Advice Requested re brake pads

[MariettaM5]

I need advice regarding aftermarket brake pads, ie should I use BMW pads or aftermarkets and if the latter which ones? I have an 02 M5 with DINAN CAI, AFM, and FFE. Also a UUC Shortshifter. I started going to track events last summer and am fully hooked. My car has 40K miles and I'm thinking that I should change out the front pads in advance of a driving school that I'm going to in March. I'd like opinions on which pads are good for both street and track or if I should have a different set for each, assuming I can use the stock rotors. Dust is a minor issue since the stock wheels are so hard to clean but I'll trade-off dust for perfomance and feel. I'm pretty ignorant in this area and appreciate any advice. TIA

[Paul S]

first of all, sorry about your new addiction...
i found pagid oranges work the best on the track. actually, i think i'm ready for pagid black, but then i'd have to change them to street pads before i drive home. no good. in warm months i leave the oranges on all the time, street and track, but for the cold weather i use pagid blues. absolutely the best. forget dust free pads, they don't work as well imo.
open up your brake ducts and get some stainless steel brake lines... and use motul or ate blue fluid.

[Dirim]

I suggest you do a search on "brake pads for track" on this board. You will be surprised by the hits. The issue has been discussed many times in the past.

Regards.

[stever]

Paul is right if you can stand the squeal from the Oranges (and i have also driven Blacks on the street with no problems re cold stops)

the M5 is too fast and too heavy to get away with street pads on most tracks (in cool weather you can probably get away with street pads on a course like Sears Point judging from my rotor temps)

in hot weather, even oranges will start to smear on demanding tracks like Thunder Hill and Laguna Seca and you really need to run blacks -- in cool weather at Laguna Seca another M5 with stock brakes could run 2 min laps with me for about 5 laps before his brakes faded

if you're more experienced you can manage the brakes better and judge how hard you can run before backing off to let them cool -- with limited experience i find that hard to do and anyhow prefer not to worry about brake management on top of everything else

after a variety of problems (described in old posts) i'm running Axxis Ultimates with my StopTech brakes on the street and switching to blacks with a set of track rotors for the track -- it takes about 45 minutes to do the swap (after all is said and done i don't think performance with stock brakes doing a pad and rotor swap would be a lot worse, but the pad and rotor change with stock brakes is not a lot of fun)

still running OEM rear pads without problem but i'd like to switch them for something a bit better when when available