Dixcel SD Type Brake Disc and M Type Brake Pad Review

With more than 60,000 kilometres clocked, it was clearly time to have my stock rear rotors and pads replaced for my Toyota 86. And if you are a truly spirited driver, the appreciation for a good brake system needs no further introduction.

Since my experience with products from Dixcel were no less short of sheer awesomeness, I got my stock rears replaced with the SD Type rotors and M Type brake pads (I have had it with the EC Type pads when it came to dust, read my previous post and you will know why).

Although most of the braking coefficient is taken by the front (because the front takes most of the car's weight in most scenarios), the rears should not be neglected especially if the fronts have been upgraded with bigger brake kits.

Let's begin with some fundamentals. With the modern Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD), braking forces will be applied to each wheels independently to achieve an overall braking balance to maximise stopping power while avoiding skids in tandem with the Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS). 

Therefore, matching your front and rears are paramount to achieving  good braking balance. Else, you will be throwing the EDB and ABS systems off tangent, no different from running your car with worn out tyres.

With that understood, you can clearly see from the pie chart the advantage of the slotted SD Type brake disc over stock. Based on my experience with the SDs on my heavier Lexus, the Dixcels did its job better over stock and I would expect no less in my Toyota 86. After all, the 86 weighs some 600 kilograms less than my Lexus so the difference in braking performance should be more obvious.

In my setup, I'm running a pair of AP Racing CP9040s up front, the SD rotors for the rears, a Beatrush master cylinder stopper, HEL steel braided brake hoses, M Type brake pads and DOT 5.1 brake fluids all round.

First impressions weren't much but letting the new rears break in for a couple of hundred kilometres of road use certainly helped.

As I drove on, I was actually asking myself a bunch of questions. How did those SDs and M Type pads make such a difference? Will someone rear end my ass if I stopped?

Fortunately or unfortunately, the latter had always been on my mind and with tremendous stopping power, you need to consider the cars at your rear when you hit the brakes. Especially on freeways!

With the travel of my brake peddle minimal, the braking response was improved and the 86 now brakes with so much more balance under all conditions in rain or shine. Finally, the car felt more controlled when decelerating and with each passing day she felt more and more like a race car.

Don't get me wrong, while the stock brakes worked perfectly fine, it was a little too front biased when I dug in with the APs for the front. With the SD rotors and M Type pads, there was more balance to augment confidence in harder braking. Thankfully, the M Type pads are low dust and noise so rim maintenance couldn't be any better.

The truth is that brake upgrades are fantastic!