Open track brake pads - again

[j card]

Well, I did my first open track event with the 03 last weekend at Thunderhill. I've driven other stuff there before, but I have to say that the 03 did better than expected. I think that the only two cars there that were consistently doing faster lap times were prepped race cars - a BMW 3 series and a Porsche turbo.

Anyway, I know what brake pads not to run now - I put a fresh set of Porterfield R4S's in two days earlier - and in about five 20 minute sessions, took the front pads all the way down to the back plates! :nono: I guess they aren't rotor friendly anymore when they go metal to metal. :-D The rears held up fine.

So what kind of pads are you road racer types running? I did a search on this and other forums, and the more I read, the more confused I get. At this point, I think I've narrowed it down to a few finalists:

Porterfield R4 (not R4s - although I may still use those on the street)
Hawk Blue - heard good things, but supposed to be noisy and dusty
Performance Friction 01 compound - a little pricey, but supposed to last a long time.

I was concerned about rotor friendliness, but rotors for this car are so cheap, I think I'm going to drop that concern. I might have the rotors cryo-treated as well.

Anybody got some experience that they can share before I buy another set of pads?

 

[Cobra-R]

Originally posted by j card
Well, I did my first open track event with the 03 last weekend at Thunderhill. I've driven other stuff there before, but I have to say that the 03 did better than expected. I think that the only two cars there that were consistently doing faster lap times were prepped race cars - a BMW 3 series and a Porsche turbo.

Anyway, I know what brake pads not to run now - I put a fresh set of Porterfield R4S's in two days earlier - and in about five 20 minute sessions, took the front pads all the way down to the back plates! :nono: I guess they aren't rotor friendly anymore when they go metal to metal. :-D The rears held up fine.

So what kind of pads are you road racer types running? I did a search on this and other forums, and the more I read, the more confused I get. At this point, I think I've narrowed it down to a few finalists:

Porterfield R4 (not R4s - although I may still use those on the street)
Hawk Blue - heard good things, but supposed to be noisy and dusty
Performance Friction 01 compound - a little pricey, but supposed to last a long time.

I was concerned about rotor friendliness, but rotors for this car are so cheap, I think I'm going to drop that concern. I might have the rotors cryo-treated as well.

Anybody got some experience that they can share before I buy another set of pads?

I have run the 01's and the Hawk Blues (among others) and always come back to the blues. They are not hard on the rotors in my opinion as long as you use them as they are meant to be used......on the track. I liked the feel of the 01's alot, but they just didn't last like the blues and I felt the Hawks were a better pad for the $$. They(the blues) are deffinately not a street friendly pad, although I would'nt be afraid to drive to the track with them on as long as it isn't too far.
I bought 4 sets of Hawk HT10's to try this year, they are one step above the blues, so we will see what they do.

Brian

 

[Bingo13]

Originally posted by j card


Anyway, I know what brake pads not to run now - I put a fresh set of Porterfield R4S's in two days earlier - and in about five 20 minute sessions, took the front pads all the way down to the back plates! :nono: I guess they aren't rotor friendly anymore when they go metal to metal. :-D The rears held up fine.

I must use the transmission too much. I never had the R4-S disappear that quickly on the open track events. I would buy another set of rotors and go with the Hawk Blues.