Pah!! Poppycock! DS2500's may not conform to certain regulations but they are a damned sight safer on the road than the stock brakes imo. In the several years I've been running DS2500's as part of the AP Racing BBK there have been inevitable occasions when I feel they have saved me from an accident [sorry, I should probably say "incident" as the term "accident" might be against the regulations].
My insurer Greenlight has accepted my complete and very long list of modifications and has raised no issue.
Does this question arise because of using DS2500's with oem brake components rather than a professionally designed overall brake kit package?
The term you are looking for is 'collision' Robin.
Personal opinion has nothing to do with it. And telling your insurance company still doesn't make the pads road legal. It's no different to running a chav-tastic HID conversion kit - the kits aren't type approved, so game over in the event of a collision, especially a fatal one and you are at fault! DS2500/DS3000 are not road legal pads. It's very simple. If you want to run performance pads on the road you need to be using something like Ferodo DS Performance (new name for DS2000) pads - which I use and they are excellent. They are a different compound and I believe it is to with the rate at which they reach optimum operating temperature.
This isn't a new issue, it's widely known that DS2500/DS3000 aren't road legal. If you go to the performance section of Demon Tweeks, under pads - they dont even list DS2500/3000, only DS Performance - you have to switch to the motorsport section. It has nothing to do with the setup, be it OEM, BBK, etc etc - it's all about the compound of the pad.
I promise you that if you have an accident and it comes to light that you dont have road legal pads (or road legal anything for that matter...) you are going to be in hot water. Granted it depends on the severity of the collision as to the level of detail that the investigation will go into, but you're a braver man than I if you are prepared to take that risk. I can't go into detail but I am very close to this sort of information and rest assured that people do get caught out by things like this all time. And do end up in serious trouble. Agree with it or not, its the law.
What makes my blood boil with insurance issues like this the cavalier attitude some people adopt. It's all well and good just thinking about your own welfare and the your own car, but what about the third party? The person whose car you hit or knock down? You might feel that the insurance company not paying out to repair or replace your car is an acceptable risk but what about the other car(s) you hit, the people you injure, even the lamp post you knock down? If your insurance is void because of a modification you have made, you become personally liable for these costs - they dont just go away because your insurer wont pay out. You will personally be sued for person injury, local authorities will bill you for road side repairs and third party insurance co's will be after you to recover their costs as best they can. And when they cant recover their costs, who do they pass this cost on to? Those of us who do things properly.
I know of one girl I used to work with who had to spend her entire house deposit (£25k+) settling a claim personally after an accident when it came to light she wasnt properly insured. If you get caught out like this, you will end up in court, possibly bankrupt, definitely no license and possibly even in prison. Is that really worth it for a set of brake pads?
