169K on the old Monte.... driving home on friday the noises coming out of the front end were unbearable. Time for a new set of pads; I could put it off no longer. I knew when I pulled it all apart it wasn't going to go back together without a fight. So I stoped off at AUTOZONE to pickup some rotors, rear drums, brake fluid, and pads all the way around. I drive like a nut so the guy behind the counter suggested Performance Frictions Z Rated Pad. I was told that they may chew up the rotors, but they are an excellent pad, they stop super fast, all the rest of that sh*t speech they give you when they want you to spend more money. Normally in situations like this, I would buy whatever is cheapest. The car is a bomb with 169K, but the Vette is also overdue for front brakes. Up until now the impala and corvette have always gotten Hawk HPS, and I like them. I know the HP+ is more of a "race" pad so I have been lery to give them a try. So I figured why not, I've heard of PF Pads, I'll give them a try on the old monte, and if it all works out well I will put them on the vette.

Its 28* here in New York tonight, and it has taken me 3 days to get the job done. $100 in calipers later, I was ready to take the car out for a ride.

These are by far the worst pieces of junk I have ever put on my car. They barely keep the car from inching forward at a light, and until they are red hot you can forget you even have brakes. Turns out what they neglected to tell me at AUTOZONE was that these pads are "Not recommended for climates in which the temperature reaches near or below freezing." I'm in F*ing New York. They also stink, the heat was on because it was cold out and when you use them they omit this nasty smell. I couldn't be any less happy with these pads. So if you were considering purchasing these, Please reconsider EBC or HAWK. This thread was not intended to bash the manufacturer but to let you guys know ahead of time before you waste your hard earned $$....

Glad i was able to vent too,

Dan

Thats not good mate, its not right that they would give you a bum steer like that

In all fairness, the stink could have come from any number of parts burning off various coatings, not just the pads.

PF pads are supposed to be very good, but I suspect you nailed it - the sub freezing temps.

Personally, I am not surprised that AZ gave you bad advise... those lemmings know just enough to be dangerous. For every employee that knows something, there are ten that think they do. They are the scary ones...

Take the pads back and get some semi-metallics, that's all you need.

I am in the process of replacing my brakes and removing the pfc-z compound. I do feel the the pfc-z compound is not needed for daily driving because they really need to warm up before they bite. When the pads are cold it feels like you need to put more effort into the pedal. Also, they do wear the rotors significantly faster. That being said, the non z rated pfc pads are a good alternative. I am replacing mine with the (supposedly crap) ac delco ceramic pads. If i don't like how they feel, I will put the standard non z pfc's on there.

I don't know anything about Performance Friction, and therefore have nothing to say about them. I do have experience with Auto Zone counter help. Because they are not all the same, I will restrain myself to saying that AZ hires a lot of part time help that doesn't know a hole in the ground from their elbow. As has been stated, really high performance or racing linings have to get hot before they become effective. As a drag racer, I bought the cheapest, softest linings I could find. They might not last a day on a road race track, but the the soft linings have the best chance of holding my car on the line with disc brakes with no servo action, as I rev the engine against the converter. Like a camshaft, a TB, compression ratio, etc, any replacement component must be MATCHED to the rest of the car along with it's intended usage. I think all out racing brake pads on a DD Monte Carlo are probably a perfect example of parts mismatched to a purpose.

RACE ON!!!

When I had my 88 I updated to PFC-Z rated pads and they worked well for street/AutoX/track duty.

I put them on the fronts of my rustang as a street/autox/track pad. Had no issues with them.

However - I never had to use them in freezing weather.

I use Carbotech on the 92 (panthers for street, XP10's for the track) and I've been happy with them. On the rustang I use the autozone stock replacement pads since the rustang is street only now.

Good information - sorry it came so painfully.

94 vette running PFZ pads on J55 setup. It'll put you through the windshield on the first stop. No warm up needed. I don't dislike them that's for sure. I do prefer Hawk HPS though. I also haven't driven this car in below freezing temps.

I wonder though, did you bed them in? These pads require that as do most performance pads. Maybe try that before you ditch them. If you're still not satisfied, I bet you could make AZ take them back. Sorry to hear of your troubles. It sucks having to do the job twice.

Oh, yea, I love the Hawk HPS pads, too. They are great for the street. I doubt they would last all that long on the track, tho.

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I broke them in the same way I normally break in the HPS Pads; never had a problem with those. Does anyone know the "Proper Break In Proceedure?" It would be nice to know for the future how to properly break the pads in.


I can't blame autozone for what happened. This was entirely my fault. I normally research EVERYTHING to death before I buy it. I, as most of you know, have been known to ask some of the stupidest, and simpliest questions on here and on CF. But I have to say none of the information I obtained has gone to waste. The information I have obtained and the opinions over the years have saved me thousands of $$ and made the first installation the last.

When I went into AZ I figured I was just going to by some OE parts to put onto the beater. I never imagined that ANYTHING AZ sold would be anything close to a racing product so when they suggested what I thought to be their version of a high performance pad, I figured, "how bad could it be."

You can't expect someone getting paid $10 an hour to know how everything in the store is going to work or even care for that matter. When I go into AZ I usually go in knowing exactly what I am looking for. That leaves little or no room for error; although they have still been known to screw my order up.

What I am interested to know more than anything is why PFC is selling Z rated racing pads for a 3.4L, Monte carlo, with the small brake kit, though autozone none the less???????? Makes no sense.

If I decided to swap out the pads, can anyone suggest a useable autozone pad that I could purchase in place. The car spends 90% of its time on the highway, and I usually drive 500-700 miles week at around 75-80MPH.

DG

Oh,

Drove the car 300miles today. After about 20 mins of driving they felt like normal brakes, but they still didn't stop nearly as good as the HPS's. When I got back in the car an hour ago it was dead cold and they barely stopped again.

DG

If you broke them in the same way as you do Hawks, you did it fine.

For everday use, I like PF carbon metallic honestly. If you're are not trusting of the PF name right now, the duralast golds will be fine I bet. AutoZone is getting someone to private label them. It may be Raybesto or one of the other big name normal brake pad companies.

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I won't restrain myself after all the headaches and problems....most of the folks at my local Autozone don't know if their assholes are bored or punched.

Day 2 with the Pads,

Still haven't had time to get in the zone. I broke the pads in according to the Hawk Break-in proceedure. Followed the directions to a T. The pads got slightly better. One thing I did notices is that once they are hot they are very consistent. After about 4-5 Extremely hard stops from 90 (pretty much how fast the car would go) to about 20 there was no fade. But the cold morning braking is still horrible, and even when they are hot, they feel like I couldn't lock them even if I wanted to. I attribute some of this to the fact that they take a while to heat up, so naturally they won't lock up when you slam on them. I still would like to swap them out. Bottom line; there the wrong pads for the car. In my opinion, they still don't stand up to even the Hawk HPS's... but overall, if I needed a set of autoXing pads over the counter in an afternoon, I guess they would do.

DG