Save the price of the pads when buying an EBC Pad and 2-Piece Disc Kit.
EBC Racing™’s fully-floating 2-piece brake discs combined with track-focused Bluestuff™ pads represent the ultimate braking upgrade for high powered vehicles driven fast on road or frequently driven on track.
EBC’s Bluestuff™ material is R90 approved and thus totally road legal, yet has a higher emphasis placed on on-track performance, making it the perfect choice for customers who want to keep their car road-legal but demand excellent performance when they get to the racetrack. Bluestuff™ has a high cold friction level, excellent pedal ‘feel’ and boasts a higher fade resistance over EBC’s popular Yellowstuff™ compound.
EBC Racing’s 2-piece fully-floating brake discs are engineered from the finest materials without compromise, resulting in one of the highest quality 2-piece brake discs available in today’s marketplace. These discs are equally at home on the road or at the race track.
Outer friction rings are cast from high-carbon G3500 disc alloy, giving excellent wear properties and crack resistance even after heavy on-track use. EBC’s patented stainless steel SD-Drive bobbins allow the braking ring to float freely and independently of the centre bell, reducing stresses and eliminating the chance of warping, whilst each bobbin location features an anti-rattle clip for totally silent operation. All discs feature 48 curved vanes and are handed to each side of the car allowing effective heat dissipation.
EBC Racing’s 2-piece discs often offer a weight saving over OEM parts, helping to reduce rotational un-sprung mass that has a positive effect on driving dynamics. Additionally, when the disc eventually becomes worn, the hub can be retained replacing only the outer friction ring which reduces long term operating costs.
After an extensive development program, thousands of hours dyno testing, and the construction of a brand-new production line at the EBC Brakes World Headquarters in Northampton, UK, EBC are pleased to launch a new range of high performance 2-piece fully-floating brake rotors under the newly formed EBC Brakes Racing sub-brand.
Embarking on this project, the EBC Brakes Racing team’s mission was a clearly defined one; to develop the highest quality 2-piece floating brake rotor available on today’s marketplace. The componentry and technology used in these brake rotors exemplifies this pursuit of ultimate and absolute quality, culminating in a brake rotor that is perfectly matched to the highest braking demands of modern performance road and race cars.
‘SG2F’ rotors that serve as a direct replacement for performance vehicles where 2-piece brake rotors are fitted as standard, e.g. Nissan GT-R (R35).
Where the vehicle has a 2-piece pin-drive brake rotor as original equipment, EBC’s SG2F 2-piece rotor upgrade seamlessly replaces the pin-drive rotor with a true fully-floating 2-piece rotor, whilst requiring no vehicle modifications.
SG2FC 2-piece floating rotor conversions that upgrade OEM 1-piece cast iron rotors to performance 2-piece floating alternatives*, e.g. Ford Focus RS (mk3), Honda Civic Type R (FK8)SG2FK rotors that are included in EBC Brakes Racing’s Balanced Brake Kits™.
Every outer ring is cast from the highest-grade disc alloy ‘G3500’. Derived from race technology and having a high carbon and high copper metallurgy, G3500 disc alloy has superior thermal conductivity and heat cycling durability for maximum brake rotor life and performance, particularly during harder driving or track driving.
EBC Brakes Racing would like to emphasise that EBC puts as much effort into development of our rotor metallurgy as what we put into development of our pad friction materials. The pad and rotor combined form the friction coupling; if either component is of poor quality then the outcome will likely be poor overall system performance. The best brake pad in the world used on a low-quality rotor with a bad metallurgy will result in merely average overall performance, since the pad will not be able to deposit the ‘transfer layer’ onto the brake disc that is critical to high brake system performance. For this reason, EBC Brakes Racing use only the highest quality disc alloy available.
The benefits of using a high-performance metallurgy are evident after testing EBC Brakes Racing’s 2-piece floating rotors against the recently introduced and extremely harsh ‘Reg 90’ dynamometer routine. The EBC 2-piece rotors completed two full test cycles back-to-back with zero disc cracking and no visible disc crazing. To put this into perspective, most OE discs show signs of cracking at stop 40 and then fail at 50% through just one R90 test, at stop 80 of 150. The quality of EBC’s metallurgy coupled with the fact that the disc is fully-floating in its design allows EBC’s 2-piece rotors to outperform most OE discs by a factor of over 4x in the ‘R90 Thermal Fatigue Test’.
EBC Brakes Racing’s 2-piece fully floating rotors have been tested to withstand hundreds of hours the harshest track driving. However, these rotors are not a track only product. Features such as anodised hubs, stainless-steel hardware and the incorporation of anti-rattle clips mean these rotors are road friendly, making them the perfect choice for customers who enjoy regular track days yet also drive their cars on the public highway.
All cast iron rings feature 48 curved vanes and are handed left and right, ensuring the vanes always rotate in the correct direction, giving maximum cooling efficiency.
On many modern vehicles the vanes rotate in the wrong direction on one side of the vehicle, resulting in a higher disc temperature that leads to a temperature imbalance left to right. Unlike many OEM’s who sacrifice performance in search of cost savings on tooling, EBC Brakes Racing have chosen to make our rotor rings handed for improved brake system performance. Furthermore, whilst it is almost impossible to determine differences in quality between two brake rotors by looking at the exterior machined surfaces, a quick look down the vanes is often revealing. Look down the vanes of an EBC Brakes Racing rotor ring and it will be immediately apparent how smooth the cast features are compared to most competitor rotors.
That’s because EBC use a precision moulding resin sand to create our castings, resulting in a much smoother cast surface that is less restrictive for air flowing over the cooling vanes. A less turbulent flow means improved flow velocity. When thinking of the rotor ring as one large centrifugal pump, it’s easy to see how a higher flow velocity leads to improved disc cooling, allowing the disc to perform more efficiently as a heat exchanger. Quite simply, you can push an EBC Brakes Racing rotor ring harder for longer before it reaches a given operating temperature. This lower operating temperature extends the life of the brake rotor and reduces the onset of brake fade.
The mounting bells used in EBC Brakes Racing’s 2-piece rotors are each precision machined from a billet of aerospace grade aluminium, ensuring they are both strong and lightweight.
The bells are subsequently black anodised, providing an aesthetically pleasing and corrosion-resistant finish, allowing the mounting bells to be re-used for multiple outer friction rings thus leading to lower long-term running costs.
One of the smallest yet most innovative components used in EBC’s 2-piece fully-floating brake rotors is the stainless-steel SD-Drive™ bobbins. Unlike most competitor bobbins that are machined from steel and then zinc plated to cut cost, every SD-Drive™ bobbin is machined from a single piece of stainless-steel, meaning these bobbins can never rust.
The lack of rust mean that EBC Racing’s 2-piece discs continue to look great through your wheels for years to come, the elimination of corrosion around the drive bobbins also ensures that the brake rotor continues to float freely throughout its entire life on the vehicle, providing a robust and low-maintenance solution to rotor radial heat expansion. Often you will hear misinformed brake technicians stating that ‘floating rotors are for track use and should not be used on the public road’, however EBC’s innovative stainless-steel SD-Drive™ bobbins provide a solution that allows our 2-piece rotors to be used on the road without regular maintenance, even in countries where adverse weather and road gritting are commonplace.
Additionally, every bobbin location makes use of a spring clip that prevents disc rattle. This ensures the rotors are totally silent during operation and can be used on the public roads without the off-brake ‘rattle’ that plagues many other 2-piece floating rotors. SD-Drive™ bobbins operate on a ‘float in disc’ principle, meaning any wear resulting from regular expansion and contraction of the cast iron ring occurs in the slots in the cast iron ring itself, i.e. the component that becomes worn anyway after thousands of miles of braking. This allows the drive bobbins to be re-used for multiple outer friction rings, meaning only the outer ring needs to be replaced after a period of use, leading to significantly lower long-term running costs.
Worth pointing out that replacement cast iron rings from EBC are much more competitive than replacement rings from our main competitors.
Re-use of high quality components, coupled with the fact that EBC fully-floating rotors are far less prone to disc cracking, results in long-term disc running costs (or pence-per-mile costs) that is not all that dissimilar to much cheaper and much lower performance 1-piece cast iron rotors.
Lightweight with Lower Rotational Inertia.
It is widely acknowledged that a vehicle is constantly working against its weight whenever it is moving. Weight blunts acceleration, reduces deceleration, and slows the rate of changes in direction. A brake disc clearly adds to a vehicles weight but more importantly it adds to a vehicle’s unsprung weight. The fact that the brake disc is rotating also results in it having a rotational inertia.
The impact that a brake disc has on vehicle dynamics is therefore more significant than any other weight-adding component on the vehicle. The fact that EBC Brakes Racing’s 2-piece rotors offer a significant weight saving compared to similar sized brake rotors leads to improvements in acceleration, ‘dive’ under braking, and tyre road holding. Particularly in the case of SG2FC 2-piece conversions, the improvements in response of the vehicle before and after the upgrade is profound and highly perceptible by the driver.
Bluestuff™ NDX is a high friction sport and race material that now has R90 approval on almost all fitments for the EU. For USA and Asia markets where R90 does not apply, this compound is totally road safe and the perfect choice for performance vehicles driven hard on the road or track days.
Bluestuff™ is an entry level trackday and race pad that has good street manners and is actually R90 approved for street driving. There are two compounds within the Bluestuff range Bluestuff NDX higher friction 0.52 Mu and new Bluestuff™ B with a lower 0.42 Mu.
However, due to Bluestuff having excellent cold friction and being very controllable, this compound has quickly become the brake pad of choice for performance road car drivers in USA and Asia markets where R90 homologation does not apply. More recently, EBC is pleased to announce that Bluestuff has passed extensive road-focused testing and gained R90 approval on some E.U. fitments, making it unique in being the first truly track-focused pad which is also perfectly legal for use on the public roads across Europe. There is no requirement for E.U. customers to inform their insurance company following the fitment of R90 approved pads.
For customers with experience of EBC’s widely acclaimed Yellowstuff material, Bluestuff boasts a similar friction profile but with a usefully higher friction coefficient across the now larger working range, feeling much like you’d imagine Yellowstuff to feel after a double hit of espresso. Bluestuff has the added benefit of much faster bed in time has a high friction coefficient without feeling grabby, taking things up a notch from EBC’s Yellowstuff material by bringing superb pedal modulation to a track pad with even greater fade resistance.
When planning a track day, even bedding in of the Bluestuff and Yellowstuff grades is essential that you bed your pads incorrectly. As they tweak compounds to further gain performance this advice changes, latest advice on bedding in these two Hybrid grades for track use is here.
For customers seeking the ultimate road/track pad with even greater levels of performance, check out EBC’s range of RP-1 and RP-X race brake pads which deliver faster bed in and higher temperature fade resistance.
EBC’s track and race materials are exceptionally kind on brake discs, making them especially desirable for modern performance cars that feature complex and hugely expensive 2-piece brake disc systems from the factory. Customers report that EBC track and race pads are far kinder to brake discs than comparable granite-like semi-metallic pads, which may last longer but take the rotors with them.
When we say “Trackday” don’t underestimate this fantastic material. The reason we draw users’ attention to the words Trackday ( also known in the USA as lapping ) is because of this material’s fantastic ability to bed in quickly. Weekend fit and go drivers do not want to spend their laps bedding in brake pads.
Yet when used on more serious race track drivers this material delights and up to rotor temps of 550C /1030 F Bluestuff is the way to go. This material has been used by numerous spec series cup car racing groups in Europe.
The NDX pad material is bonded to the steel backing plates using the patented NUCAP NRS hook system which raises shear and bond strength by a factor of five and prevents pad to plate separation. The pads are then baked and ground and feature high-volume Vee grooves to catch the larger amount of debris from track use.
Target use is all types of fast and heavier cars in performance and race driving with a much enhanced lifetime over previous Yellowstuff grade pads.
R&D Manager Steve Payne checks out the first batch of the Bluestuff NDX material made with a revolutionary process to produce the highly acclaimed EBC Bluestuff NDX Race Pads. The process involves 5 steps never before used in friction materials and sets EBC Brakes firmly in the lead as a provider of brake friction.
Bluestuff is available in NDX high friction version at 0.52 Mu and a lower B version for many rear applications on lighter cars with a lower 0.42 Mu.
EBC Bluestuff are heat scorched which helps bedding times but you still need to take care especially on the highway and when using on part worn rotors. Use the brakes gently for 200 miles, gradually increasing demand on the brakes in a SAFE ROAD ENVIRONMENT until you feel totally confident and can evaluate their stopping distances in all traffic conditions.
Remember, it’s down to you and your bedding-in process. If you do feel brake fade a couple of times and even smell the brakes, this is totally normal and once achieved and the brakes are allowed to cool, they will have improved a lot.
There are several ways of surface scorching pads and EBC has chosen an infra red lamp tunnel for surface preparation of its pad ranges. The furnace is now scorching all pads for resale including the Bluestuff NDX range.
The curve shows that friction builds quickly during bedding in even after 2-3 stops but in a real world TRACK USE where rotors may not be perfect and calipers not serviced weekly (like lab dyno ones) the bedding in process with Blue may exhibit 20-25mm contact bands in the centre of the discs after 4-5 laps and on some standard street calipers some vibration.
This is simply the pad telling you “ I cannot hold onto the disc at these torques until I am fully bedded in”. If vibration happens you should continue driving whilst BRAKING EARLIER TO BE SAFE until the contact band widens to almost entire disc/rotor sweep at which point the vibration will stop. In street use the torques will not normally be enough to generate vibration during bed in but drive safely for 200 miles gentle brake use to bed in your new brakes and test them to performance in a safe and quiet road environment until you have total confidence that they are bedded. Hitting the brakes too hard, too soon can not only shorten pad life it may cause loss of brakes and an accident. Bed brakes in progressively.
Pre-bedding burns off a lot of the volatile organics in the brake pad surface by passing the pads under an apparatus similar to a toaster after manufacture for a few seconds; this chars the surface and the paint around the pad surface but the result is a major reduction in bed in time which all drivers will appreciate.
Is important, an off-flat or ribbed and grooved rotor will treble bed in times for street or track use, this is a harder and more durable pad and rotors should be in almost dead flat condition. If you need to have your rotors skimmed we recommend ONLY the very praiseworthy ON CAR brake lathes from Pro Cut.
ALWAYS inspect pads every 30 laps and discard when friction material is down to one eighth of an inch or 3mm to avoid fade. In street use the lifetime is considerable – 20,000 miles and upwards can be expected, even when driving hard.
When using a street car brake system for racing, the mere insertion of a race formula pad does not transform your car into a track beast. Some cooling ducts often need to be added to give the brake system and pads a chance to survive race use.
In Europe, the ECE R90 brake safety regulations require brake pads to have R90 certification when used on the road and with Bluestuff, this is not available for all cars.