GEN 1 Brake fade with R1 HD pads

Anyone hear use R1 concepts HD pads and geomet rotors? After breaking them in for 800 miles I took them to the desert last weekend and had some bad brake fade.


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i dont think anything works well , i used their pads and noticed nothing

Your not gonna notice anything from any pad in the world it will take a new hi performance set up like Brembo to notice anything and you will def notice it.
Same with rotors and pads your still going to get fade you also need a new full system to “notice” anything

Hence why Freedom Motorsports in their brake packages do not use the R1 Concept pads.

Good to know about freedom motorsports. I think I will be taking off the pads and trying something else. These are worse off than my stock pads. The rotors are fine as my stocks were warped.


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raptorpaul said:

Good to know about freedom motorsports. I think I will be taking off the pads and trying something else. These are worse off than my stock pads. The rotors are fine as my stocks were warped.


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Your not going to notice a difference if you change your pads. I’d buy steel braided lines first.

I have R1 rotors and pads on my 62 Impala with 800hp it stops better than my raptor and weights more I’m sure.
I have clamping power with a Hydobooster and Z06 calipers.
You need more clamping power for lack of better words the pads won’t make a difference unless you put them in wrong or something weird happened.
You really want to stop there is a guy selling a used front and rear Brembo GT kit for $4000 right now. That’s a great deal and you will def feel the difference there.

ROCKETW19 said:

Your not going to notice a difference if you change your pads. I’d buy steel braided lines first.

I have R1 rotors and pads on my 62 Impala with 800hp it stops better than my raptor and weights more I’m sure.
I have clamping power with a Hydobooster and Z06 calipers.
You need more clamping power for lack of better words the pads won’t make a difference unless you put them in wrong or something weird happened.
You really want to stop there is a guy selling a used front and rear Brembo GT kit for $4000 right now. That’s a great deal and you will def feel the difference there.

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This is simply not true and is taking the thread into urban legend...

Pads most certainly can change your braking characteristics. They can be chosen for a different heat range which will reduce the fade the OP experienced. You can choose pads for low dust, low noise, low temps, high temps, street use, track use, there are literally hundreds of choices.

It is not a lack of clamping power causing his fade, it is heat build up. It builds up in the whole system. Pads fade, fluid boils, you lose braking power.

I think stainless lines are a plus, they will firm up the feel a little. Pad and rotor choice is pretty critical and we should be able to get decent braking with less than a full on Brembo kit. These are just my opinions. They were formed mostly on a road race track in a Porsche. On the track, which is way tougher than any street use, slotted cyro tread rotors worked the best for me. Race pads last a weekend at best so they are throw away.

I was turned off by Freedoms claims for the Centric ceramic pad they use because the main focus seemed to be on how long they last. That tells me there isn't as much friction as other pads that do not last as long. They do pan the R1 pads though, so the Centric should be a better choice. I can't help but think there is something better yet for performance. I intend to try the EBC yellow pads.

The other thing you could do after the braking system is sorted, including a fluid flush, is get some flex tubing and direct air right to the brakes for cooling.

My last car was a Cayenne turbo with six piston Brembo front calipers, some of the most powerful brakes on a production vehicle. I am having to make a big adjustment to F150 brakes...

Snowsled said:

This is simply not true and is taking the thread into urban legend...

Pads most certainly can change your braking characteristics. They can be chosen for a different heat range which will reduce the fade the OP experienced. You can choose pads for low dust, low noise, low temps, high temps, street use, track use, there are literally hundreds of choices.

It is not a lack of clamping power causing his fade, it is heat build up. It builds up in the whole system. Pads fade, fluid boils, you lose braking power.

I think stainless lines are a plus, they will firm up the feel a little. Pad and rotor choice is pretty critical and we should be able to get decent braking with less than a full on Brembo kit. These are just my opinions. They were formed mostly on a road race track in a Porsche. On the track, which is way tougher than any street use, slotted cyro tread rotors worked the best for me. Race pads last a weekend at best so they are throw away.

I was turned off by Freedoms claims for the Centric ceramic pad they use because the main focus seemed to be on how long they last. That tells me there isn't as much friction as other pads that do not last as long. They do pan the R1 pads though, so the Centric should be a better choice. I can't help but think there is something better yet for performance. I intend to try the EBC yellow pads.

The other thing you could do after the braking system is sorted, including a fluid flush, is get some flex tubing and direct air right to the brakes for cooling.

My last car was a Cayenne turbo with six piston Brembo front calipers, some of the most powerful brakes on a production vehicle. I am having to make a big adjustment to F150 brakes...

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Like these are your opinions I posted mine.
of coarse heat causes fade. and of coarse different pad and rotors do different thing but since he posted exactly what he had there is no guessing I know what they are. him changing his pads to anything or brand you want will not have helped him.
your taking my post and using it in general terms I am posting directly to what he used and how he used it.

theres also a huge difference between brembos on a factory car and Brembo GTs. I had factory brembos on my AMG after swapping to the GTs it made a huge difference. a world of difference.
Your talking in general theory and nothing wrong with that but I am talking about real life experiences with the actual products we are talking about right now.

---------- Post added at 12:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 PM ----------

let me cut to the chase you need to change your rotors and pads to even think it will help and at that I bet you don't notice a huge difference in the way you used them if you were to do it all over again.
slotted and drilled is what I would use or I do use (snowsled will say not drilled cuz rotors crack) and a high performance pad that is built for that much heat. even doing that its not going to be some great fix I bet you don't even notice.
you need 6 piston up front the truck is to big and to heavy to keep on the brakes like that

Today just for the hell of it to see how they R1 performs. I hit them hard from 45 and it feels like they do have initial bit but don’t continue. Not even a glimpse of abs kicking in. When I asked R1 and told him about my experience he says my master cylinder is bad. What do you all think or is R1 just giving me the run around because I don’t like the pads.

Ps: I did the pads and rotors all around with slotted from R1. Also did a brake fluid flush as well with dot 4.


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raptorpaul said:

Today just for the hell of it to see how they R1 performs. I hit them hard from 45 and it feels like they do have initial bit but don’t continue. Not even a glimpse of abs kicking in. When I asked R1 and told him about my experience he says my master cylinder is bad. What do you all think or is R1 just giving me the run around because I don’t like the pads.

Ps: I did the pads and rotors all around with slotted from R1. Also did a brake fluid flush as well with dot 4.


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I doubt your master cylinder is bad. Bad how? I assume it is not leaking externally, so his assumption is that your master is bypassing fluid? Does the pedal go soft or to the floor during one panic stop?

I suspect that Freedom and others are right about the R1 pads. They would probably make more selling you a full R1 package instead of changing out the pads to get you what they feel is best. Lots of guys running that set up.

Big tires and soft suspension make it tougher to get abs intervention on dry pavement. Despite what "the expert" claims, a change of pads would probably do you some good. You most certainly can buy a better set and notice the difference.

I would stick with the R1 rotors and personally fit EBC yellow pads. Research it out some more and swap them out. The Centrics from Freedom are probably the safe bet. From what I read, not many people like the R1 pads.

So, YES, the salesman is probably feeding you a line.