Brake pads Hella Pagid or OEM BMW

Pagid Yellows (also branded as RS29) is what I have on my 987.2 track car. If you want a track only pad, I’ve had great experience with PFC08, but I’ve used that on my BMW128i track car, so take that into consideration. Both can be used to/from track driving too. Just be prepped for a lot of squeal. Both are dusty as they should so be aware of that as well.

I run Pagid yellows, and yeah, they love to squeal when they're cold. Cold, as in, like you said, not at track driving operating temperature. Occasional street driving is loud, but I don't concern myself with that.

Not only is the yellow pad performance better at the track, but they are Pagid's "endurance" pad, so, at least compared to stock, they last a good deal longer too. Performance and durability are easily worth a little noise to me.

I installed R56 front brakes.

M3 stock brakes are better, the GTI gets a little tail-happy under hard braking above 110-130mph.

Seems like there would be room in the market for a slightly detuned S55 base model without the fancy seats, brakes and wheels for about $5-8k less like the M3/M4: M3/M4 Competition.

I really love driving it though, particularly the brakes and the handling.

I put ~$120 worth of good Pagid pads on my 525i and had ZERO regrets. Especially for being freakin' $880 cheaper than the dealership! Brake pads take all of ten minutes to DIY, no reason to spend that much.

Have yet to find a better street pad than BMW's OE compound. Ceramics dust less but feel terrible.

The way the brakes begin to grumble during heavy braking is less impressive, but they work well enough.

the steering lacks the consistent weighting and tactile communication that a Porsche offers. For a car this rapid, it's not as talkative as it should be. We've also got reservations about the brakes. Our test car was fitted with competition-grade brake pads to cope with track use, but they still faded badly after a handful of hard laps.