Carbotech 1521 brake pads, how are they?
 

Hey everyone, just looking for a few reviews of Carbotech 1521 "bobcat" brake pads. I'd be running them in conjunction with my Carbotech XP8's since they're compatible. Unless eveyone and their mother has had a horrible time that's my plan. Opinions/thoughts/advice?

I'm using these pads in my BRZ between track events, and also in my Legacy.

My use is very similar to yours, except I use xp12/10 on the track. I really like Carbotech, and the 1521 is no exception. They're quiet, grippy, low dust, and easy to break in. In fact they seem to need no break-in at all - they were great right out of the box. They occasionally squeal very slightly, but it's hardly noticeable, 1000x better than the XPs; 1,000,000x better than HP+.

The only comparison I have is with Hawk HP+, and there is really no comparison. HP+ are shockingly noisy (worse than the XPs), fade badly (worse than OE), and the dust seems to eat wheels!

Compared to OE, the 1521 needs a lighter touch because of the higher friction, provide pedal feel similar to the XP (I think because the pad material doesn't compress), but are ever so slightly noisier than OE. They dust about the same as OE, but the dust seems completely benign and just wipes off my OE wheels. I found the 1521 doesn't fade on the road whereas the OE faded predictably.

They're a bit pricey, but worth every penny IMHO.

Similar to @ansibe I use 1521 for street and XP10 for track. They do the job, no noise on my set up (Sprint Kit). I haven't noticed dusting as I rarely clean the outside of my car. I have no idea how they handle any sort of abuse because I don't give my car a hard time on public roads.

Hey, Captain, what pad shape do you use on the Sprint Kit? I don't know what pads fit that caliper.

The 1521 are excellent street/autox pads, but are not made for track use.

CTW7420 is the shape you want.

http://counterspacegarage.com/ct-152...p8350-d41.html

Carbotech 1521 brake pads, how are they?
 

I use them on AP Sprint front / stock rear on the street. Great for that purpose and they do fade when pushed on track/ax as expected. No need to clean up rotors when swapping to AX6 or XP12 pads. Very happy with this combo.