I think the standard brakes on the 1.4 are a bit pants. I've done a lot of experimenting with different pads and fluids etc. I posted this on another forum but I'll copy here to avoid re-writing it:
Regarding EBC:
Greenstuffs are fine for the road if you're not too heavy on the brakes. I had a set put in fresh for a Nurburgring trip last year and honestly, by the time we got to Eddy's I was calling the Fiat dealer to see if they could hook me up with a standard Fiat set. Dreadful performance pad. Bits chunking off them, glossy glass melted look to them after a few good stops. They stink horribly as they deteriorate too. Like melting plastic smell.
Yellowstuffs are brilliant. I use them on the race car and I'm having my EBC contact make me some 500 spec yellowstuffs in the lab. They're incredible. They stop you in much shorter distances, they don't fade, they don't chatter or squeal or take ages to warm up. A good 30% harder on discs though, you don't get nothing for nothing in this world.
Regarding others:
Fiat original part pads......are made of cardboard and bits of dry clay. Fade-tastic and short lived. Give it a miss unless you're really stuck.
Ferodo normal road spec pads (1500) are surprisingly good. Good enough to stand up to the punishment I doled out at the Spa and 'Ring trip and keep going for another 3000 miles before they cried enough. For pads that cost me £20 at the local motor factors that's not bad going.
Ferodo 2500's aren't bad. People rave about them but honestly, they're not all that. I actually feel the yellowstuffs are a better bet. The 2500's were grabby and gave the braking an on/off feel. They also didn't last very long. The Ferodo 3000's I haven't tried yet, but like the EBC Blue's they're track only. Have to be up to temp and are utterly, scarily useless in the cold. I watched a BMW guy stomp the pedal and sail past the corner while his 3000's were still cold. To say nothing of them being technically illegal for road use.
Red Dot fast road/track. I recall these as being pretty good. I last had a set fitted 2 years ago. They didn't last a huge amount of time as I recall but the bite was good. Fade was more noticeable but at the time I had standard brake fluid in so draw your own conclusions there.
Pagid Black. I've just fitted a set of these on all four corners of the 500. Still at the bedding in stage. I had to replace the rear bearings and the discs and these pads were what was available in a pinch. I can report back later when they've bedded in and I've taken Isabella for a decent thrash in them. Update: They're not bad. Not great, but not bad. The pedal actually feels more elastic under braking and the ABS seems to kick in later. Odd.
Worth noting that in all cases my front discs have been EBC Turbo Groove and generic pattern discs on the back. The only exception is the yellowstuff. My experience with them is on the race car which runs generic pattern part discs all around (ebc standard pattern discs in this case because they're almost free for me in return for stickers on the car). I'll report back on the yellows on the 500 when they get here next month.
The fluid has been a little varied throughout my experiences with different pads. Initially the fluid was Fiat standard stuff which boils if you look at it funny. I've tried generic dot 5.1, Motul Branded 5.1 fluid and what I'm currently running Castrol SRF.
If you're serious about stopping and you're heavy on brakes go for the Castrol SRF. It's not cheap at nearly £50 a litre but it works. Incredibly well. Boiling points are off the scale. Dry is 590, wet is 518. If you go with this then buy enough to fully flush your system out and don't do it by the push pedal, one corner at a time method. Take it somewhere, get them to open all four and get it pumped through with pressure. Then when you've put the standard amount of fluid in, pump another half litre through to make sure all the old stuff is out. SRF is patented chemistry and the formulation is different. It will not co-exist with other fluids happily. Interestingly though, it is safe for ABS equipped cars if my ABS is anything to go by.
Of course this is all highly subjective feedback but I'm heavy on brakes, I change them a lot (to the point where I can do front discs and pads change in under 20 mins) and I try to think about the differences in characteristics. Sometimes you're surprised (cheapo ferodos!) and sometimes you're underwhelmed (greenstuffs).
Regarding EBC:
Greenstuffs are fine for the road if you're not too heavy on the brakes. I had a set put in fresh for a Nurburgring trip last year and honestly, by the time we got to Eddy's I was calling the Fiat dealer to see if they could hook me up with a standard Fiat set. Dreadful performance pad. Bits chunking off them, glossy glass melted look to them after a few good stops. They stink horribly as they deteriorate too. Like melting plastic smell.
Yellowstuffs are brilliant. I use them on the race car and I'm having my EBC contact make me some 500 spec yellowstuffs in the lab. They're incredible. They stop you in much shorter distances, they don't fade, they don't chatter or squeal or take ages to warm up. A good 30% harder on discs though, you don't get nothing for nothing in this world.
Regarding others:
Fiat original part pads......are made of cardboard and bits of dry clay. Fade-tastic and short lived. Give it a miss unless you're really stuck.
Ferodo normal road spec pads (1500) are surprisingly good. Good enough to stand up to the punishment I doled out at the Spa and 'Ring trip and keep going for another 3000 miles before they cried enough. For pads that cost me £20 at the local motor factors that's not bad going.
Ferodo 2500's aren't bad. People rave about them but honestly, they're not all that. I actually feel the yellowstuffs are a better bet. The 2500's were grabby and gave the braking an on/off feel. They also didn't last very long. The Ferodo 3000's I haven't tried yet, but like the EBC Blue's they're track only. Have to be up to temp and are utterly, scarily useless in the cold. I watched a BMW guy stomp the pedal and sail past the corner while his 3000's were still cold. To say nothing of them being technically illegal for road use.
Red Dot fast road/track. I recall these as being pretty good. I last had a set fitted 2 years ago. They didn't last a huge amount of time as I recall but the bite was good. Fade was more noticeable but at the time I had standard brake fluid in so draw your own conclusions there.
Pagid Black. I've just fitted a set of these on all four corners of the 500. Still at the bedding in stage. I had to replace the rear bearings and the discs and these pads were what was available in a pinch. I can report back later when they've bedded in and I've taken Isabella for a decent thrash in them. Update: They're not bad. Not great, but not bad. The pedal actually feels more elastic under braking and the ABS seems to kick in later. Odd.
Worth noting that in all cases my front discs have been EBC Turbo Groove and generic pattern discs on the back. The only exception is the yellowstuff. My experience with them is on the race car which runs generic pattern part discs all around (ebc standard pattern discs in this case because they're almost free for me in return for stickers on the car). I'll report back on the yellows on the 500 when they get here next month.
The fluid has been a little varied throughout my experiences with different pads. Initially the fluid was Fiat standard stuff which boils if you look at it funny. I've tried generic dot 5.1, Motul Branded 5.1 fluid and what I'm currently running Castrol SRF.
If you're serious about stopping and you're heavy on brakes go for the Castrol SRF. It's not cheap at nearly £50 a litre but it works. Incredibly well. Boiling points are off the scale. Dry is 590, wet is 518. If you go with this then buy enough to fully flush your system out and don't do it by the push pedal, one corner at a time method. Take it somewhere, get them to open all four and get it pumped through with pressure. Then when you've put the standard amount of fluid in, pump another half litre through to make sure all the old stuff is out. SRF is patented chemistry and the formulation is different. It will not co-exist with other fluids happily. Interestingly though, it is safe for ABS equipped cars if my ABS is anything to go by.
Of course this is all highly subjective feedback but I'm heavy on brakes, I change them a lot (to the point where I can do front discs and pads change in under 20 mins) and I try to think about the differences in characteristics. Sometimes you're surprised (cheapo ferodos!) and sometimes you're underwhelmed (greenstuffs).
