it to stop. And I was not confident that I would stop a few times. Or that the pedal box would not eventuyally break with the extra effort required.

Remember the +2 is a good bit heavier than the 'baby'.

You may want to consider changing bores etc as others have done.

Peter

[alexblack13]

I agree with peter! I have a servo and it still needs a good push. Warmed up helps. Never had a chance to check for fade as yet...

Take care..& .. Have fun!

Alex....

[gerrym]

Pim (is that your name?), my only "concern" with the greenstuff pads is I'm not sure that the front to rear brake balance will be preserved.

If greenstuff pads are now available for the Elan rears that would help, last time I looked EBC only listed "blackstuff" or whatever they call their minimum OEM standard compound. I guess this is because the type 16PB calipers were fitted to a wide range of cars such as Triumphs whereas the Lotus Elan and Plus 2 market is pretty small.

The Plus 2 actually has quite a heavy front balance to the brakes, probably deliberately to ensure that rears do not lock under the wide range of rear loading that the car can see. However the car still needs 4 wheel braking. I set up a brake balance spreadsheet and I think I posted this on this forum. A range of friction factors can be inputted to see how the car will respond to different situations.

However, there's a couple of road-use scenarios that should be kept in mind.

1/ Possibility of rear wheel lockup due to front pads having a material with less cold friction coefficient

2/ Long descents with over-heating of the front brakes due to little braking effort coming from rears

I'm sure that if these two factors are kept in mind the front greenstuffs will be fine.

Any braking engineers out there that can add to the debate?

Regards

Gerry