Do these cars wear rear pads much faster than fronts? I initially thought my car (5200 miles when purchased) had some track time on it given (1) the carfax said new tires installed a few months prior by the dealer and (2) the rear pads are about 1/2 the thickness of the front pads so I figured only new front pads were put on before sale.

However, I measured the tires and the rears are just below 6/32nd and the fronts are 7/32nd (RE050A which I belive are 10/32nd when new), so it looks like the car didn't get new tires. The Aston dealer also was pretty adamant the original owner is not the track day type, but that still leaves me scratching my head why the front pads look new and are almost 2x the thickness of the rears? Maybe the much larger front size pads and rotors (380mm) means they wear slower than the rears? I always figured most cars wear front pads faster, but my old G35 coupe gobbles rears up faster so maybe the Aston does the same?

 

The traction control makes the rear pads wear faster.

 

I want to get some secondary de-cat pipes ordered and am looking for a little more feedback. I'm torn between VelocityAP's straight de-cat pipes and Fabspeeds X pipe. Was thinking I'd do secondary de-cats first DIY then see if I still want to swap the sports muffler. Both companies have been fantastic with sharing information and I think the choice boils down to if:

(1) The X pipe is almost $500 more, it should sound more refined than the straight pipe sounds great in Cattmann's video above but hard to judge decibel increase which I'm also looking for), but may be a little quieter than straight pipe option. The X pipe will give a little more hp gain due to exhaust savaging. (I'm more concerned about sound and increasing volume than incremental hp or weight changes, but I'll certainly take what I can get).

(2) Velocity AP has a supersport muffler that has a built in X pipe, so doing X pipe in the secondary cats will be a bit redundant and not worth the extra $500 -- better to put that toward the replacement muffler.

I guess my concern is how much volume will the X pipe or straight secondary cat delete add on a 2014 V8 Vantage? If it's negligible volume that will still leave me wanting to swap a muffler, I'm better off starting with the stright pipes since (1) they may be a little louder right off the bat and (2) I can add the supersport muffler after that has a built in X pipe design.

Watching videos is really a tough way to evaluate exhaust options. Any first hand thoughts/opinions are much appreciated!

ETA: I'm so damn curious about the GT4 supersport exhaust option, but I get it's basically a muffler delete and will be WAY too much. http://www.velocityap.com/Aston-V8-V...supersport.htm Or will it , maybe keeping secondary cats and just doing GT4 muffler???

And I also like quicksilver supersport plus, so I'm really stuck. I think the above videos are a 4.3 Vantage which is a very different setup/sound than the later 4.7L so it's even harder to compare.

 

If you can wait velocity usually has an awesome Black Friday sale. Last year I got 200 cell cats and their tune. Very happy with the results. And 40% off is pretty awesome, just watch the vender classified section in November.

 

great tip! I can Wait but they can't confirm holiday deals yet. Could get a lot more goodies at 40% off.

May do just straight cats cats now though since they are pretty cheap and easy diy

 

I understood the traction control operated the parking brake not the rear brakes

Am I wrong?

Graze

 

Unless the tech told me or I understood wrong, should be the rear brakes. My rear pads were at 5mm, fronts were at 8mm. Fronts wear faster by far on any car I've ever had [3 sets to every rear set on my Z]. Only traction control could explain why the rears wear faster.

 

Traction control is on rear brakes not e brake. It makes sense. I forgot my xfr wears back fast too, a ton of supercharged power and aggressive stability control (which is needed for most people on a car like that and is awesome so my wife can daily it in Michigan winters with snow tires -- shockingly good car on snow).

I dont notice the astons traction kicking in much on normal aggressive street driving, but defintatwly notice the grab on the xfr.

 

The TC in my 350 and 370 was horrible, you would feel every time it did anything so I'd turn it off as soon as I started the car. It was explained to me the AM TC is so good you'll never feel it. I don't know if that's true because I still turn it off as soon as I start the car,

 

I notice the TC light going off quite often, even in 2nd gear at times

 

The light tells you it's working, but does the seat of your pants feel it?

 

it is very subtle, I feel like the car slides or turns left a little ever so slightly when it kicks in

my tires aren't that sticky and its usually quite cold here so TC does activate often

 

I'm in that same cold belt you are, just not quite as windy!

I still have the original tires so when they break loose and it's cold it's tough to keep it off redline. That may have something to do with my bad habit of putting the right pedal on the carpet. Still working on that but you know how hard it is to break bad habits

 

I understood the traction control operated the parking brake not the rear brakes

Am I wrong?

Parking brake is mechanical with a cable to the lever, It's not plugged in to anything.

Rear brake pad thickness starts out @ 7mm of material. Fronts are more like 10mm new. so they are 70% less from the start.

 

The rears are not 10mm like the fronts? I've never known of a car that had thinner pads on the rears, but I've never have an Aston either.