EBC Bluestuff NDX Full Race Brake Pads (DP5197NDX)

EBC Bluestuff NDX Full Race Brake Pads (DP5197NDX)Reformulated for faster bedding and reduced early life fade Bluestuff is our recommended entry level race pad. It brings along a medium plus lifetime and as such has been the choice for several seasons in BMW Cup racing. New Bluestuff is without a doubt the EBC Track day recommended pad. For longer races see the EBC RP1, RPX, or SR ranges. Bluestuff being R90 approved for street use also is a popular UPGRADE PAD for heavier SUVs, and 4 x 4 in street

Reformulated for faster bedding and reduced early life fade Bluestuff is our recommended entry-level race pad. It brings along a medium-plus lifetime and as such has been the choice for several seasons in BMW Cup racing. New Bluestuff is without a doubt the EBC Track-day recommended pad. For longer races see the EBC RP1, RPX, or SR ranges. Bluestuff being R90 approved for street use also is a popular UPGRADE PAD for heavier SUVs, and 4 x 4 in street use because of its incredible braking power and high fade resistance, and is very popular even on armored street vehicles.

Performance
EBC Bluestuff are heat scorched which helps bedding times but you still need to take care especially on the highway and when using on part worn rotors. Use the brakes gently for 200 miles, gradually increasing demand on the brakes in a SAFE ROAD ENVIRONMENT until you feel totally confident and can evaluate their stopping distances in all traffic conditions. Remember, it’s down to you and your bedding-in process. If you do feel brake fade a couple of times and even smell the brakes, this is totally normal and once achieved and the brakes are allowed to cool, they will have improved a lot. There are several ways of surface scorching pads and EBC has chosen an infra red lamp tunnel for surface preparation of its pad ranges. The furnace is now scorching all pads for resale including the Bluestuff NDX range.

Features:

• Track-Ready: Designed for aggressive driving and track day use.
• High Friction: Provides a high initial bite and friction level for performance braking.
• Street Usable: Despite being track-oriented, they are still suitable for street use.
• Deep V Grooves: Helps vent off dust and gases and maintain pad surface contact.
• Surface Coating: Features EBC's Brake-In coating for faster bed-in.
• Low Heat Fade: Performs well under high-temperature conditions with less fade.
• Long Life: Durable material that offers a longer lifespan than conventional pads.
• Reduced Disc Wear: Formulated to minimize disc wear compared to race pads.
• Low Noise: Engineered to produce less noise than typical race pads.
• Minimal Dust: Generates less dust than many other high-performance pads.
• Direct Fit: Manufactured to be a direct fit replacement for factory pads.
• Rotor Friendly: Material composition is kinder to rotors than many other aggressive pads.

Bedding Performance
The curve shows that friction builds quickly during bedding in even after 2-3 stops but in a real world TRACK USE where rotors may not be perfect and calipers not serviced weekly (like our lab dyno ones) the bedding in process with Blue may exhibit 20-25mm contact bands in the centre of the discs after 4-5 laps and on some standard street calipers some vibration.

This is simply the pad telling you “ I cannot hold onto the disc at these torques until I am fully bedded in”. If vibration happens you should continue driving whilst BRAKING EARLIER TO BE SAFE until the contact band widens to almost entire disc/rotor sweep at which point the vibration will stop. In street use the torques will not normally be enough to generate vibration during bed in but drive safely for 200 miles gentle brake use to bed in your new brakes and test them to performance in a safe and quiet road environment until you have total confidence that they are bedded. Hitting the brakes too hard, too soon can not only shorten pad life it may cause loss of brakes and an accident. Bed brakes in progressively.

Pre-bedding burns off a lot of the volatile organics in the brake pad surface by passing the pads under an apparatus similar to a toaster after manufacture for a few seconds; this chars the surface and the paint around the pad surface but the result is a major reduction in bed in time which all drivers will appreciate.

More information
Rotor condition
Is important, an off-flat or ribbed and grooved rotor will treble bed in times for street or track use, this is a harder and more durable pad and rotors should be in almost dead flat condition. If you need to have your rotors skimmed we recommend ONLY the very praiseworthy ON CAR brake lathes from Pro Cut.

Lifetime
ALWAYS inspect pads every 30 laps and discard when friction material is down to one eighth of an inch or 3mm to avoid fade. In street use the lifetime is considerable – 20,000 miles and upwards can be expected, even when driving hard.

Ducting and caliper drag
When using a street car brake system for racing, the mere insertion of a race formula pad does not transform your car into a track beast. Some cooling ducts often need to be added to give the brake system and pads a chance to survive race use.

Using Bluestuff NDX as a Street only pad
In Europe, the ECE R90 brake safety regulations require brake pads to have R90 certification when used on the road and with Bluestuff, this is not available for all cars.

Bluestuff is an entry-level trackday and race pad that has good street manners and is actually R90-approved for street driving. There are two compounds within the Bluestuff range Bluestuff NDX higher friction 0.52 Mu and new Bluestuff B with a lower 0.42 Mu.

However, due to Bluestuff having excellent cold friction and being very controllable, this compound has quickly become the brake pad of choice for performance road car drivers in USA and Asia markets where R90 homologation does not apply. More recently, EBC is pleased to announce that Bluestuff has passed extensive road-focused testing and gained R90 approval on most E.U. fitments, making it unique in being the first truly track-focused pad which is also perfectly legal for use on the public roads across Europe. There is no requirement for E.U. customers to inform their insurance company following the fitment of R90-approved pads.

For customers with experience of EBC’s widely acclaimed Yellowstuff material, Bluestuff boasts a similar friction profile but with a usefully higher friction coefficient across the now larger working range, feeling much like you’d imagine Yellowstuff to feel after a double hit of espresso. Bluestuff has the added benefit of much faster bed in time and has a high friction coefficient without feeling grabby, taking things up a notch from EBC’s Yellowstuff material by bringing superb pedal modulation to a track pad with even greater fade resistance.

When planning a track day, even bedding in of the Bluestuff and Yellowstuff grades is essential that you bed your pads incorrectly. As we tweak compounds to further gain performance this advice changes, our latest advice on bedding in these two Hybrid grades for track use is here.

For customers seeking the ultimate road/track pad with even greater levels of performance, check out EBC’s range of RP-1 and RP-X race brake pads which deliver faster bed in and higher temperature fade resistance.

EBC’s track and race materials are exceptionally kind on brake discs, making them especially desirable for modern performance cars that feature complex and hugely expensive 2-piece brake disc systems from the factory. Customers report that EBC track and race pads are far kinder to brake discs than comparable granite-like semi-metallic pads, which may last longer but take the rotors with them.