Raybestos Element a Good Street Brake Pad?

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The pads for the front of my Ody showed up yesterday, and I was happy to see a Made In USA label on them!



Once I get them on, I'll give my first impressions.
 
Originally Posted By: threeputtpar
The pads for the front of my Ody showed up yesterday, and I was happy to see a Made In USA label on them!



Once I get them on, I'll give my first impressions.


That's interesting. What's the friction rating on that set?
 
This part number is GG, as is the rear brake pads for Gen 4 Odysseys (2011-present).

I also confirmed with my local dealer that the OE pads on the van are FF on the front and EE on the rear. No wonder the fronts overheat and deposit pad material unevenly.
 
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Originally Posted By: threeputtpar
This part number is GG, as is the rear brake pads for Gen 4 Odysseys (2011-present).

I also confirmed with my local dealer that the OE pads on the van are FF on the front and EE on the rear. No wonder the fronts overheat and deposit pad material unevenly.


Are you talking about the mismatch, the less grabby rear brakes not doing their share? Or just FF on minivan fronts in general?

Usually FF is plenty good enough for street vehicles, but if Honda upgraded to GG on all four corners, there must be a good reason for the extra expense.
 
Actually both the mismatch and the FF on the front. The vehicle is just so heavy that it really needs better rears at the very least, so the fronts don't have to do all the work.

This van sees typical soccer mom duty mostly in town, so there's really no reason that there ever should be uneven pad deposition on the fronts. It's actually a well known issue on these brakes, and there's a TSB from Honda with a procedure for turning the rotors the first time and then replacing them the second. They won't admit that it's not the rotors that are the problem, but the pads.

Honda doesn't upgrade the pads to GG, I'm doing it on my own dime with the new rotors that they will be installing next Saturday.
 
Just a little update as requested. The EHT pads are very good. I'm happy with them. I had to reuse my old rotors since no one would cut the 14+" monsters on my CTS-V. I did a thorough job cleaning them up with a drill operated rotor hone. But nothing beats a new or resurfaced rotor. My bed in process consisted of about 15 back to back hard stops from 80mph to 10mph. And later on another 10 or so. (what fun that was) Even though they were smoking by the end the hot braking was very strong.

They did throw some black dust from the bed in. I'm not sure how much they will actually dust in regular use yet. But having gone from semi metallic pads to this I am much happier with this shade of brake dust rather than the rusty colored dust I had before.

As a side note I also installed new rotors and Monroe Total solution ceramic pads on my moms CR-V. For a daily driver those pads are amazing. So smooth, quiet, predictable yet strong. Probably the nicest backing plate I've seen on a brake pad. No dust either.
 
Thanks for the update. Fifteen 80 to 10 mph stops with good braking power at the end is pretty good , especially during bed in. How does it compare to the OEM brakes?
 
Originally Posted By: edge10
Thanks for the update. Fifteen 80 to 10 mph stops with good braking power at the end is pretty good , especially during bed in. How does it compare to the OEM brakes?


I bought the car used and did not experience the OEM brakes. When I got it there were newer EBC drilled/slotted rotors on the front and the original rotors in the rear. The pads were unknown, black with no markings. They were good quality, stopped great. Felt equivalent to the EHT's. In between I switched to Duralast Gold Semi Metallic pads, I didn't like them at all and threw them in the trash at about 70% life.

There are OEM brake ducts that keep the rotors cool, it's hard to build enough heat for bed in. Even after all that they were cool to the touch within 7-8 minutes, probably sooner.
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic
After reading a bit more about these, I decided to order 6 sets of these for some upcoming brake jobs.

Interestingly enough, the Raybestos EHT pads are showing to be GG rated on each application that I purchased them for.

I will keep everyone posted.


Just got in my order of these.

First impression is that the shim kit and backing plate do not feel as "nice" as Akebonos, or even the 105s. All of the sets I received are Made in China, but are GG-rated and include hardware. To be specific, my main gripes are that the shims feel a bit cheap (not as thick) and the backing plate has a rough, textured finish.

I will update once I get a set installed.

Untitled by thecritic89, on Flickr
 
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