A braided-steel brake line kit will noticeably harden up the pedal during the high brake line pressure caused by hard use with hard pads. Going down the road everyday, you may not notice they are there. The braided hose does not expand with high line pressure and will tend to not cut or tear away should something bad happen at track day, still leaving you with brakes for the other three corners of the car should one corner get crushed. Not a good thought, but a very important consideration. I have seen whole suspension corners hanging by the steel braided brake line after a shunt.
       The soft pedal makes it somewhat hard for the average driver to "heel and toe" at high speeds and cornering forces. This is the main source of the complaint. You will become a smoother driver if you have a proper driving seat and the operating force of the brake pedal is a firmer than the standard design. Here is why this is true.
       While your body is slamming around at or above one "G" (So that is where those coffee stains are on the passenger door panel came from! (True story, btw, from the cup holder in the center of the dash to the door panel, with none on the floor - great turn-in!)) it becomes difficult to hold your foot at just the pressure you want on the brake pedal and still give the throttle the stabs it needs to select the next lower gear smoothly. The harder pedal gives a better feel by opening up the total range of pressure felt and by making this range of actuation pressure correspond to the actual braking force of the car.
       A second source of soft brake pedal is brake fade. Actually heat. Well actually, the gasses that the pads give off when stinking hot. They form a boundary layer on the rotor surface and no matter now hard you push, the car stops poorly. Everyone knows that drilled brake rotors help, right? SPD Tuning Service does not sell drilled brake rotors, so what is the deal?
       A clever dude in England involved with world rally racing asked a simple question just a couple of years ago. Since we can't use carbon/carbon brakes due to the rules and if brakes fade due to gas coming off the pad, why drill rotors to make room for the gases when you can make a pad that does not give off gas in the first place? Mintex 1155 compound pads are a development of this concept suitable for every day road use. The pad is made and then "cooked" in an oven so hot that the gasses in the pad material actually cook off. This is a somewhat expensive (and slow) process. The gasses have to be recovered (keep it Green, please) and the pads must be properly heat cycled to retain their other desirable properties. Note also the STI Ver 5 298mm rotor kit pads have this feature also.
       The end result is a pad with four very desirable features: 1) extreme fade resistance, 2) long pad life, 3) no "bedding in" needed and 4) they work when cold. The Mintex 1155 pads do not develop a soft pedal until MUCH higher brake temperatures are reached. This greatly increases the percentage time you can be on the brakes hard, such as seen on "track days" or in descents from mountain passes. And you do not need drilled rotors! The standard vented rotors just fine, and there is no risk of developing stress cracks from often seen on drilled rotors. A special SPD Tuning Service tip: Never come to a stop with stinking hot brakes and especially sit with your foot on the pedal at even a stop sign, much less a red light. The rotors will be cooling off rapidly except for the areas under the pads, and the rotors will warp. In turn, never make a banzai stop from above 70mph with cold brakes, unless you have to. The rotors will warp. They will especially have this tendency when they are older and thinner, than when they are new. Older can be 10,000 miles or 70,000 miles. Usually, the rotors become sensitive to the effects of high performance use when you are past half way through your second set of pads. They are thinner than they were when new.
       Under hard use they will eventually warp and/or develop a case of the "wides". This is where the rotor metal has worn down and the rotor surface is so uneven that the rotor is thicker in some areas than others. As you come to a stop under moderate pedal pressure, they can drag lightly as the thicker portion of the rotor goes past the pads. If not warped severely, you can turn (true the surface of) the rotors, but depending on the severity of use, the smart money says it is time for new rotors, especially if on the second set of pads. They often are just used up and will warp again. There is actually a minimum width for the rotors cast into the part to help you with this decision.
       Long pad life. For some it will be from 40,000 miles to 60,000 miles. For others, long pad life is from 2500 smiles increased to 5000 smiles. It just depends on how hard and how often you are on the brakes. The Mintex pads are harder and they also wear longer. As a result, wear the rotor metal at a seemingly higher rate. The higher metal wear rate is a characteristic of the pad compound AND they way they tend to be used by their owners! With standard pads, if you do not mind the risk of a bit of brake squeak, it is OK just to put in a set of pads without turning the rotors. With Mintex or other "hard" compound pads, especially when used hard, it is important to true up the rotors when changing pads.
       The Mintex 1155 compound does not need bedded in. Bedding in is actually the thermal cycling of the pad material more than some idea of wearing the pad to the rotor surface. With a new car (pay attention here!) it is very easy to go out an romp on the brakes and heat glaze the surface of the stock pads. The car will have a hard brake pedal and will have poor stopping distances as a result. Because the Mintex 1155 compound has been thermally cycled during the "de-gassing" process, they are ready for prime time out of the box. Just a few good hot passes and they are as good as they are going to get.
       They work when cold. Unlike true racing pads, the 1155 compound Mintex pads are designed to operate at a lower and wider temperature range. They will actually stop the car when the brakes are cold. It is a standing joke that many people have purchased racing pads for their street car only, at a minimum, to scare themselves half to death on the freeway the first time they need all the brakes after driving in a straight line for 15 minutes. Racing pads have no grip when cold! A semi-trailer truck with 40,000 pounds on board will out brake you for the first two stops from 70mph. Of course, you will stop about 1000 feet shorter on the third stop, but that is not the point. It is that first stop that counted. Please do not use racing compound pads on the street. The 1155 compound is the practical limit.
       What if you still get brake fade and the soft pedal blues? You have two choices, use the brakes less, (which may make your lap times faster, not slower), or get bigger brakes. The fronts do most all the stopping, so it is standard practice to install larger front brakes on road cars and leave the rears for later. Larger brakes are usually needed when the power goes up. The car will get to higher speeds between each corner and need the extra heat dissipation of larger and larger brakes. Then again, some of us just like the big stopping power from high speeds that larger brakes will give you. It is just part of the total performance envelope.