Brake pads by Mintex, Pagid & Textar

[oracle10g]

:( Hi,

I'm shopping for new brakepads. I've seen many brands on the internet as mentioned above. Which ones are the best ones for Boxster 2000? I've seen Textar for $85-$99,

Pagid (black, I believe) for $65,

and PBR Deluxe for $55,

PBR Metail Master for $64

PBR Ultimate for $75

and Mintex Red Box for $49.

Since the prices are not that much different in prices except the Textar, the most expensive one, which ones should I get? I just want to get ones that are comparable to the Porsche OEM pads.

Thanks for the help.

[steve_wilwerding]

If you're not doing any track driving, buy stock pads. Even if you do light track driving, stocks are pretty good.

If you do serious track driving consider Pagid Blues or Pagid Oranges.

[ar38070]

You can try www.vertexauto.com for textar. Used to be $69.

[Paul Fraser]

My recent Brembo pads (which I believe are the OEM ones, had Textar markings that were identical to the Textar pads I replaced them with). Pictures on boxa.net

[Tool Pants]

The oem pads are Galfer front and Textar rear. They also have the Brembo name on them. The friction ratings are FF.

There have been a lot of mergers in the friction material buisness. For example. TMB Friction Group owns Textar, Pagid, and Mintex. PBR use to be Repco.

A year or two ago we put in front pads made by Remsa. They were only about $40 and the owner likes them on his street car. They are repackaged and sold under different names. The rating is FE.

[oracle10g]

How about the Pagid Black that I mentioned above, is that as good as the stock OEM pads from the dealer?

[Highlander]

I have the Sport Black in my car. Great feeling pad, but a little noisy. If you can deal with some brake squeal, I would highly recommend them. If you want silent brakes, go with OEM.

Graeme

[Carl-Fl]

I went with EBC pads from Tire Rack and no squeal or dust. I did a DE event and they worked okay for me with no overheating. I believe they were about $90, it's been two years now.

Good Luck

Carl

[por911]

I just replaced the front & rear pads & rotors on our 01 (2.7) with factory parts and the front pads were stamped Brembo, the rears were Textar. PBR are garbage, poor casting and fit. Pagids are a hit or miss, lately I've noticed there castings are not nearly as good as they used to be but I would take them over Mintex. If your going to track the car , then Porterfields are fairly good. :cheers:

[Tool Pants]

I bought Mintex from ebay for $50 because I wanted to try something different. Is this the "Red Box" Mintex pads I see mentioned - because it comes in a red box? The friction rating for the Mintex I bought is EE. The oem pads are FF. We have put in RMSA pads that cost about $40 that had a higher FE rating than Mintex. We have put in Hawk pads that had a GG rating.

Mintex did not have holes for the wear sensors. Neither did the Hawk. RMSA did. My wear sensors have been removed and tied to the brake lines for a few years, so that was no big deal. It does have the locator pin which I have never understood the reason for, as did RMSA and Hawk. The car from the factory does not have this pin, but when you buy replacement pads from Porsche it does.

Just to do something different I drilled a hole in each Mintex pad for the sensor.

The Mintex pads are in and for the first time in years I have wear sensors.

[oracle10g]

Toolpants,

How are the Mintex?

[oracle10g]

Also, where do I get the Galfer pads for the front? Thanks

[oracle10g]

What is the tolerance level or minimum thickness on the front disc?

[Highlander]

It is stamped on the rotor hat. If you take a wheel off, you will be able to see it. For the front it is right around 1" (25.4mm), but I don't recall the exact nunber.

Anyhoo, once you get the wheel off, you should be able to find it easily.

Graeme

[KevinC]

What is the tolerance level or minimum thickness on the front disc?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Initially, Boxster front rotors are 24mm thick and 2mm of wear is allowed. The rear rotor starts at 20mm. Boxster S rotors are 4mm thicker front and rear. In all cases, 2mm of wear is allowed.

[Tool Pants]

Toolpants,

How are the Mintex?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They have been in for 4 months and they are fine. I have notice no difference from the original pads. Just remember they do not have the hole for the sensor.

[Highlander]

I have a report on the Pagid street pads (black) I put on in March.

They are toast! They worked well, had good feel and decent bite, but were a little noisy on the street. I completed 7 track days and 4000 miles - all on street tires. I was surprised to find the friction material was almost completely gone! Interestingly, both front and rear have worn equally. In the past, I have gone through 2 sets of fronts for each set of rears so this wear pattern is atypical of the Pagid Orange race pads I have used in the past.

Graeme

[LemmyCaution]

Toolpants,

How are the Mintex?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've had the Mintex Reds for 8000 miles (year). They work well for me - 90% urban/freeways and 10% the occasional hard canyon run. I bought the Mintexes based on John Brown's positive experience on PPBB.

On a particularly aggressive canyon run, my OE pads were really stinking and fading. Maybe it's just me but, I find that Iamb harder on the brakes on canyon runs than during my rare track times.

At that point, I changed to Mintex 1144s (Blue Box) - they're great light track pads and were terrific in canyon runs but elicit nasty stares when I'm driving to work in Beverly Hills- they squeal like stuck pigs when cold. I ran the blues for approximately 17000 miles - 2 years.

I switched to Reds for regular street use and will use either Mintex Blue or Pagid Oranges next time I do a track event. I'd like to try the Pagid pads as they seem to be the consensus choice.

The Reds do better than my OE pads on hard runs. My understanding is that Porsche sources pads from several manufacturers. I was not impressed with the OE pads (stock 99 Boxster pads).

[my89_928gt]

I have been using Mentex pads for just over a year on my Boxster and I like them a lot. Also, my pads had the holes in it for the wear sensor.

I hate and will never buy the factory pads. The amount of brake dust is unreal. I'm still can't belive porsche used them(they must have gotten a good price on them).

Oh, I have about 15K miles on these pads.

Richard