Toms Racing Pads

[Pielight]

Anyone tried Tom Racing Pads (presuming you can get them here (locally or mailed)? Thanks

 

 

 

[Las Palmas]

No more brake dust is hard to believe. Less than many other brake pads maybe, none very doubtful. That they are special for racing and whatever marketing talk is of little value for most of users of Lexus cars. When driving Lancia Rally EVO 2 we were searching for special everything, but for standard cars driving on public roads there is no reason to spend more money than the original, which on top of that may even be better for the car. Lexus / Toyota are not the biggest car maker for no reason. They pretty much know what they are doing.

Good brakes are good, better brakes are better. Just like with all parts. Want better brakes, I doubt brake pads will do much no matter which kind. brembo make some good brakes that might be better, but if car is not to use for track days on closed circuits, I am sure that what is on the very fine car you have is absolutely good enough and far better than what is on most cars.

[B1RMA]

10 hours ago, Pielight said:

Anyone tried Tom Racing Pads (presuming you can get them here (locally or mailed)? Thanks

 

 

 

Looks interesting, I know there has been a fair bit of discussion about pads. I'm interested.

Only Carbon Ceramic brakes have no brake dust at all from my experience with them.

[Las Palmas]

4 hours ago, B1RMA said:

Looks interesting, I know there has been a fair bit of discussion about pads. I'm interested.

Only Carbon Ceramic brakes have no brake dust at all from my experience with them.

brake pads make a difference. I only know from mountain biking. Have a steel rotor front and a carbon/ceramic on rear wheel. That they make dust I have no reason to doubt but seeing it - never. Bike needs a wash every time it has been out on the dirt roads/goat tracks, but as the pads on front wheel need to be replaced rather often something from them must be falling off.  The carbon/ceramic rear wheel rotor seems to, not at all, take anything off the pads. Then again it is not having enough suddenly stopping power to be on front wheel as while cold it only reduces speed, completely unable to block the wheel; if applying force to it on a long tour down it gets hot and difficult to dose. Perfect for rear wheel. 

Resin pads are easy to modulate and do not last long on a steel rotor with holes, they fade when getting really hot so not for downhill. Sintered metal pads are a bit more on/off and I use constantly on rear wheel and if going riding with crazy guys also on front wheel. 2 minutes to change pads, 5 minutes to adjust.

If it was true that Toms Racing Pads were not making wheels dirty, everybody would be using them. Who want dirty wheels?

[B1RMA]

2 hours ago, Las Palmas said:

Brake pads make a difference. I only know from mountain biking. Have a steel rotor front and a carbon/ceramic on rear wheel. That they make dust I have no reason to doubt but seeing it - never. Bike needs a wash every time it has been out on the dirt roads/goat tracks, but as the pads on front wheel need to be replaced rather often something from them must be falling off.  The carbon/ceramic rear wheel rotor seems to, not at all, take anything off the pads. Then again it is not having enough suddenly stopping power to be on front wheel as while cold it only reduces speed, completely unable to block the wheel; if applying force to it on a long tour down it gets hot and difficult to dose. Perfect for rear wheel. 

Resin pads are easy to modulate and do not last long on a steel rotor with holes, they fade when getting really hot so not for downhill. Sintered metal pads are a bit more on/off and I use constantly on rear wheel and if going riding with crazy guys also on front wheel. 2 minutes to change pads, 5 minutes to adjust.

If it was true that Toms Racing Pads were not making wheels dirty, everybody would be using them. Who want dirty wheels?

My experience of Carbon Ceramic brakes on my Boxster was a very positive one, speaking as someone who managed to boil his brakes on every track-day I did, it came as a very pleasant surprise to me that I could brake much later and much harder with the CC's in fact no fade, no wear, no dirt. 

Only downside is if you landed in the kitty litter around the edge of the track the stones could ruin them. I spoke to a few die hard GT3 Porsche owners who had all swopped out the Carbon Ceramics for steel rotors for purely that reason. They are very good but very expensive to replace.

[Pielight]

Thanks for all your replies and thoughts.

Performance wise, I'm pretty certain you wouldn't improve (or need to improve) on the original pads. The downside is dust...a softer pad will grip better and provide better performance, at the expense of wear and dust. As some of you mentioned, there will always be some dust, but some will be worse than others.

The originals are pretty pricey too and some on the forum have used EBC alternatives and have given good feedback on them.

Ive been considering the fact I'll probably never venture onto the track so perhaps the extra cost and dust aren't worth the extra few percent braking performance. The pads (Tom's) in the video seem a good compromise, but having a tendency to stick with OEM everything, I'll probably end up going down that road. 👍🏼

 

[Rob RCF]

Since we're on the topic of brakes and pricing, RCF/GSF genuine brake sets are currently on offer on a popular Lexus parts website (vagueness due to forum rules). I've already picked up a set. Best to replace pads and discs together.

[Pielight]

38 minutes ago, Rob RCF said:

Since we're on the topic of brakes and pricing, RCF/GSF genuine brake sets are currently on offer on a popular Lexus parts website (vagueness due to forum rules). I've already picked up a set. Best to replace pads and discs together.

I should have bought them from them a while back (dealer first flagged my pads at 4mm 18 months ago) as they've gone up £94 in that time. Do you know if we get a club discount with them?