So as the topic says, looking for some feedback on the various pads available for the OTK karts, specifically for the newer BSD caliper.
I bought my kart and it came with some pads with a red backing, not 100% sure on the brand but I’m almost sure they’re not the OEMs.
Basically they’re not to my liking at all, they aren’t coming up to temp quick enough and I’m really struggling to get bite as our races are relatively short.
What is the general consensus of the OEM OTK vs aftermarket? I’m considering the BBR custom set from Canada has anyone run these?
The pads are most likely glazed if they aren’t biting correctly. Red backed would most likely be an original OTK hard pad but no matter what pad is fitted it needs to be bedded in correctly from new to eliminate glazing issues. Do some research on Frixa pads as you may want to go to a softer pad which heats quicker and bites better in a colder climate with short races.
We use Newfren brand in our OTK which come in 3 compounds and in my view are an awesome pad in the medium compound but you obviously have greater pad wear with softer compounds. The quickest way to to kill any brake pad is using brake cleaner on them which breaks down the resins bonding them together and leads to glazing .
That red backing plate pad is likely the OEM pad. They do take some heat before they start to work but once they come in I find them very easy to modulate and like them quite a bit.
I had to develop a very aggressive out lap strategy to get heat in them for the start of a race.
I have the ferodo pads in my box ready to go in to see if they deliver a little better cold bite, but if the modulation factor goes away I’ll go back to the OTK pads.
I’ve used the Ferodos last season and was happy with them. I felt they came up to temp slightly quicker than the OTK pads and offered similar feedback and feel so no downside in my situation. I plan to continue to use them.
I was only using them for short 8-12 lap sprint races though so if you run longer races there’s always a possibility of them getting too hot.
Haven’t heard of Goldspeed but another option for OTK is Frixa pads and they seem to offer multiple compounds to choose from. I haven’t tried them yet though.
Yea I’ve seen the frixa ones on acceleration karting but in their description of the product it says pads are to be used with the frixa rotor so that had me a bit skeptical on how it’d work with the oem otk rotor
I’ve used almost nothing but the ferodo ones on my 2016 tony kart (I forgot the exact name of the brake system, but it should be the one right before they went to BSD). I thought they were really good and consistent, although I think they wear out just a bit faster than the OTK ones. I’ve had to put new ones on for heat races a couple times (although I don’t recommend it, lol). They felt like they were bedded in after about 2 laps, but I was able to push them 100% just fine from the start.
Christopher - I used the ferodos on my kart with the newer BSD caliper and I have mixed emotions about them.
They def come up to temp much quicker than the OTK pads, didn’t really need some elaborate means of putting heat in them to get them to work.
Either my factory pads were glazed or the ferodos have a TON bit to them, but i found them very hard to modulate. It took very little pedal effort to lock the rear and finding that right pressure point on heavy braking vs. lock was quite hard for me. I put in like 80 laps on them yesterday and still couldn’t quite figure them out. it was also cold and the track was green and I was on tires from last season so those all could have been contributing factors
I may buy another set of OEM pads though just for the modulation control even though they take forever to get enough heat in them to work.
So finally I’ve gotten a chance to test them myself.
Let me confirm, before i continue… what was on the kart was the OEM OTK pad with red backing.
Ok so onto the ferodos, initially on my first session out with them they were absolutely horrible. I brought them up to temp gently and slowly started upping the tempo…after about 15 laps i still could not get them to bite…it was impossible to lock the rears even smashing on the pedal as hard as i could.
I came in, let them cool and then went back out for another session. This time they were better but still nowhere closing to providing ample stopping power.
Came in again and let them cool then on the third session out they started coming to life.
After an entire day driving they’re working ok now…much more consistent and better bite than the OEM pad. Still not 100% confident in em but better than what I had before.
The other options to consider are the goldspeed aftermarket and BBR out of canada has a custom developed set that they claim are the best money can buy… hopefully this thread stays alive and eventually someone will purchase one of these two on BSD caliper and give a review
You sure you don’t have air in the system somewhere? I found I needed frequent bleeds of both the caliper and the master to keep pedal feel and pressure right.
I broke in the ferodos on the stand warming up the engine and within 2 laps I was trying to figure out how to not lock them with anything more than moderate pressure.
I refused to believe that you actually needed to bleed the master with a gravity bleeder in addition to the caliper…until I broke down and did it and it massively improved pedal feel.
Shit design on the master to require that in my opinion…but indeed necessary.
I ran the same test day as Andy over the weekend and also had lockup issues and was on my used Ferodos that I had success with before. My take is that we were on used tires (stored indoors but still from last season) and peak temp was around 60F so relatively cool. MOST IMPORTANT, neither of us bled our brakes or put in fresh fluid from sitting all winter. We’ll do that before another test late in the month and report back.