Are they any good?

 

I bought a set for the front and the rear. I also purchased the cross-drilled rotors. I am waiting for the weather to get a little better here in MA before I install them. For now I am wearing the heck out of my original equipment to get all I can out of them. I will let you know when I do get them installed.

 

i got them when i ordered the slotted rotors. not sure which part (the pads or the rotors) makes it better, but i can feel that the braking is more controllable...

i put them on last weekend (front rotor and pads), so im still breaking them in.... havent had any full "tires-to-the-screeching point" braking yet, but im confident that these will do better than stock...

you know, i can feel the slots going past the pads. they make the brake pedal have this "humming" feeling when i brake moderately from 85mph.

deezo, there are two wire clips that i didnt get to use when i sawpped out the pads. they are the wire ones in a "v" shape that connect to the pads via a hole on the top edge (when installed) of the inner and outer pads. can you let me know if your pads have the holes? i called stillen and they said they would call me back, but they never did...


dfwmax

 

I'll check. I won't be able to give you an answer until Monday night. I'll be taking the 80MPH run to NY this weekend.

 

i just won a auction on ebay. i will be getting brembo cross-drilled and slotted rotors (front and rear) and 2 sets of metal matrix brake pads. should get them in 10days.

 

Crossed Drilled and slotted, the best of both worlds huh?

 

having both would be cool, the visual coolness of the x-drilled, with the effectiveness of the slots....

oh yeah, deezo, fyi -- when you first drive with the new rotors and pads, at least for me, they made this horrible sounding grinding noise (stopping and starting) for the first 20 or so miles..... my slots were getting off the rough bits of the pads, after driving 10 miles, i looked at the rotor and it looked ugly -- bits and pieces of brake pads in the slots, and the rotor surface looking bad because parts of the gold cadmium plating were coming off. but after about 50 miles, the surface is shiny metal, and i used a toothpick to push out the gunk in the grooves (no more gunk anymore afterwards, only brake dust).

dfwmax

 

I can't waiting to put my breaks in. My stock ones sound like crap when they heat up.
This is why Stillen tells you to drive like "grandma" for the first, I think, 300 miles to break them in. You can destroy your investment if you heat them up while they are new.
I know its going to be hard for me to drive 35MHP everywhere until I break mine in. I'll have to do something like take my Toyota 22R engine and intall it into the Max for the break in period.

 

I just ordered Stillen pads, slotted rotors, and lines yesterday. So your info helps! Does Stillen really recommend a 300 mile break in?

 

When you get your rotors, there will be and care sheet inside. It tells you how to brake them in. I don't have the sheet on hand but I am sure it said 300 miles. I was like "dagg". Do you know how hard that is going to be? They tell you not to make quick stops too. You know the quicker the stop, the more pressure and heat is added to the rotor and if you don't break them in first, you could warp the rotors. Then you'll try to stop from high speed and your steering wheel and brake pedal will be going nuts.

 

yup, they said break-in is doing slow-downs from 35 mi to 25 mi about 10 times. then they said to take it easy (no hard braking) for the next 300 miles.

the rotors look really nice when you get them -- all shimmery gold look. just remember, when you are breaking them in, they look bad, until the rotor and pad surface get used to each other, then it looks normal, but you can still see the shimmery gold surface (everywhere but where the pads touch the rotor) from outside in the sun....

another thing, some of the bolts that hold the caliper to the pad holder frame thingy (dont know the real name) and the bolts that hold the frame thingy to the rest of the car, are really hard to loosen. i had to use a short pipe on my wrench to get one loose....

oh, and my right rotor was rusted on to the wheel hub, i had to bum a ride from a friendly neighbor to go to the store to get some bolts to screw into the threaded holes to get that rotor off. so you might want to get those before dismantling your brakes. dont forget large pliers or a c-clamp to push that piston back in.

and another thing, the stillen pads didnt come with the shim plates (?) i reused the original ones (one shim for the outside pad, two for the inside pad). i read on another post that said the original shims were the best ones to use (no squeaking).

overall, very easy to do. i feel confident i could do my own brake job; next time, i'll try to learn how to bleed the brakes....

 

The Stillen metal matrix pads are good once they are warmed up. My driveway is slightly angled and the first use of the Matrix pads in the mornings made me wonder whether I was going to stop at the bottom. After the first brake, the pads were fine. I swapped them out for Porterfields based on the recommendations of this forum and have been happier with the Porterfields.

 

I have a mechanic that did all of my work for my truck when I had it. This dud put a lift in his 2 car garage and raised the wood beams in the roof section. He'll be doing the job for me. If there is anything that is rusted tight, he usually has me hold a torch to it while applying force to it. This guy is good and he doesn't ask for much either.
I'll keep this thread and look forward to the things you pointed out.

 

I didn't mean to call him a dud, I meant dude.

 

do the metal matrix give out alot of black dust?

 

dont hate on me but when upgrading or replacing brake pads, do you only need to buy the fronts and not the rears? thanks

 

No more dust than the stock brakes.

 

I was told by Stillen that they will give of less dust. I wanted to go with Carbon Fiber pads to reduce the dust more. but the CF pads will kill you rotors if they are softer than the pads. If you are thinking about going for the Stillen pads, I would say go. A little dust is better than a lot.