Power Stop Z17 Evolution Plus Brake Pads Review

[Ryan]

Today I replaced the rear brakes on my dad’s 2005 Subaru Impreza and used Power Stop Z17 Evolution Plus brake pads. There isn’t a ton of information on these so I thought I would take some pictures and give my impressions of these pads. I picked them up at my local Parts Plus (similar to AutoValue/Bumper to Bumper or Federated Auto Parts) along with some rotors.

My initial impressions of the pads are very good. They are a ceramic pad, with the usual slots and chamfers that you’d expect, and good quality attached shims. The Z17 is the Z16 pads that Power Stop also sells but with the addition of a hardware kit which is very nice since I like to replace the hardware when I do a brake job. It came with the abutment clips as well as new squealers.

The pads feel very high quality, with a nice finish and good looking friction material. They fit perfectly once I cleaned the rust out of the caliper bracket. Power Stop includes a bedding in procedure that I followed, and the pads have a nice bite to them. I have a hard time finding anything wrong with these pads so far, and they were very inexpensive at only about $35, which is hard to beat. With rotors it was only about $80 total.

These are probably going to be my new go-to pad as they seem to be good quality, include hardware, have good vehicle coverage, and are inexpensive. I think they’re a great daily driver pad. There are a lot of reviews of the Power Stop Z23 performance pads that are very positive so it seems that Power Stop makes a good product. The parts guys said they sell quite a few of them with no comebacks for noise, etc. This parts store mostly services local shops so I tend to believe them. These pads replaced a set of Perfect Stop (made by Wagner) pads that our mechanic had put on, which seemed fine but after a few years of NY winters the friction material was crumbling away and the shims were rusted away.

The job was pretty straightforward, the Subaru setup is the typical drum-in-hat rear brake setup, but when doing the passenger side I found one of the caliper pins was seized and I ended up replacing the caliper. This was the first time I had ever replaced a caliper and was a bit nervous opening up the brake system but it went smoothly. Gravity bleeding was pretty much all it needed, and the pedal feels great. Thanks Eric for giving me the information and confidence to do the job! Saved a lot of money for sure.

I hope this information is helpful to someone, and I will be updating the thread with how they are holding up with a few miles on them.

http://www.powerstop.com/product/power-stop-z17/

Pictures: https://www.flickr.com/gp/24010272@N05/62J4TL

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[college man]

You did a beautiful job. 🙂 I don’t see the black E coating on the rotor hat? so I
take it these will rust up? Seems like a quality product with hardware and all.
Power stop is hot in the market right now. keep us posted on how everything
holds up. 🙂 The best part is you did the job yourself. Thanks for staying dirty.

[Ryan]

[quote=”college man” post=149000]You did a beautiful job. 🙂 I don’t see the black E coating on the rotor hat? so I
take it these will rust up? Seems like a quality product with hardware and all.
Power stop is hot in the market right now. keep us posted on how everything
holds up. 🙂 The best part is you did the job yourself. Thanks for staying dirty.[/quote]

Thanks collegeman! By the way my brother and I missed you at the meetup this year. Hope you’ll be there next year!

No, these rotors didn’t have any sort of fancy coating on them, so they will rust up. I have used Centric Premium rotors in the past with the black painted hat and those are really nice rotors, but this time I went for convenience and got generic ones locally.

[wing0]

Hi,

I am interested in the power stop pads too and was wondering if you saw any coefficient of friction code on the pad material itself?
I couldn’t tell from your photos, but wanted to know what they are if you remember.

Thanks.

[college man]

[quote=”RyanS93″ post=149009][quote=”college man” post=149000]You did a beautiful job. 🙂 I don’t see the black E coating on the rotor hat? so I
take it these will rust up? Seems like a quality product with hardware and all.
Power stop is hot in the market right now. keep us posted on how everything
holds up. 🙂 The best part is you did the job yourself. Thanks for staying dirty.[/quote]

Thanks collegeman! By the way my brother and I missed you at the meetup this year. Hope you’ll be there next year!

No, these rotors didn’t have any sort of fancy coating on them, so they will rust up. I have used Centric Premium rotors in the past with the black painted hat and those are really nice rotors, but this time I went for convenience and got generic ones locally.[/quote]

I was bummed about not making it to the meet up this year. Looking forward to next year. 🙂

[Ryan]

[quote=”wing0″ post=150378]Hi,

I am interested in the power stop pads too and was wondering if you saw any coefficient of friction code on the pad material itself?
I couldn’t tell from your photos, but wanted to know what they are if you remember.

Thanks.[/quote]
Good question. I honestly can’t remember for sure what the code was but I do remember seeing one on there. I can’t say for 100% certain but I think they may have been FF? I very well could be wrong there though. Sorry!

I do very much recommend these pads however so I’d say go for it. If you want something with more performance their Z23 pad gets excellent reviews as well.

[Author]

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