Let me take you on my journey comparing Brembo brake pads vs Ferodo brake pads, specifically stock Brembo pads and Ferodo Premier brake pads.
Unboxing
Both pads have good quality packaging. Perhaps the Brembo brake pads have a sexier box.
I have mentioned before how Brembo outsource the manufacturer of their brake pads to companies who specialise in brake pads. For this reason, some Brembo brake pads will come on back plates that have name of other manufacturers. In this case there was nothing to suggest that these Brembo pads were made by an outside supplier.
Construction & Installation
Very close to the design of the Ferodo Premier brake pads. Springs on the pads seems to be the same strength. One addition on the Brembo brake pads was a pad on the back plate of the pads. I expect this is to reduce brake squeal, not that brake squeal was an issue with the Ferodo brake pads.
Installation was straightforward, nothing to note.
So far, on the whole the Brembo brake pads seem a very good quality product and very similar to Ferodo.
Bedding In
I changed the pads and the discs at the same time.
For the first 100km I’d say the braking power was less than I would have expected, so much so, I had to take real care in braking areas. The brakes lacked power and pushing the brake pedal harder didn’t seem to have much effect on the amount of stopping power.
But slowly but surely after around 200km, the braking power came back to the levels I would expect (of new brake discs & pads).
I am not going to say the pads are bedded in at this point but I think by 500km we will be seeing the full braking power on offer.
I’m not doing anything special to bed in the pads. Basically driving normally but not leaning on the brake as hard as I would normally do. I’ll give it until 500km before I really start putting some force through them.
Until now, so far so good, no judder, nice and smooth, just lacking a bit of power.
After 1000km
I’m not impressed.
I know the discs and pads were new but after a 1000km of use I’d expect to be getting “normal” stopping performance and I’m not.
There seems to be a big deficiency in the co-efficient of friction of the Brembo brake pads. Pushing on the brake pedal just doesn’t give me anywhere near the amount of stopping power I’d expect. And pushing on the brake harder doesn’t seem to give a corresponding increase in stopping power.
I’m so unimpressed that I’m going to bleed the brake fluid. The brake pedal doesn’t feel spongy but I find it hard to believe the friction between disc and pad can be so low.
Bleeding the Brakes
After bleeding the brakes the stopping power is a bit better.
Is it where I would expect standard replacement brake pads to be? In a word no.
To me it feels as if Brembo have made long service life the priority over stopping power and to me it seems they have gone too far. (I’m assuming these pads will last a long time).
1800KM In
With the Brembo brake pads on the car for 1800km, how do they perform?
Warning in advance, its not a great verdict.
Cold Performance
In my opinion, cold performance is below average, less than I would expect from even a set of track day focussed brake pads like EBC Yellowstuff of Ferodo DS2500. The Brembo brake pads just don’t seem to grip the brake disc enough.
Hot Performance
So maybe Brembo have compromised the cold performance for hot performance?
Unfortunately not.
Even with medium speed driving the pads starts to fall off. Most brake pads I have tried in the past tend to have consistent performance right up until the point they over heat and at this point their performance drops of markedly.
The Brembo brake pads however seem to start falling off as soon as they get some heat in them. They don’t go off a cliff but I can feel the performance ie the friction on the disc slowly starting to decrease in proportion to how hard the pads are worked.
They recover quickly but as soon as I start putting some force through them the process start again.
The performance is not catastrophic, it doesn’t totally destroy my confidence but they don’t encourage me to really push on.
How Long Do They Last?
At this point, for me, it is irrelevant. I don’t care if these pads last forever, the fact is the performance, from my point of view, is not good enough. I’d gladly sacrifice pad life for better braking performance.
Are Brembo Brake Pads Terrible?
Absolutely not.
I’m simply saying that there are better brake pads out there for similar/the same money. In my opinion.
Just because Brembo brake pads are not in my top 2 brands of standard replacement brake pads, it doesn’t mean they are bad. They are just not in my top 2.
My Top 2 Standard Replacement Brake Pads
Number one for me is clearly Ferodo Premier brake pads. Fantastic in normal driving and perform better than they have any right to do in extreme conditions.
Number two. Bosch are decent. Good for day to day driving. Okay when hot, not on the same level as Ferodo Premier but good. Build quality in my opinion not as good as Ferodo Premier either and they don’t last as long either but a good pad.
General Observations
Again, these are my findings and opinions. Your experience may be different.
I compared the Ferodo to the Brembo back to back on the same car with the only change being the brake pads. Okay, the discs were also changed but after 1800km I think that is a mute point.
In Short
When I looking for the best performing standard replacement brake pad for normal money I am still going to choose Ferodo Premier.