Brake pads Carbotech or OEM Mazda

I had a set of the Carbotech fast road/track day pads in my AW11 before I had to scrap it and they were amazing.

If your just daily driving then OEM is fine, if you're looking for a slight upgrade then I recommend Carbotech 1521 Bobcat pads. I have the Carbotechs and they are nice.

When I had my mini cooper, I ran the 1521s on stock rotors and never had any issue in the rain.

I have run the Carbotech 1521 on the street and can confirm they are low dust and noise, but not the most performance oriented.

I just changed my pads and rotors at all four corners asI was always very unhappy with the stock pads and rotors; mostly because of noise in the cold and the amount of brake dust the pads made. Upon inspection of my rotors, with barely 30k miles on them, there was a startling amount of material removed and channeling from the pads. I would totally recommend you replace the rotors at the same time. I too went with the ECS slotted and drilled rotors with Carbotech 1521 pads and love the setup. Very quiet, very little dust and good performance.

Carbotech Pads (F-CT682 & R-CT340 1521 Street Compound)

Carbotech XP12's are going on for this season with RE-71R's, went with XP8's before and should of done at least XP10's

I stand by Carbotechs. Whether it's my S2000 or heavy E90, they've done great is hard lapping all day long. Depending on the car, XP10s in front and XP8s in the back work well for most. You can call them and they'll recommend the right pad. Their super noisy for street use but brilliant on the track.

oem brake pads are ceramic (low noise, low dust, minimal rotor wear, less bite)

easy 40 minute job to replace brakes on my 14 Mazda 3 took about two hours. It all pops off super easy going great. Go to put them on, well shit they don't fit. Try the other side for some reason thinking I'm just having a stupid moment. Doesn't work either.