[JD_]

Hi all,

Yes, another brake wear question. My last 3 track days were at VIR, 14 sessions total anywhere from 20-30 minutes in length. The front pads were put on just before driving down for the first VIR track day. The rear pads were the originals and lasted a damned long time IMO. I was pleased to see that the wear was uniform top to bottom, both on the inner and outer pads all the way around.\

For what it's worth I am a solid 2:15-2:22 per lap kind of driver still, just wanted to make sure the brake wear was what I should expect.

OEM Wheels and Tires, OEM pads.

[m3bs]

I’d say you did well to get that life out of them. Knock another 10 seconds off and you probably won’t.

[That1guy_tim]

Shit my Hawks look that worn down after 4 sessions at Road America.

[Stephen12ZL1]

yeah...that is amazing wear...get dkramar to drive your 1LE. He will vaporize your front brake pads in about 2 track days. He has run 1:57-1:58 n his ZLE...very fast!!

[BMR Sales]

Originally Posted by m3bs

I’d say you did well to get that life out of them.

^^^OEM's - I figured a picture of no material was coming our way

[NeverDie]

If they've had this much track time and are still have this much life you have LOT of time to pick up and improvements to make.

[davidwarren]

The stock pads are AT BEST a hybrid street/track pad. I'd be surprised if I could get one full day out of them.

On my last car I tracked, I installed a set of StopTech BBK, which came with an aggressive street pad. Not as good as the OEM ferodos, but similar in nature. I ran one session at IMS and used about 80% of the pad in 30 minutes. Street pads really are not built to last at track temps.

If you got that much life out of the stock pads, I'd say you could be braking quite a bit more aggressively and pull out a lot of time.

[cdrptrks]

OP is 10+ seconds off of the best SS 1LE times at VIR so that probably explains the relatively slow rate of brake pad wear.

Originally Posted by davidwarren

The stock pads are AT BEST a hybrid street/track pad. I'd be surprised if I could get one full day out of them.

Do you have any videos of you driving with the stock SS 1LE pads? I'm curious to see how you are able to brake aggressively enough to use them up that fast. Are you using a PTM mode? Traction/stability control on or off?

I had no problem repeatedly slowing down under threshold braking on stock Goodyear Supercar 3 tires from 140mph to 40mph for a day at COTA (100 minutes on track) when it was around 90°F outside and that used less than 2mm of my stock front pad material. My current set has done 4.5 track days mixed between NOLA and MSR Houston (around an hour driving on track per day) plus 20+ autocross runs, a few quarter mile passes, and street driving and still has 5mm left out of 9.8mm usable when new. The rear pads last even longer. I usually have traction/stability control fully disabled at the track or use PTM Race. There are also plenty of other posts on here where people are using stock SS 1LE pads on track with great results...they are well suited for both street and track use.

Higher torque track pads can introduce other issues like increased heat that could wear out your caliper piston seals requiring caliper rebuilds and require more expensive top tier brake fluid to prevent boiling, less time between needing to replace rotors, and sometimes loud squeaking and less effective braking if you use them on the street even just driving to and from the track.

[davidwarren]

Originally Posted by cdrptrks

OP is 10+ seconds off of the best SS 1LE times at VIR so that probably explains the relatively slow rate of brake pad wear.



Do you have any videos of you driving with the stock SS 1LE pads? I'm curious to see how you are able to brake aggressively enough to use them up that fast. Are you using a PTM mode? Traction/stability control on or off?

I had no problem repeatedly slowing down under threshold braking on stock Goodyear Supercar 3 tires from 140mph to 40mph for a day at COTA (100 minutes on track) when it was around 90°F outside and that used less than 2mm of my stock front pad material. My current set has done 4.5 track days mixed between NOLA and MSR Houston (around an hour driving on track per day) plus 20+ autocross runs, a few quarter mile passes, and street driving and still has 5mm left out of 9.8mm usable when new. The rear pads last even longer. I usually have traction/stability control fully disabled at the track or use PTM Race. There are also plenty of other posts on here where people are using stock SS 1LE pads on track with great results...they are well suited for both street and track use.

Higher torque track pads can introduce other issues like increased heat that could wear out your caliper piston seals requiring caliper rebuilds and require more expensive top tier brake fluid to prevent boiling, less time between needing to replace rotors, and sometimes loud squeaking and less effective braking if you use them on the street even just driving to and from the track.

No. I wouldn't use a street pad on track unless I had to. I have tracked a c7z06 which has a similar pad on stock pads and used a brand new front set up in a day and a half.

[TrackClub]

Originally Posted by cdrptrks

OP is 10+ seconds off of the best SS 1LE times at VIR so that probably explains the relatively slow rate of brake pad wear.



Do you have any videos of you driving with the stock SS 1LE pads? I'm curious to see how you are able to brake aggressively enough to use them up that fast. Are you using a PTM mode? Traction/stability control on or off?

I had no problem repeatedly slowing down under threshold braking on stock Goodyear Supercar 3 tires from 140mph to 40mph for a day at COTA (100 minutes on track) when it was around 90°F outside and that used less than 2mm of my stock front pad material. My current set has done 4.5 track days mixed between NOLA and MSR Houston (around an hour driving on track per day) plus 20+ autocross runs, a few quarter mile passes, and street driving and still has 5mm left out of 9.8mm usable when new. The rear pads last even longer. I usually have traction/stability control fully disabled at the track or use PTM Race. There are also plenty of other posts on here where people are using stock SS 1LE pads on track with great results...they are well suited for both street and track use.

Higher torque track pads can introduce other issues like increased heat that could wear out your caliper piston seals requiring caliper rebuilds and require more expensive top tier brake fluid to prevent boiling, less time between needing to replace rotors, and sometimes loud squeaking and less effective braking if you use them on the street even just driving to and from the track.

+1.

On average i swap pads every 5 track days (4x30min sessions) largely because there is not sufficient pad left for another 2 or 3 day event without having to swap them mid event. But if i had a single day coming i would have zero reservations keeping them on. Or keep DDing the car for quite a while. FYI ive tracked my car for 3 full seasons now, about 60 days total at about 7 different venues. Instructor/Race/Solo group level just to be clear.
And i am neither a back marker, or a mid pack runner either.

Folks suggesting they would last only a day either have never run them on track (or maybe never ran on a track period), or are slow and over use the brakes in a horrible fashion, or both. This includes the comical and ignorant post above by BMR - and they should know better than that.

Plenty of brake threads on this forum posted by bonefide track rats, who track frequently and achieve fast laps, providing REAL first hand experience. Read those and ignore the "noise".

[TrackClub]

Originally Posted by davidwarren

The stock pads are AT BEST a hybrid street/track pad. I'd be surprised if I could get one full day out of them.

On my last car I tracked, I installed a set of StopTech BBK, which came with an aggressive street pad. Not as good as the OEM ferodos, but similar in nature. I ran one session at IMS and used about 80% of the pad in 30 minutes. Street pads really are not built to last at track temps.

If you got that much life out of the stock pads, I'd say you could be braking quite a bit more aggressively and pull out a lot of time.

80% in 30mins is unheard of on an SS 1LE.

[davidwarren]

Originally Posted by TrackClub

80% in 30mins is unheard of on an SS 1LE.

It wasn't a camaro. Maybe I'll give the stock pads a shot one day.

[TrackClub]

Originally Posted by davidwarren

It wasn't a camaro. Maybe I'll give the stock pads a shot one day.

Understood. I agree the stockers are a hybrid pad (by design), but they are damn good as such imo and dont throw much heat as a bonus for those that dont want to start messing upgrading pistons and seals, having calipers discolor, annual rebuilds, etc. Ive tried going with 2 different pads and went back to stockers because i dont see brakes as holding my pace in any way. Plus they are well priced, as are 2500s as a mild step up.
Of course personal preference plays a big part and i understand it fully. It just rubs me a wrong way when some posters automatically assume OEM = total crap.
Perhaps it may be the case on some cars, but is not the case on 1le for damn sure.
Cheers!

[JD_]

Originally Posted by NeverDie

If they've had this much track time and are still have this much life you have LOT of time to pick up and improvements to make.

Oh yeah, without a doubt. I said up front I was solidly 10-15 seconds off the pace of the fastest guys. I'm out there to have fun, not scare the shit outta myself or worse, hurt someone else.

Originally Posted by TrackClub

Understood. I agree the stockers are a hybrid pad (by design), but they are damn good as such imo and dont throw much heat as a bonus for those that dont want to start messing upgrading pistons and seals, having calipers discolor, annual rebuilds, etc. Ive tried going with 2 different pads and went back to stockers because i dont see brakes as holding my pace in any way. Plus they are well priced, as are 2500s as a mild step up.
Of course personal preference plays a big part and i understand it fully. It just rubs me a wrong way when some posters automatically assume OEM = total crap.
Perhaps it may be the case on some cars, but is not the case on 1le for damn sure.
Cheers!

Thanks for this TrackClub. I certainly don't push the envelope like some here do and probably never will.

This is my personal best at VIR, a 2:13, and even I see so many places where I "could" be faster: uphill ESSes, turn 9 to oaktree and so on: