Now let’s look at brake pads. My research project has produced some interesting results. This result retains my confidence in the calipers. I may change other items, but the calipers seem to be working fine.
What works? Hawk DTC-70 Racing Pads for the track. Z26 Powerstop for the street.
What does not work, in both places? OEM Brembo!
What works and why?
Track- Hawk, wears evenly, works superior with respect to stopping.
Street- Z26, kind to Rotors, no dust, adequate stopping power for the street.
What don’t?
Track- Brembo, wear quickly, tapered wear pattern, AND has less stopping power compared to Hawk.
Street- Brembo, grinds the rotors and causes excessive wear. Dust is unacceptable. Causes all wheels to look like crap. IS THE BREMBO RELATIONSHIP THE REASON THE WHEELS ARE BASICALLY BLACK, AND NOT OFFERED IN CHROME AND LIGHTER COLORS?
The research was easy and has taken place over several years now, but the last two Mondays have offered a good chance to look close at the front pads and do a real comparasion.
1. I have been through SEVERAL sets of DTC-70 pads exclusively for track use. While they also show some tapered wear, they do not show the extreme taper I found after ONE track day on brand new Brembo pads.
2. I have used a set of Powerstop Z26’s on the Redeye and its’ rotors since new. They have about 7500 miles now. The numbers below speak for themselves. It is no surprise, the rotors look new. I have used the OEM rotors with these pads for their life so far.
3. I put the brand new set of Brembos on the car and did one extremely similar day of racing two weeks ago.
4. I put like my 5th brand new set of Hawk DTC-70’s on last Monday, and did the similar day of racing as #3. Same driver, same car, same rotors, same track, similar weather.
5. I also have results below for a set of Hawk pads; two days of racing at Road America, and two days at BIR. Admittedly, the car was not performing correct (working with alignment problems caused less than full use of the brakes, because it simply was not necessary). This could be comparable to how they might react to a less aggressive driver, or a beginner and intermediate level driver in the HPDE events. That is good news people. Seems like you can get 4-6 days, if you are not pounding them. Screw up and I hear you can waste them in a morning!
I took pictures yesterday to demonstrate this conclusion. The only thing I will consider as a change to my braking formula is to consider the rotors we have been teased about from
@CDT Rotors next season.
@CDT Rotors if you have the correct timing prior to next season, let’s see it. Otherwise, I will be continuing with Demon Performance Rotors for my track set up. They are lighter, and very durable and have held up now for three seasons for me. They can go into next season also if necessary, the slots’ depth indicates they have miles of wear remaining.
I took a caliper and measured the pad thickness for the examples for this report, but also to prove to myself what my average pad wear is per day at the track. That is important of course so that I avoid ever bottoming one out and damaging a good rotor, or being stranded and not able to drive home because I chose to drive to the track that day and not trailer it.
Powerstop fronts = All four pads; 19/32” consistent thickness, more than 7500 miles!!
Hawk DTC-70 one day BIR Comp/Long Config
Little taper, easy to flip for the next racing day.
16/32-18/32”
16/32-17.5”
16-17”
17-18”
Brembo OEM new, one day BIR Comp
16/32-20/32”
15.5/32-19/32”
15/32-19.5/32”
15/32-20/32”
Hawk DTC-70 rears; both recent BIR days, were new.
All are basically 15.5/32” - 16/32”. Pretty consistent thickness/wear.
What do I have? A set of Brembos that will go into the trash. They fail in all respects. Enough said.
A set of Hawks will get one day and another set that will get two days. Just will be flipping them to maximize wear.
Look for yourselves..
Below..
Rear DTC two days/Front DTC one day/Front Brembo one day/Front Z26 7500 street miles.
Closer look, lose the rears, moved the Brembo pads to show how tapered the wear is...
Hawk DTC/Brembo/Z26 compare again.
For my buddies wondering about the front set of Cup 2’s. As seen in the movies, I had minimal mercy, and sure enough, at the edge of the outside shoulder, after checking it yesterday off the car, it has broken through and it’s thread layer edge is visible and exposed. WELL DONE- next up? This winter yours truly will be working with the AAD arms I have installed and my DIY alignment device here to get maximum camber adjusted in with the appropriate toe-in.
I got the back dialed in finally, absolutely near perfect side-to-side balanced tire wear, good handling, and one little tweak from the perfect setting that won’t need touched ever again, hint, hint
. Not real easy and a bit expensive to dial-in through trial and error and finally checking everything and one trial, that confirmed I nearly have it!
