That chart is pure bullshit. Why? Because without numbers the difference betweeen each pad may 5psi or 5 degrees F. Or it could be 500. You simply do not know. Without those numbers it is all marketing bullshit. The chart does not even really tell you what you are looking at. Fuck charts and diagrams, they can say anything they want. Numbers CAN lie.
Even worse, how is the pedal feel? Initial bite? Cold braking? I have heard some pads barely stop at all when cold. A chart, especiallythat one, tells you nothing. OOOH, look at the pretty colors! Someone learned how to make a chart in C.S. class.
Hell even the chart says not to use it as the basis for what pads to buy.
Sorry for the rant.
I see this all the time in the computer industry.
I am not saying the other pads suck, I have not used them, but I do know that the stock Bimmer brakes were good, the Ultimates wooped their ass.
I did a lot of reading on sites before buying my Ultimates and if all you do is street driving, finding something significantly better is not likely to happen. Not impossible, just difficult. Track use, you would possibly want somethig else, but even for some light tracking these pads should be fine.
By the way, 20k miles later (approx), the pads still have probably half of their life left in them.
How is that for getting your moneys worth.
I was just about to throw up a big rant about how much BS that chart was. One, as you mention, there are no numbers on there, nor a scale. It is like looking at a company's stock chart (that they give to investors say) where one stock has its daily peak waaaaaay above another's graphically, and the unit price is say 10 points higher. On a stock chart though, maybe the visible range is from 600 points to 650. That 10pt difference LOOKS huge, but doesnt really mean too damn much up in that range. Same shit here.
Second, they are STACKING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ATTRIBUTES! That is REALLY stupid. I want my ocmpany to look better than another, so I make a bar chart of some figures: I take stock price and number of employees and stack them...that makes for a chart that looks very convincing from a distance. On this, there is no good way to even compare the (unscaled) fade-temp data well...there is no zero-point to line them up on.
This is typical marketing BS. I doubt you are gonna find many (or any) pads better for a STREET vehicle. Maybe some do stop better in the end, but cold-bite is very important, noise, pad-life, and DUSTINESS is too. Nobody here is gonna tell me that they would take twice as much dust, or more squeal (the AU's have none that I have ever heard), or crappy cold bite, or 5000 mile life for a 10% increase in braking ability on their daily. Now, anyone who runs track-pads on their street car...well, courtesy is a part of membership here so I will just stop. It just isn't a safe plan.
EDIT:
Is this me trying to defend my purchase of the Axxis pads? Yeah, in part, it sure is. That company's BS chart was more than enough to let me go off on a rant and sound unbiased though. I did a lot of research before getting these, and it was well worth it. Having installed them on friends' card prior to my purchase and seeing/feeling the improvement also helped sell the pads. They are good. There are other good ones out there as I am sure many here are using. From my experience, these are the BEST I have ever used, and my freinds will agree.
