Hello everyone!
My GE8 just recently hit the 40k mark and I noticed some light squealing coming from when I brake from a cold start. Plus, when I really think about it, my brakes have started to feel a little mushy over the last year. I checked the factory pads and noticed that they're finally running a little thin, I haven't measured it but I think it's about time I replaced them.

I've felt that the OEM pads have served me quite well for daily driving. The brakes have saved me from a few OH-SHI* moments. I drive my Fit around 5-7k miles a year.

I have plans to do 1-2 HPDE events this year (it'll be my first time) with the Fit, so I thought about choosing some aftermarket pads that would give me a little more braking performance. My first thoughts were either Hawk HPS or EBC Greenstuff. I've read mostly good things about these pads as a step-up from OEM pads. After a quick google search, I discover that Hawk has come out with a replacement pad to the HPS series, called the HPS 5.0

I found the part numbers for the GE8 for these pads
Regular HPS

HPS 5.0

Further google-ing landed me on other car enthusiast forums with opinions on this new HPS 5.0 pad, they all say they're quite good and some have even said they're a little better than the regular HPS that they're supposed to replace.

A lot of my friends suggested stoptech pads, but I searched around and only found Centric OEM-style pads for the fit. However, one friend of mine suggested a brand that I've never heard of, Winmax: Winmax Brake Pads
He explained to me that they're becoming quite popular with the GT86 platforms, the forums and people have praised how well their pads are. They are also the brakes supplier for Spoon Sports.
Here's a posting over at the ft86club forums that breaks down the different pad offerings. A little bit about Winmax Brake pads, and other Japanese made brands for the FRS/BRZ - Scion FR-S Forum | Subaru BRZ Forum | Toyota 86 GT 86 Forum | AS1 Forum - FT86CLUB
Winmax does make a pad for the GD and GE Fits, and I found a place that sells them for the GE8
Winmax WM-259-W2 W2 Front Brake Pads Honda Fit GE8 1.5L - 2WD 2009-2013
Only gripe I have is the price of them, 115 seems like a lot to consider when OEM pads can be found for half that price. The mod-bug is biting me hard, and I want to get something a little better than oem, so I'm very tempted to try something new and out of the norm.

I also plan on replacing the rotors with Centric blanks and the brake fluid with ATE Type200. My factory rotors are fine, they could be turned and reused, but the rotors are so damn cheap at 25 dollars per rotor on rockauto.com, I'd rather just buy new ones than turn them.

Anyone here have any opinions they'd like to share before I hit the buy buttons?

 

Had these on the car prior to my Honda Fit and loved them:


Porterfield R4-S Street Brake Pads for your 2010 HONDA FIT - TopBrakes.com




Probably going with Hawk HPS+ for next brake pads though. Like to try different.

 

a vote here for not hawk hps/5.0...

super mediocre...

i have the stoptech street performance and would recommend them by far over the hawk...

porterfield would be a good choice as well...

 

Maybe you have a link for those brake pads?

 

Would really like to know where you found stoptech pads for the fit!

 

in fairness, i have a gd... apparently they don't make them for the ge... :/

sorry for getting your hopes up... porterfield would still be better than hps/5.0

 

Yeah if you plan to HPDE I don't suggest the HPS or Green stuff. Those are fine for street, but in the past even as a beginner and not doing much hard braking I was having issues with them (both types) by lap 4-5.

I also suggest the R4S as a beginner pad. They won't hold up to higher power cars/high speed repeated braking but for the Fit they're fine. You won't notice much increased initial bite, but they provide pretty consistent pedal feel and don't fade easily when paired with decent fluid. Pretty much any DOT4 should be fine with those pads and stock rotors for a beginner driver.

I have the R4S and have purposefully tried to fade them by repeated hard braking through a long set of downhill switchbacks here in the local mountains and the pads shrugged it off pretty well. My OEM pads and fluid were fading by the 4th or 5th switchback... I think there's a total of 10 or so in succession.

 

Thank you so much for your explanation! I am leaning towards the porterfield pads now.

 

I went with porterfields!


I'll probably install them this week, and I'll give another update with how I like them.

 

update?

 

I am a former employee of StopTech. They are a major sponsor of World Challenge and they have race pads designed specifically for TCB class. I don't remember the part number off the top of my head, but you could ask them to run a search for the Fit FMSI number in the SR36 or SR37 compound. You will not find this through any normal StopTech distributor. You will have to reach their racing distributors ProSystem Brakes or QTM.

 

Thank for the reminder!

It's been a few months and about 2000 miles since I've installed the pads and rotors. When I took out the stock pads, it looked like I still had some more meat left for another year or two, and the rotors wore very evenly. I think I'm either a very light braker, or this car doesn't seem to wear out brakes very fast.

I did a break-in procedure consisting of ten 35 MPH to 5 MPH hard slow downs, this was my first time having to break-in brakes and it was quite scary. I started getting fade fast and smelled a ton of smoke coming from the brakes. When I got out of the car, I saw smoke coming from the front brakes! I read that this was normal and expected during break-in. I left to get some dinner and to let the brakes cool down, then finally bringing it out to do a series of ten 60 MPH to 5 MPH braking. Afterwards, I inspected the rotors and found that the color had changed from the original metallic color to a slightly blue-ish color. No issues so far!

The next day, now knowing they're probably broken in now, I went around town to run some errands. The very first thing I noticed was how much more initial bite I got. Coming from the stock pads, this was a HUGE different in the amount of effort I have to put into the brake pedal. Also to note, I did NOT change the brake fluid as it still seemed very clear.

They make ZERO noise and I don't seem to notice ANY brake dust on my front wheels. I've been lazy about washing my car, (as well as being conscious about the California drought), so I typically wash my car every month or so these days. I have not notice any significant dust build up at all. This is definitely a plus for me. Compared to my mother's Volvo V70 wagon, which turns the wheels BLACK 3 days after washing them, these pads are amazing for very low dust.

I haven't had the chance to take the car out for HPDE, I've just started school and work every other day. But, I really like how I don't have to put much effort into the brake pedal to get the car to stop now. There have been a few instances where I've had to stomp really hard on the brakes and I think the ABS seems to come on a little sooner than what I was use to before. Overall, I think these are some fantastic street pads, I can't wait to push them on the track some day.

Thanks for the suggestion guys!