Track-ish pads, big fat car.

So the V wagon and I did our first track day this past weekend. ALL weekend people wanted to tell me to upgrade the stock brakes. Brakes brakes brakes. Despite the fact that everyone was sure they would fade and I would die, they did fine. They did smell a bit. They certainly got hot, so I should at least ask you guys about this sort of thing.
Stock the car has 15.4 inch two piece rotors and six piston Brembo calipers in front and equivalent big disks and four piston Brembos in the rear. The car weighs somewhere over 4500lbs with people in it.
I'd rather have pads that are easy on rotors and need to be changed frequently than tough pads that eat rotors. Fluid needs to be.....better?
Go ahead and learn me if you could please.

DOT5.1 fluid. I got EBC yellows for a mixed street/track car, but that's on a MUCH lighter car, so that's probably the least aggressive option you might want to try.

Carbotech Bobcats (1521)?

I am pretty sure they make it for the brembos.

Our Lemons car is about the same weight, but a lot slower. We cannot go through half of a set of Hawk DTC-60s in one full race weekend. I cannot comment on how hard they are on rotors. We also had very good luck with HT-10s, although we do not have any experience with them on the heavier car.

Carbotech XP12/10

Thanks for the suggestions. Carbotec says I can swap between street/track pads of theirs without re-bedding. With his easy it is to change pads on the V this is an enticing option.

In reply to chili_head:

Bobcats are not track ready. They are upgraded street. I burned through a set in a Miata on track with the same thinking. Oops. I use XP12/10 on my RX-8 and they are great. I get about 8 HARD track days out of them and a few thousand street miles. They are very noisy and dusty though on the street. Make sure to follow the bed in procedure exactly or they don't last very long at all.

Wilwood h.

Rotors wear quick, and ive never driven anything that stops harder.

I ise them on street cars. Would not reccomend below 40 degrees farenheit as they get a little dicey.

Camaro ss customer is running carbotech pads in his brembos and lives tgem.

Fluid for light traxk is valvoline synpower, heavy track ate.

Been doing that fluid recipe for years and almost never get spongy pedal from fluid boiling.

CL brakes sintered pads part #4022T15 for the CTS-v

mazdeuce wrote: Thanks for the suggestions. Carbotec says I can swap between street/track pads of theirs without re-bedding. With his easy it is to change pads on the V this is an enticing option.

And bedding them is easy, even though I've read many that have problems.

With fresh pads/rotors, go somewhere remote, do a few light stops to get some heat into the brakes, then proceed to HAMMER 70-5mph stops until the brakes are stinky and fading.

Cruise home gently and let them cool completely.

Done.

I've always just asked Danny at Carbotech what to use Worked fine for my S2000 and STi so far.

I have had great luck with Hawk HP+ pads. More dust and occasional squeal when they get worn but nice bite and release with easy modulation and fade free on every car I have run them on. They do wear rotors more than HPS pads but nothing too bad and nowhere near as bad as Hawk Blues.

z31maniac wrote:

mazdeuce wrote: Thanks for the suggestions. Carbotec says I can swap between street/track pads of theirs without re-bedding. With his easy it is to change pads on the V this is an enticing option.

And bedding them is easy, even though I've read many that have problems. With fresh pads/rotors, go somewhere remote, do a few light stops to get some heat into the brakes, then proceed to HAMMER 70-5mph stops until the brakes are stinky and fading. Cruise home gently and let them cool completely. Done.

Haha, I remember the first time I had to bed my brakes. A cop drove by, you could tell he was debating pulling me over. Here was this kid in a red CRX, speeding up to 70 then slamming his brakes on, back and forth on some empty backstretch. He gave me a long stink-eye and drove off. Fun times!

I'm not a fan of HP+ pads. They suck at everything. They're horrible as street pads since they're incredibly dusty and noisy and they're horrible as track pads as they just go away completely when you overheat them, which isn't hard to do...

In reply to docwyte:

I try not to slam Hawk since they sponsor amateur motorsports and club racing across so many different sanctioning bodies and classes, but I can't disagree with a single word of what you just said.

Hawk makes many other awesome pads. Use their own chart to pick out what you want.

I'm surprised to hear such bad experiences with the Hawk HP+ pads. I have run them on a 2nd gen Neon RT, 01 S2000,Focus ST(05),Saab 92X and 09 Civic Si at Grattan,Waterford and Gingerman (a track known to be hard on brakes) and never had more than light fade at the end of the pad life on a very hot day. I have had fluid fade using them but that isn't a pad issue as much as a fluid/maintenance or cooling airflow issue. I run in the open passing/instructor group and the cars are driven daily and track in the same configuration. I have always strived to have a car that I can drive to the track,dump my gear and check the oil,lugs and tire pressure then drive all day in anger. Load up and drive home. The HP+ pads were the closest I have come.

I ran Hawk Blues on my Spec Neon and HPS on my Foci and also had good luck with both. They were lighter lower powered cars run at the same tracks but I really like the way Hawk pads can be modulated,initial bite and release characteristics. I pay full price at Tire Rack and have no connection to the company.

ATE TPY 200 fluid works well for me along with Carbonne Lorraine RC5+ pads. Gentle on rotors, good cold bite for the drive to and from the track too.

Hawk Performance makes many fine pads, and are a huge supporter of the motor sports world--- including advertising in GRM.

I wouldn't recommend their HP+ pads for track use. They are more of a high performance street / autocross pad.

Last year I ran them at Road America in my E36 M3. They'd be good for 8 laps or so....then completely fade away. After they cooled the car would stop again, but the residue left on the rotor caused a massive vibration whenever the brakes were applied. They make many fine choices, and have a few new compounds that have just been released.

For a car that heavy, I'd avoid the HP+. Plenty of choices out there. Here's a few that support GRM-- all have applications that would work in your bitchin wagon:

www.Hawkperformance.com

www.essexparts.com (AP Racing)

www.mackin-ind.com/project-mu/ ( little known in the U.S.-- but they supply many NASCAR teams and are a quality product)

www.wilwood.com

www.pagidracing.com

www.cobaltfriction.com

I really worked over a set of front HP+ pads at 5 track days this summer. No fade on my 3,600 lbs AWD car. Maybe I need to late brake more.

With your weight, I'd call Carbotech as the others have said. I've used their XP10's without issue.

Zeitgeist, all the cars you've used the HP+ on are light.

For track pads I use the Hawk DTC70's, I've had really good luck with them.

I've had poor experiences with any pad that bills itself as a "dual purpose" pad. There is NO such thing, there are street pads and there are track pads. Swap between the two as needed.

Similar discussion going on in my thread regarding my first HPDE. Don't have much experience, but my Motul RBF600 fluid has been excellent. That being said, I noted that many of the heavier cars (even heavier than mine) had a preference for Castrol SRF. From what I've been told, that fluid has the highest wet/dry boiling point.

Pads wise, I'm still learning so I probably cannot add anything of value