Porterfield R4 (and R4s) Race Compound Brake Pads

McRib, thanks a million! Order has been placed for the R4. No SCCA discount for me so the pads were $200-something, but oh well. Totally worth it. Picked up 4 bottles of RBF600 too.

They will be for road courses not auto-x so I opted for the race pad. I will either swap or live with the squeal depending on weather, laziness, and my newborn.

was-an-M said:

McRib, thanks a million! Order has been placed for the R4. No SCCA discount for me so the pads were $200-something, but oh well. Totally worth it. Picked up 4 bottles of RBF600 too.

They will be for road courses not auto-x so I opted for the race pad. I will either swap or live with the squeal depending on weather, laziness, and my newborn.

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Excellent, and you are most welcome!

Also, I bought the RBF600 too -- but think you should get the newer 660 instead. I went 600, but will switch to 660 next time I have the occasion.

McRib 1s Back said:

Excellent, and you are most welcome!

Also, I bought the RBF600 too -- but think you should get the newer 660 instead. I went 600, but will switch to 660 next time I have the occasion.

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Decided to save a few bucks since I couldnt get them to give me the SCCA discount without joining the SCCA.

I ran 600 with good luck in my M3. I cheaped out one track day and went ATE200 and was disappointed. I may try the ProSpeed stuff next.

was-an-M said:

Decided to save a few bucks since I couldnt get them to give me the SCCA discount without joining the SCCA.

I ran 600 with good luck in my M3. I cheaped out one track day and went ATE200 and was disappointed. I may try the ProSpeed stuff next.

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I like Motul products, and Motul 600 has always been great for me. The 660 product is new, and I think it's intended to be a replacement. That doesn't make the 600 stuff bad! Back in the SE-R days, some of the guys swore by ATE (isn't that "SuperBlue"?).

McRib 1s Back said:

I like Motul products, and Motul 600 has always been great for me. The 660 product is new, and I think it's intended to be a replacement. That doesn't make the 600 stuff bad! Back in the SE-R days, some of the guys swore by ATE (isn't that "SuperBlue"?).

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I will probably go 660 if I stick with Motul next. I ordered it on a whim since I had them on the phone anyhow.

As for the ATE200 - funny story of the government having better things to do (or so you'd think) - the schtick with ATE200 was they made gold and blue and you alternated so you knew when it was fully flushed. However, the DOT has made the blue stuff illegal because all brake fluid must be yellow/clear in color. So now no more SuperBlue.

was-an-M said:

I will probably go 660 if I stick with Motul next. I ordered it on a whim since I had them on the phone anyhow.

As for the ATE200 - funny story of the government having better things to do (or so you'd think) - the schtick with ATE200 was they made gold and blue and you alternated so you knew when it was fully flushed. However, the DOT has made the blue stuff illegal because all brake fluid must be yellow/clear in color. So now no more SuperBlue.

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Right, that rings a bell, now! That was a clever system -- too bad, it's gone. It's not all that hard once you know your base capacity. On the FiST, just figure a bit over a liter each time you flush.

McRib 1s Back said:

Right, that rings a bell, now! That was a clever system -- too bad, it's gone. It's not all that hard once you know your base capacity. On the FiST, just figure a bit over a liter each time you flush.

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Still the trick is really more-so knowing when the first 3 are done. I tend to waste a fair bit of fluid making sure I get the rears all flushed out.

was-an-M said:

Still the trick is really more-so knowing when the first 3 are done. I tend to waste a fair bit of fluid making sure I get the rears all flushed out.

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Right, I totally agree -- and know that I'm wasting fluid going into it. Speaking of which, the fluid seems to last a really long time.

I usually just sell my car when it's time to do such maintenance the 2nd time around. I think the FiST might be different for me.

McRib 1s Back said:

Right, I totally agree -- and know that I'm wasting fluid going into it. Speaking of which, the fluid seems to last a really long time.

I usually just sell my car when it's time to do such maintenance the 2nd time around. I think the FiST might be different for me.

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Ha! BMWCCA requires that fluid not be more than 6 months old. So I had to flush it twice last season since I did a march and September event. You year-round track weather guys in SoCal really got it bad

McRib 1s Back said:

Don't forget to ask for your SCCA discount!


Prices:
R4: $195.95
R4S: $119.95 + SCCA 20% discount


So the street compound is quite a bit cheaper. The formulation has changed a bit over the years, but the current race compound is considered higher carbon and metallic construction, but I don't know exactly how much (it's their secret sauce).

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Just a update on the R4S pads they now have both Front and Rear for our cars and the Rears are $99.00 before discount.

RodMoe said:

Just a update on the R4S pads they now have both Front and Rear for our cars and the Rears are $99.00 before discount.

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That's great!

Let us know how the S compound works for you. After examining my rear pads, it doesn't look like they have a very hard job. Burning down my front pads still left the rear at 80+%. We know the division of labor isn't anywhere near equal, and we figure 70-80% for the front, right? Do we have typical brake proportioning? I guess I'm asking if you expect the rear swap to R4S to contribute much in terms of feel or performance over the stock pads. I think our OEM pads are actually pretty aggressive and liked they way they felt -- but they don't hold up. That's the reason I went for the R4 up front. If they're like my old Porterfield pads, they'll bite better when hot and wear better (but will be hard on the rotors).

Ya I was figuring to swap out all 4 at once to bed them and see how they do and keep the old like new pads in the trailer/racebox for emergency use if needed to get thru the day or home if driving to the event... I agree the rears are hardly used when doing the 3 legged dog or tripod around the cones/track.. LOL I'll keep ya posted

The R4-S compound is awesome. We sell a ton of them to our Porsche guys at work. I'm interested to see how it plays with the FiST, with the eTVC stuff, etc.

Quick Update I ordered the R4S front and rear set and both came to a tick over $190 after a $43 dollar SCCA discount.. Now just have to put the in and bed them good ..

RodMoe said:

Quick Update I ordered the R4S front and rear set and both came to a tick over $190 after a $43 dollar SCCA discount.. Now just have to put the in and bed them good ..

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Excellent! I'm installing my pads tomorrow. These R4 carbon-Kevlar pads look a lot like I remember them (thicker than OE, no?). I haven't seen the new R4S yet.

I'll get some pics up this weekend

The R4-S compound is great.
It is aggressive and will make a grinding noise/feel.
I have used them for years on many cars.

The R4 is very aggressive and not good for the street or Auto-X as they do not stay hot enough to work correctly.
You will however find that either will eat through rotors much faster so keep an eye on this.


Dave

I have always used Hawk HPS on my cars, but always hear great things about Porterfield. I will probably try the R4-S.

On my short stints on the street, the R4 pads seem seem okay. It didn't produce scary stops, but it's something to think about -- and plan your stops better when you can. Like Dave said, definitely not a street pad. I think the new R compound have more Kevlar (at least it's mentioned more!).

I've enjoyed the R4S for street duty and second the opinions for a great performance street pad. If Hawk had pads, I'd have tried those (I run them on the TREG TDI!). Since they didn't, I sent my spent pads in so we could have this as an option. I can't wait to try the R4 pads on the track!