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Anyone Using Ferodo DS Performance Pads On The Front Of A 156?

20K views 75 replies 26 participants last post by  Rockstar 
#1 ·
I’m going to change the front discs and pads on the front of my 156 in the next week or so and was wondering, will Ferodo DS Performance pads offer much of an improvement over standard?

I had Ferodo DS2500 pads on the front of my previous 156 and found them a little ‘harsh’.
 
#39 ·
Fantastic discussion guys and right on time for me. All good stuff, and ratification of my own 'research' around the net, mostly this site :) to go with DS2500 and OEM rotors (ie not slotted, dimpled, drilled)...

One question though. What's the definition of an OEM rotor(disc).. a set direct from AR or 'any' ventilated disc (ebay etc)..?

I know little about discs, but I do know that metalurgy (carbon content, hardness, etc) would effect the pad response.. is this an issue.. who supplies the best OEM discs?

I am going to replace both the fronts and rears on my 03 1.9JTD Sportwagon, not really considering braided lines (really??) but will replace the fluid. I'm after solid bite, and good feel (not mondeo/citroen feel) and zero fade (motorway emergency).. the motorways over here freak me out a bit, i'm used to aussie space.. and my current brakes are absolutely the worst i've ever felt (mind you they are OEM from new 70K Miles ago)

appreciate all comments :)
 
#47 ·
Here's the blurb from the Buy Parts By website;

You've found the best place to buy car parts and car accessories on the Internet. Order online today, a rapid delivery is guaranteed.

We only supply original equipment quality parts, many of the suppliers we use supply directly to the car industry, the quality of our parts is guaranteed to meet or exceed those offered by franchised dealers.
 
#48 ·
You've found the best place to buy car parts and car accessories on the Internet. Order online today, a rapid delivery is guaranteed.

We only supply original equipment quality parts, many of the suppliers we use supply directly to the car industry, the quality of our parts is guaranteed to meet or exceed those offered by franchised dealers.
Ah, so all the parts they supply are of original equiptment quality, but not necessarily original equiptment (ie not made by the people who originally made the part, but made from the same design with the same materials and to the same quality)..

I guess it doesn't matter who made them then, or maybe the discs were in fact made by Scandinavian Brake Systems for Alfa right from the offset.
 
#50 ·
Yeah, no doubt they will be :)

Let me know what you think to the DS Perfs, I've got DS2500s on the diesel and they are better than standard, but can be squealy and lacked bite when cold, although they did stop you well if you pressed hard enough.

My V6 has stainless hoses, Tarox discs but not sure of the pads, you really do have to jump on the pedal to get it to slow you down but I've had the ABS kick in from 40mph when they were hot and thats on new tyres, so they do work bloody well :eek: :D

For everyday use though, the DS Perfs might be the way to go, although I reckon I'll give Performance Friction a go for my next set..
 
#58 ·
Don't get me wrong, they are very decent pads and good value for money too, but they're not the be all and end all of stopping power. DS2500 are better, Performance Friction are better, EBC Yellowstuff are better too, if what you want is fastest deceleration when you hit the middle pedal. But all 3 of those are dearer.
 
#57 · (Edited)
hi guys.
im after a set of these ferdo ds2500 pads for my gt jtdm just to give them a go as there is alot of people bigging them up. where is the cheapest place to buy them from for the front pads?
iv found them on ebay for £120, is this the cheapest?
and what are you guys running on the rears as they are still very important.
cheers
 
#60 ·
Nope, I've done about 20,000kms on my ds2500 and OEM disks and they fantastic. The first braking application of the drive is a little lifeless, but after that they are perfect... They only take one application to warm up and then they bodgy.. But cold or hot they rock.

Even when cold they'll stop you fast enough to rearrange your eye balls.

I'd suggest though that you apply copper grease or similar to the backing plates that will eliminate any squeal.. And if you do opt for them, make sure you bed them in as per the instructions - about ten hard stops from 60 mph to 5mph in a row. This will transfer pad material to the disks and takes them through some heat cycles.. during bed in, don't come to a stop, that will apply uneven material to the disk and cause brake judder.

They wear well too, I've used about 50% over 12,000 miles and they seem to play well with the disks too..
 
#62 ·
The pads went on brand new disks, I think they are DBA disks from memory but they are essentially standard disks.

I forget to mention that my rear brakes are completely standard oem disks and pads. I can't remember what the braking distribution on the 156 is, but I know its very front biased. Cost vs performance, I didn't see any point in the extra expense of upgrading the rears.. Works fine for me :)

The bed in procedure is a pain, but if you can be bothered with it, it pays dividends. If you can't, get the ds performance, they have great cold performance, but they fall short of the ds2500 when hot, their advantage is that you don't need to bed them in as far as I know anyway..

Personally I think the 156 brakes are a disappointment, but with this set up (and fresh fluid) they are significantly better in both performance and peddle feel.

Fit sticky tyres onto the car and the car will stop like you wouldn't believe - without the abs kicking in.
 
#64 ·
I realised early on in my 20v ownership that the brakes didn't work and I had to do something about it if this car wasn't going to end up like my 16v JTD - in-bedded in the back of a Merc (another story - the pillock braked to a stand-still at the end of a slip road).

My solution was DS Performance, which I find excellent, I know there are "better" pads but unless you intend to do track days or outbrake everything on the road they are more than OK for road use. At the same time I changed the front discs for Black Diamond grooved discs and the rears with standard Ferodo pads and standard discs - Brembo if I remember correctly.

The biggest difference came when I replaced the hoses with braided stainless and the fluid with ATE Blue. If the fluid hasn't been changed for a couple of years you will really notice the difference, no fancy discs or pads will work if the fluid is past it's best.

Just my 2p worth.
 
#71 ·
I have to agree with toxic ATE fluid and braided hoses are the way forward i had that and green stuff pads front and rear on standard disks stopped so much better than standard cold or hot.
 
#74 ·
On FWD I would keep rear standard. The faster you stop, the more the weight transfers forward onto the front axle and off the rear axle. So the faster you intend to stop, the larger the proportion of work being done needs to be done by the front pads. Last thing you want is an unloaded rear end locking the wheels!
 
#75 ·
just adding my 2p as far as the use of copper slip goes a little goes a very long way only needs to be applied to pads on the contact areas that sit on the caliper yoke and if it is a single piston sliding caliper only on the back side of the pad without the piston do not have copper slip in contact with caliper piston dust boot as it causes the rubber to swell and decompose it is important that the pads slide freely in their seats or you can have problems with uneven wear and squeeling may have to file edges of metal backing plate of pad to get perfect fit. also cleaning the area on the yoke wear the pads sit is very important.

Also just like to add that the best way to improve brake feel is to replace hoses with braided hoses front and rear as this removes almost all pedal travel
IMO don't hold much point in fitting hispec pads & disc to cars that are used 99% of the time on the road the performance gains in normal driving are not really that good and my 15 euro aspec pads have done 60k miles of hard driving on irish b roads
 
#76 ·
In normal driving the oem pads give sharper initial pedal feel and are better overall if you seldom encounter brake fade from overheating brakes.
For enthusiastic mountain pass driving DS2500's on the front and std/performance pads on the rear are very good once they're warmed up, despite slightly less feel the only limiting factor is the discs- they do increase disc wear,dust and when fully hot a lot of smoke:wow: (this is normal.)
You can get away with std rear pads as the EBD should compensate for them but will likely work them harder so when parking be sure to leave your handbrake off till they've cooled down after a spirited drive:thumbs:
 
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