Technical Info · Brakes
Where the Vector2 Actually Lands
We put our GR86 front pad next to the eleven compounds people cross-shop it against — Ferodo, EBC, Hawk, Project Mu, Endless, and Carbotech — using each manufacturer's own published data.
01 / ComparisonWhere Vector2 sits in the stack
Here's the useful part. With one exception, Vector2 doesn't line up neatly against a single competitor pad — it lands between two rungs in each brand's own ladder. Above the street-biased option, below the dedicated track compound.
In four of the six brands here, that gap is real and it's wide. The street pad below tops out somewhere between 400°C and 550°C, the track pad above starts at a friction level and a price that only make sense if you're chasing lap times, and there is nothing in between. That gap is the entire reason Vector2 exists.
Prices cited throughout are retailer listings for front sets at time of writing and will vary. Friction and temperature figures are each manufacturer's own published data; test protocols differ between brands, so treat cross-brand μ values as directional rather than a controlled head-to-head. Where a manufacturer publishes a curve instead of a number, we've linked the source.
02 / ComparisonsComparisons to other well-known brake pad brands' street / track options
Ferodo DS2500 — the single best comparable
Of everything here, the DS2500 is the pad Vector2 most resembles. Ferodo positions it as a track day and light race compound, and the fade curve published on page 6 of their car racing brochure has a similar shape to ours — friction that holds rather than spikes and collapses. If you've run DS2500s and liked them, Vector2 is the closest thing on this list, at roughly 40% of the price — DS2500 fronts list at $185.
EBC — a clear step up from Yellowstuff, ranks below Bluestuff
Yellowstuff is an organic compound built on resin and aramid fibers, and EBC themselves note it isn't recommended for track use because of fade above 400°C. Vector2 is semi-metallic and tested to twice that temperature, which is the whole difference. Bluestuff, on the other hand, is genuinely a tier above Vector2 with a higher coefficient of friction — if you've outgrown what Vector2 does, that's a reasonable direction. Notably, both EBC pads land at the same number: Yellowstuff at $157 and Bluestuff at $157.
Hawk — above HPS 5.0, below HP+
Hawk publishes a friction-versus-temperature graph for their street compounds out to 800°F, and HPS 5.0 ($170) sits around 0.31 μ at the top of it. Vector2 is above 0.37 at that same temperature — roughly 20% more friction where a track session actually puts you. Go the other way and HP+ is the better pad on outright μ, with the noise and dust that come with it, at $196.
Project Mu — the clearest illustration of why range matters
There's no good single comparable in the Project Mu lineup; Vector2 lands in the gap between Type NS and HC+. NS publishes a higher friction range than Vector2 on paper — 0.34 to 0.43 — which looks like a win until you get to the temperature. NS is rated to 400°C, isn't designed for track use, and lists at $132. Vector2 was tested to 800°C. On a street drive NS will feel strong; three sessions into a track day, that number has stopped describing what the pad is doing. HC+ is the opposite trade: real track capability with 0.43–0.58 μ to 800°C, at $235 a set and with street manners to match.
Endless — a $126 jump with nothing in the middle
Same story, wider gap. SSM-Plus is rated to 550°C and sits in Endless's road car category — they don't describe it as a track pad, and at $179 it's already more than twice the price of Vector2. The next step up is the MX72, a genuine track compound with higher friction, at $305. There is nothing between them. If you want a pad that survives a full HPDE session but you aren't ready to spend $305 and live with a race compound on your commute, Endless doesn't currently have an answer.
Carbotech — from autocross straight to track, with a $6 gap
Carbotech's own compound guide jumps from AX6, which is built around autocross and maxes out at 537°C (1,000°F), to XP8, the lowest rung of their track range. XP8 advertises 0.56 μ — considerably more bite than Vector2, and more pad than most drivers on stock or summer tires will use.
The pricing is the interesting part. AX6 lists at $206 and XP8 at $212 — six dollars apart. That's not a ladder with a missing rung so much as two products aimed at two different events, with the street-and-track driver falling between them.
OEM — the pad most of this is measured against
Worth stating plainly, because it's the pad almost everyone reading this is currently running: the factory GR86 pad is an organic formulation, and it's currently priced at $75. It's a reasonable street pad and it's quiet, but it isn't built for track use and it will tell you so partway through your first session — that's the pad Vector2 is designed to replace.
If you're due for pads anyway and you have any intention of doing a track day, replacing an organic compound with one tested to 800°C is the single highest-value change you can make to the car's braking system.
03 / BoundariesWhat Vector2 is not
Be clear about the ceiling
Vector2 is not a dedicated race pad, and we don't market it as one. If you are:
- Running wheel-to-wheel or endurance racing
- Chasing tenths in a competitive time trial class
- On slicks or a serious R-compound with the corner-entry speeds that come with them
- Running aero and downforce that raise your energy load well past a stock-power car
…then you want a dedicated track compound, and you should be prepared to swap pads and accept what that compound does to your rotors and your commute. That's a different tool for a different job, and pretending otherwise would waste your money.
Vector2 is for the driver on stock or summer tires who wants one set of pads that handles a real HPDE weekend without fade and still behaves in traffic on Monday.
Background
Vector2 was built to answer one question: what does a brake pad have to do if you drive to the track?
Not trailer it. Drive it. Commute on it Monday through Friday, run a canyon road on Saturday morning, do four sessions at an HPDE on Sunday, and drive home on the same set. No pad swap in the paddock, no second set of wheels, no bedding procedure in a parking lot at 7am.
That's a harder brief than it sounds. A pad that's happy cold and quiet in traffic usually gives up somewhere north of 400°C. A pad that survives a full track session usually squeals, dusts, and bites like a light switch on the drive there. The design goal for Vector2 was to make an affordable pad that does both jobs honestly, rather than one job well and the other badly.
04 / BackgroundBuilt for the drive there, the drive home, and everything between
The compound was developed and validated in two places. First on a dyno at Link Engineering, an independent third-party test lab, where we ran a full friction-versus-temperature characterization rather than a marketing headline. Then on our own cars, in the conditions the pad was actually designed for.
That second half matters as much as the first. We ran a set through four months, four track days, and the daily driving in between, then measured what was left. Wear rates, rotor condition, and pedal behavior over a real ownership period — not a single hot lap and a photo.
05 / MethodWe publish the fade curve instead of a temperature range
"Operating temperature range: 100–800°C" is one of the least useful specifications in the aftermarket. It tells you nothing about what the coefficient of friction is doing across that span — whether it climbs, holds, dips in the middle, or falls off a cliff at the top. Two pads with identical published ranges can feel completely different at the end of a session.
So we don't publish a range. We publish the curve. The full brake fade and friction-versus-temperature data from our Link Engineering testing is available in the Vector2 design and testing writeup, and you can read it yourself before you buy.
Vector2 Front Pads
GR86 and BRZ. Independently tested, fully documented, $75.
All competitor specifications cited here are drawn from each manufacturer's own published materials and linked above. FactionFab is not affiliated with Ferodo, EBC Brakes, Hawk Performance, or Project Mu, and all product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Comparisons reflect published data at the time of writing and are provided for reference only — always verify fitment and application for your vehicle and intended use.