If you’re like me, you would want everything on your car to best for driving on the track. Then when you are driving on the street, you have an uber-performance oriented car that is over-prepared for anything you might encounter. This approach works perfectly for suspension, engine mods, and virtually everything on your car EXCEPT for brake pads.
Track v Street Braking
Brakes work by transforming your vehicle’s kinetic energy (forward motion) into heat. Brakes therefore are in the business of dealing with and dissipating all of this heat that they produce every time you hit the brake pedal. On the street, you don’t heat up the brakes very much. You may do some moderately heavy braking if you are running a road, and panic stops are infrequent.
On the track, however, EVERY corner is essentially a panic stop - you brake the maximum amount your tires and brakes will allow. This heats up your brakes very fast. So fast, in fact, that if you are running your stock brakes, you very likely will overheat them and experience brake fade or even brake failure. You therefore want to run brake pads that are designed to work at a much higher heat range so that you will still have effective braking after more than one lap.
Downside to Racing Pads
The only problem with such pads is that they worky TERRIBLY when they are cold. Some pads are worse than others, but all racing pads suffer from poor initial bite and overall grip/braking ability when cold. Additionaly, racing pads dust like crazy and squeak like a subway train.
If you want to upgrade your brake pads for the street, get some high performance STREET pads. They will enhance your braking abilities on the street but still be able to operate at a lower heat range.
on March 11, 2007 at 12:57 pm Richard C. wrote:
So what do you do then if you want to do a track day? Install racing pads for the day? Is that something that is easily changeable? Are there some “in between” pads to use?
on March 11, 2007 at 4:04 pm noah wrote:
The best answer to your question is yes. I have a set of dedicated Hawk Blue track pads (and rotors do, though that isn’t necessary if you don’t want) that I put on my Miata when I take it to the track. On my miata, swapping out the brakes is very straightforward, and the whole job doesn’t usually take more than about 2 hours or so. Some cars might be more difficult to do a brake swap on, but brakes are always a very easy overall.
As for “in between” pads, there are some “performance street pads” that are more vicious than stock pads, but not so vicious like racing pads that they are unstreetable. A few performance pads that come to mind are Porterfield R4s, Hawk HP , or Cobalt GT sport, though there are a plethora that would work. Make no mistake, however, any of these “performance street pads” will become COMPLETELY USELESS after 1 or 2 laps on a track. They simply are not designed for that heat range. If you are taking time off from work and spending however many hundreds of dollars for a track day, you should do yourself a favor and buy a set of dedicated track pads. It will increase your track enjoyment more than ANY other modification to your car.
on March 12, 2007 at 12:51 am Richard C. wrote:
Alright- well what do you recommend for a day at an AutoX? Not quite as vicious as a track day but probably doesn’t leave much life? (These are more assumptions actually since I haven’t quite been to one…yet.)
on March 12, 2007 at 8:53 pm noah wrote:
First off, good work going to an AutoX! They are a blast, and a good introduction to high performance driving.
As for brake pads, the best would be any of the high performance street pads on the market. I run Porterfield R4S on the street, and have no complaints at all. A cheaper option are Hawk HP . Track pads are actually a poor choice for AutoX for the same reason that they are a poor choice for street driving: the pads simply do not get hot enough before you need them. In AutoX, you will be braking HARD within the first 5 seconds, and it generally takes a good lap or so on a road race course to heat up track pads.
on May 28, 2007 at 5:20 pm The Pansy Patrol - Info for the 3000GT / Stealth Community wrote:
[…] I just put in my brand new front set of Hawk Blue racing brake pads in preparation for an SCDA track day at NHIS tomorrow (be on the lookout for an upcoming review when I get back). Look at them sparkle: […]
on May 20, 2008 at 4:29 pm The Pansy Patrol » Carbotech XP8s are Amazing! wrote:
[…] when I said that racing brake pads are terrible for driving on the street? Well, I lied. Most race pads are terrible for driving on the street, but Carbotech has proven that […]