Brake Pads - QFM A1RM's / K750's

[iwantablackrz]

Thought I'd add my 2c.

I recently made over my brakes with some braided lines, slotted rotors and the QFM A1RM pads. It wasn't just a pad change so I can't compare directly with the old set up however I'm bloody impressed with how the car pulls up now and I believe a lot of that is down to the new pads. The brake fade is quite minimul and significantly better than the stock Toyota pads I had on it previously. Slam on the brakes and it bites hard, time and time again. So much so that I sometimes feel if it pulled up quicker my face would somehow detach from my head and hit the windscreen like some weird crossover film between 'Gone in 60 seconds' and 'Face Off'. Unlike my old setup these certainly give me a sense of confidence through the twisties!

I'm not quite sure about all this talk of 'low dust' comes from as I find mine are pretty dusty but it could be in part to the slotted rotors or the bedding in process. We'll see how they go in the months to come but a little dust is a small price to pay for the performance I feel these pads give me anyway. I'm really looking to hitting the track now.


Either way, QFM A1RM pads = WIN

[MAZMAN]

The brake fade is quite minimul and significantly better than the stock Toyota pads I had on it previously.

Hold on, you havent been to a track with these pads, yet you say it has minimum brake fade? im confused!
Are you sure you got brake fade on the streets with these pads?

[iwantablackrz]

Hold on, you havent been to a track with these pads, yet you say it has minimum brake fade? im confused!
Are you sure you got brake fade on the streets with these pads?

I live out of the city and in the sticks. I have a lot of tight winding roads around where I live. I got brake fade with my old pads after the same hard repeated braking. After bedding the new brakes in I also did some repeated hard braking from 100km/h to see how my new setup handled that sort of braking. I know it's not track conditions but it's not like others have said the same thing without getting on the track either. In the same situations where my other brakes would fall apart and fade these do not and fade is either minumul/near non-existant/hardly noticeable/barely there etc etc

[MAZMAN]

What im trying to say is, these pads are meant to be same as ebc reds, ferrodo ds2500 etc, read = very very good, the aformentioned pads hardly fade on the tracks, let alone roads.

I have hawk+ and expect these to be much better.
With good fluid, i couldnt get my hawks to fade at eastern creek.

If your getting fade from 100<, maybe its time to change to some good fluid :P

P.S. I have these pads, just waiting for the hawks to wear out lol.

[iwantablackrz]

A valid point. My fluid isn't uber awesome or expensive. Just a run of the mill Castrol dot 4 for memory. I'll probably change it before my next track outing anyway TBH.

[tipper]

QFM pads are bang for buck pads, excellent all round pad

[gslrallysport]

I'm not quite sure about all this talk of 'low dust' comes from as I find mine are pretty dusty but it could be in part to the slotted rotors or the bedding in process. We'll see how they go in the months to come but a little dust is a small price to pay for the performance I feel these pads give me anyway. I'm really looking to hitting the track now.

Give them a month or two. A lot of dust is actually rotor dust, and not pad dust. The A1RM in my daily (Cross 6 work ute) was quite dusty when put in (but no where near as bad as the Lucas they replaced), but now that they're all bedded in, and gone through their relative heat cycles, they are a reasonably low dust pad.

As MAZMAN said, definitely sounds like a fluid issue. Ordinary Dot 4 is good for 250-270 degrees dry when brand new, and deteriorates pretty quickly with moisture absorption after 6-12 months. Any serious fluid will be over the 300 mark dry. For reference, Castrol's Super Response Dot 4 is only 270. The stuff we use and recommend is the TRW GP600 Dot 4 Racing Brake fluid, good for 312 degrees dry, and $65 for a 1L bottle.

A1RM (or Ferodo DS2500 for that matter) are both a big step up from EBC Red. EBC Red is more a very fast street track, rather than anything you'd want to do track work on. A1RM is entry level track/rally, but is quite streetable as those who have tried it will attest to.

For anyone looking for a track only pad, we can get pads made up in QFM's Comp9 (or any of their Comp pads), $229 per axle set, and allow 4-6 weeks for manufacture.

Other than that mate, thanks for the feedback!

[MAZMAN]

Im a bit dissapointed after reading this thread
http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/for...r-t294727.html

[gslrallysport]

If you've used the pads, then weren't happy, be disappointed. Don't pay too much attention to what's been said in that thread because for ever one person who said they've "overheated" them (which as I explained is a bit of a fallacy anyway), I can quote 20 threads or posts where people have been extremely happy with them.

Their biggest problem is (as some body else alluded to) is that that put them in the car, then hit the track straight away. You can get away with that with a dedicated track only pad, not not a street/track pad like the A1RM. Their other big problem is that most of them aren't comparing apples with apples, their comparing the A1RM to pads of far higher performance, when they should be comparing the QFM Comp pads to those.

The A1RM is a Ferodo 2500 equivalent, that is, a pad which is 100% streetable, but still capable of like track work, and that's exactly what it is:
http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/for...post&p=4138203
http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/for...post&p=4141983
http://www.boostcruising.com/forums/...t&p=1282506286
http://www.aus300zx.com/forum/showpo...2&postcount=13
http://www.aus300zx.com/forum/showpo...30&postcount=9
http://www.opelaus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19733
http://performanceforums.com/forums/...6&postcount=62
http://www.supraforums.com.au/forum/...57&postcount=2
http://nissansilvia.com/forums/index...&#entry5383135
http://www.opelaus.com/forums/showpo...7&postcount=10

If people need pads for high end track work, then they wouldn't be running a Ferodo DS2500 anyway, they'd run something like a 3000, which in the QFM range would be a Comp9. I'm certainly not phased about a few negative comments from skyline owners (who without Brembo's actually have relatively small brakes) who've hit the track on sticky rubber and wondered why a pad they could've put in their grandmothers 180B to drive to the shops on a zero degree morning didn't perform like a $600 race pad...

But, anything higher than A1RM is a compromise on the street (like any pad is, be it Ferodo DS3000, Project Mu's, etc) in that they have rotor wear and noise that is too high, and cold (emergency) bite that is too low. If people want to run those pads in their street car, that's fine, but we're certainly not going to recommend it.

So, I still 100% stand by the QFM pads, in that if people come to us asking for a street only pad, it's HPX. If people want a track pad, but say they still want to use the pads on the street, then it's the A1RM. And if people want a track only pad, or a pad that they're prepared to change to in their daily once they get to the track, then it's the Comp9.

Any negative feedback needs to be not of the product, but rather of which product they chose. I personally run the A1RM in the rally car, and I can link another 50 forum posts of people who run the A1RM on the track, and love it. Don't beleive everything you read on the internet, and certainly don't be disappointed by it.

For reference Comp pads for the Supra are $179 per axle set for the 2/1 pots, and $229 per axle set for the 4/2 pots.