Kart brake pads: how to choose, and what 15 UK shops charge
We compared 350 kart brake pads listings across 15 UK shops. The typical cheapest price is £25.00, and the same part number can cost up to 38% more depending on where you buy it.
UK edition2026-11-015 min readData: PitHunt weekly scan
Key takeaways
- 15 UK shops list 350 parts in this category; 19 part numbers are stocked by more than one shop.
- The typical cheapest price is £25.00; a tenth of parts cost £2.55 or less, a tenth £226.00 or more.
- Biggest gap for one part number: £283.83 on Complete OTK Brake System 2025 BWD.
- KKC Kart Components had the lowest listed price most often — 12 of the 19 part numbers stocked by several shops.
- Shops
- 15
- Listings
- 350
- Typical cheapest
- £25.00
- Biggest gap
- £283.83
- 38% on one part
What a brake pads does
Brake pads are the friction material the caliper squeezes against the disc. On most karts there is one rear disc and one set of pads doing all the stopping, so the pad's compound, its fit in the caliper and the state of the disc it meets decide how the pedal feels.
A pad compound is a recipe with a temperature window: it sets how much heat the brake needs before it works properly, how much bite there is on the first touch of the pedal, and how consistent the feel stays through a race. A pad that does not sit true in the caliper bites unevenly, vibrates and glazes. Bedding a new pad — heating it progressively against the disc — is what gives it its friction surface, and skipping it is the usual reason a good pad feels bad.
How to choose
1 · Fit for your caliper
Pad shapes are specific to the caliper; the wrong one will not seat, or will not seat true.
How to judge it: Match the pad to the caliper, not the kart. EBC's FA514 fits Kelgate systems, their OTK/Tony Kart profiles are BSS and BSD, and FA557 is for RiMO Evo 5 onward; Precision's range covers OTK, Kart Republic and CRG calipers.
2 · Compound for the use
Bite, fade resistance and life trade against each other.
How to judge it: EBC Green is a soft organic pad for short races; Red is a harder semi-metallic with more stopping power and more wear; Gold is a sintered long-life pad for endurance. Precision describe SBP as standard with a smooth progressive bite lasting 4-6 race days, LC as a harder pad for hot tracks lasting 6-8, and CFB as the soft maximum-bite pad for heavy drivers and late brakers at 3-5.
3 · The disc it will meet
Scoring, grooves or hard spots stop the pad making even contact, so a new pad on a bad disc still brakes badly.
How to judge it: Run a finger across the disc for ridges, look for a glazed shine, and measure thickness at several points — uneven wear points to a caliper problem rather than a pad one.
Compatibility. The pad must be the shape made for your caliper, and the rest of the system matters as much: the brake fluid must be the type the system is specified for, and shims and springs set the running clearance. Pads from one caliper family do not fit another even when the kart brand is the same.
Types, and the trade-offs
| Type | For | Against | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soft / organic | Strong bite from cold, progressive feel. | Shortest life. | Short races, lighter drivers, cooler tracks. |
| Hard / semi-metallic | More stopping power and stable bite when hot. | Needs heat to work; wears the disc faster. | Hot tracks, heavier drivers, late brakers. |
| Sintered / long-life | The longest wear. | Least feel from cold. | Endurance and high-use karts. |
- Organic, semi-metallic, sintered
- The three families of friction material, from softest and quickest to bite to hardest and longest-lasting.
- Matters when: Short sprints favour bite; endurance favours life; heavy drivers and hot tracks need fade resistance.
- Bedding in
- A controlled series of stops that heats the pad and disc together and mates their surfaces. One published procedure is 10 stops from at least 80 percent of full speed at 50 percent pedal pressure, 5-10 minutes to cool, then 10 stops at 75 percent pressure, and another 5-10 minutes before normal use.
- Matters when: Every new pad or disc, and after sanding a glazed surface.
- Glazing
- A hard, shiny surface on the pad or disc that generates less friction — less initial bite and a duller pedal.
- Matters when: After hard use without bedding, or a pad that does not sit true. It can be sanded off and the system re-bedded.
What it costs across UK shops
£2.55
a tenth cost this or less
£25.00
typical
£226.00
a tenth cost this or more
| Part | Cheapest | Range | Dearest | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complete OTK Brake System 2025 BWD cheapest at KKC Kart Components · 2 shops | £754.17 | £1,038.00 | £283.8338% | |
| Kr Big - Rear Brake Pad Black KZ Set cheapest at KKC Kart Components · 2 shops | £55.10 | £77.95 | £22.8541% | |
| Senzo Brake Pad Set Otk Bs5 Sa2 BRAKEPAD-SENZO-OTKBS5 cheapest at KKC Kart Components · 2 shops | £27.00 | £38.95 | £11.9544% | |
| Tony Kart 2004-2016 Ferodo Brake Pads cheapest at Next Karting · 2 shops | £21.00 | £32.50 | £11.5055% | |
| OTK Rear Brake Pad Pre 2017 BS5-SA2 cheapest at KKC Kart Components · 2 shops | £47.95 | £58.95 | £11.0023% | |
| Tony Kart Bsd & Bwd Ferodo Brake Pads cheapest at Next Karting · 2 shops | £21.00 | £31.00 | £10.0048% | |
| Tru-Tension T1 OTK 2004-16 Style Brake Pad Set cheapest at KKC Kart Components · 2 shops | £22.50 | £31.95 | £9.4542% | |
| 950 Cadet - Synergy , Birel, CL Charles Leclerc Rear Brake Pads cheapest at Precision Kart · 2 shops | £21.99 | £31.00 | £9.0141% | |
| Synergy , Birel, CL Charles Leclerc , Compkart Brake Pads cheapest at Precision Kart · 3 shops | £21.99 | £31.00 | £9.0141% | |
| TonyKart OTK BSD Current cheapest at Precision Kart · 2 shops | £23.99 | £33.00 | £9.0138% |
Same part number at every shop in the row. Parts listed at £10.00 or more; ranked by the gap in money, not percent.
Cheapest most often
Of the 19 part numbers stocked by more than one shop — a count of wins, not a verdict.
- KKC Kart Components12 of 19
- Precision Kart4 of 19
- Next Karting2 of 19
- Strawberry Racing1 of 19
What this covers
This is a snapshot of kart brake pads as listed by UK kart shops on 2026-11-01. PitHunt indexed 350 listings from 15 shops, covering 321 distinct part numbers. Of those, 19 are stocked by more than one shop, which is where a price comparison means something: the same manufacturer part number, different tills.
Prices are the shops' own listed prices in their own currency, captured by PitHunt's weekly scan. They are not quotes, they move, and the cheapest shop for one part is not the cheapest for every part. Each one links to the shop's own page so you can check before you buy.
The price range
Taking the cheapest listing for each part number, a tenth of them cost £2.55 or less, the middle of the range sits at £25.00, and a tenth cost £226.00 or more. The spread is wide because the category mixes small hardware with complete components, so the useful comparison is always like for like — the same part number across shops.
The widest gaps for the same part
The comparison ranks part numbers by the difference between shops in money, among parts listed at £10.00 or more — a big percentage on a tiny part is arithmetic, not a saving.
The largest gap in money is on Complete OTK Brake System 2025 BWD: £754.17 at KKC Kart Components against £1,038.00 at the dearest of its two shops — £283.83, or 38%, for the same part number. The full list is in the comparison table above, ranked the same way.
A gap like that is not a judgement on either shop. Listed prices reflect stock bought at different times, different suppliers, and whether a shop is clearing a line. What it tells you is simply that for this part number, on this date, checking a second shop was worth the minute it took.
Which shops were cheapest most often
Across the 19 part numbers stocked by more than one shop, KKC Kart Components had the lowest listed price for 12 of them, followed by Precision Kart with 4. That is a count of wins, not a verdict: a shop that is cheapest on the parts you actually need matters more than one that is cheapest on average.
The honest way to use this is the boring way. Find your exact part number, look at every shop that lists it, and let the number decide. Name the part, and PitHunt lines every shop up cheapest-first.
Before you buy — the checklist
Buying used, check
- ☐Thickness: even across the pad and well above the point where the backing plate would touch the disc.
- ☐Surface: matte, not glazed; no cracking and no friction material lifting from the backing plate.
- ☐Backing plate flat and unmarked, and confirm the pad shape against your caliper before paying.
Mistakes to avoid
- ✕Fitting new pads and going straight out at full speed — unbedded pads glaze and never feel right.
- ✕Waiting for metal-on-metal before changing pads, which scores the disc and turns a cheap job into an expensive one.
- ✕Running old brake fluid: it absorbs moisture, so it should be changed at the start of a season and every couple of races, and an opened bottle more than 2 months old should be thrown away.
Questions
›My new pads squeal — is something wrong?
Light squealing that fades over the first few braking events is normal bedding. Squeal that stays, with a dull pedal, usually means a glazed pad or a pad that is not sitting true.
›Soft or hard compound for club racing?
A standard or soft compound suits most club sprint racing; hard and sintered pads are for heat and distance. If the pedal fades late in a race, go harder; if it feels wooden from cold, go softer.
›Do I need to change the disc with the pads?
Only if the disc is scored, grooved, glazed or thin. A good disc with new, bedded pads is fine; a bad disc will spoil new pads.
›Where do these prices come from?
From the shops' own websites, collected by PitHunt's weekly scan of UK kart retailers. Each figure is the price the shop listed on the date above, in the shop's own currency, before delivery.
›Why would the same part cost more at one shop?
Stock bought at different times, different supplier terms, and clearance decisions. None of that is visible from the price alone, which is why comparing the same part number across shops is the only fair comparison.
Sources for the buying advice
- Demon Tweeks — EBC kart brake pads (the three EBC compounds)
- Precision Kart — brake pad compounds and lifespans
- Kart Parts Depot — maximising your brakes (bedding, fluid)
- Comet Kart Sales — brake system basics: pads, discs and calipers
Reviewed 2026-10-27. Buying advice comes only from these sources; prices come only from PitHunt’s own scan.
How this was built
Every number on this page was computed from PitHunt’s weekly scan of kart shops’ own listed prices, in the shop’s own currency, captured on 2026-11-01. The text was then checked against that data: any figure not in it fails the article. Prices move after we scan them, and exclude delivery — always confirm on the shop’s page.