Brake pads for street and road racing?

[MFE]

There's two kinds of "bite"....abrasive and...and...and shit, I can't remember the name for the other one, but it comes from the chemical bonding and breakage of bond at the molecular level between the pads and the pad material that's been deposited in the rotor surface. High-temp pads work at the molecular level when at the proper temp, but a lot of them, and particularly Hawk Blues, Blacks, and HP+, are abrasive when cold. The "bite" at low temps is high, but it comes from physically grinding pad and rotor material away, and that's why your rotors won't last for a hill of beans when running those pads on the street.

IMHO It's a really rare pad that will bite non-abrasively at street temps, yet work properly at track temps, but the closest I've found is Carbotech AX6, formerly known as Bobcat. Most of you guys would fade them on the track, and the next thing up the ladder, the XP8, trades off a little cold effectiveness for higher temp capability.

 

[TroyV]

AX6 is/was Bobcat!!! Well that explains why they felt exactly the same as the Bobcats on my Cobra.

Sidebar: I picked up a set of AX6 pads slightly used from a buddy... "Yeah man this is CT's new autocross compound...blah blah..." I ran them and they felt exactly the same as the Bobcats I was running on the street at the time.

Well..... At least I know I'm not crazy..

 

[David Hester]

Yeah, but that cold bite with "race pads" is a grind- like you said, and not real effective at slowing you down.
Much like clamping 2 rocks in your caliper and trying to stop.

 

[Relaxed Chaos]

I reccomend EBC Yellowstuff pads. They work great on the street: Good bite, quiet, moderate dust. They get better the hotter they get.

 

[Relaxed Chaos]

I appriciate all the advise. Is there any problem using the same rotors and just changing the pads back and forth? Any wear issues on the rotors or pads if the rotors are not being turned and a new set of pads thrown on?

Thanks guys!

It depends... on the pad material. I know carbotech makes some pads that can be swapped out at the track without resurfacing the rotor. Other pad manufacturers do not recommend this. They recommend having a bedded in set of rotors for each different pad material. The rotors are not too bad to change so this could be an option depending on how serious you are. To get started I would recommend a combo pad and just live with the tradeoffs for a while. You will know when you are ready to take it to the next level of braking performance and then you can decide how you want to manage your setup.

 

[gcassidy]

I appriciate all the advise. Is there any problem using the same rotors and just changing the pads back and forth? Any wear issues on the rotors or pads if the rotors are not being turned and a new set of pads thrown on?

Thanks guys!

It depends... on the pad material. I know carbotech makes some pads that can be swapped out at the track without resurfacing the rotor. Other pad manufacturers do not recommend this. They recommend having a bedded in set of rotors for each different pad material. The rotors are not too bad to change so this could be an option depending on how serious you are. To get started I would recommend a combo pad and just live with the tradeoffs for a while. You will know when you are ready to take it to the next level of braking performance and then you can decide how you want to manage your setup.

C. Did you read the rest of the posts past Steve's question about rotors early in the thread? That question was pretty well answered by those saying what they did. There are 5 who use the same rotors, and 1 who swaps rotors because he swaps pad manufacturer. It would help for you to say what works for you instead of what the manufacturer recommends, which anyone can look up.

It doesn't matter if you recommend he swap rotors or not, he can read all the answers and decide for himself. But I think you're doing him, and any other novice who reads this thread, a diservice by recommending he uses one pad for the track and street and live with the tradeoffs. The tradeoffs of using one pad is more fade at the track, and less stopping abilty in an emergancy on the street. Is that what you do, or do you change rotors at the track? If so, what kind of pads do you use, and what happens if you don't change rotors? There are some drivers able to just keep one pad in because their car sees most of it's use either on the track or on the street. But for Steve, who says his car is a daily driver that may hit the track every month or two, he will quickly wear out any compromise pad, perhaps in one weekend, as can happen with a pad like an HPS, depending on the track. I've seen a Mustang driver using new HPS need to go buy pads on Sunday just to drive home.

Getting information on what actually works for each individual is the best way the internet can serve everyone. The manufacturers recommendations are just a starting point.

I'm also reminded of Fraser's response to one of your queries here about combo pads.
http://www.svtperformance.com/forum...rakes-died-track-need-advice.html#post6908530