Brake piston dust boots cooked ;)

[stoli]

When changing the pads out today we noticed the front (Brembo) dust boots were toast along with the rears. The driver's side rear even had a minor leak from a bad seal.

They've seen about 13-15 track days and I can't honestly say at what point they failed; I didn't notice any issues when I changed pads earlier this summer, but I didn't pull the front calipers off then either.

The front rotors were done too. ;) I didn't get a pic of the front boots, but here's a front rotor and rear caliper/piston.

Untitled by Stoli-v, on Flickr

Untitled by Stoli-v, on Flickr

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[wildcatgoal]

Nothing a little brake clean can't solve for ya ;)

 

[stoli]

Nothing a little brake clean can't solve for ya ;)

If only that would solve it. ;)

 

[Plimmer]

Not surprised, the rear brakes run to hot. I added cooling ducts to my rear discs. I replaced both rear wheel bearings at 6,000 miles because the rear brake runs so hot it cooked the wheel bearings.

 

[jasonstang]

What pads did you use?
Are they OEM pads?
When I had my RX-8 and I bought some Hawk pads. They came with shim on the back so I was told not to use factory ones. Turned out the shim was not thick enough so the rubber boots were touching the hot pads during a track day and melted it. On top of that the braking performance was terrible. Hawk of course blamed about things like old fluids other than the fact their pads were too soft not compatible with the rotors on the RX-8. The factory OEM pads were much stronger cutting into the rotors unlike the Hawks just sliding on them.
http://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/avoid-hawk-hps-pads-258378/

 

[higdominator]

Not surprised, the rear brakes run to hot. I added cooling ducts to my rear discs. I replaced both rear wheel bearings at 6,000 miles because the rear brake runs so hot it cooked the wheel bearings.

Would you happen to have pics/drawings etc of this setup?

I'm about to start my first full season next spring and am focusing on durability type mods over the winter before I worry about suspension pieces (I'm not at the point where I can accurately direct what issues I need to correct with suspension pieces just yet).

 

[stoli]

What pads did you use?
Are they OEM pads?

Oem and Carbotech XP8

 

[tedj101]

Oem and Carbotech XP8

Can you buy just the boots so that you can replace them?

<TED>

 

[Plimmer]

Would you happen to have pics/drawings etc of this setup?

I'm about to start my first full season next spring and am focusing on durability type mods over the winter before I worry about suspension pieces (I'm not at the point where I can accurately direct what issues I need to correct with suspension pieces just yet).

Yeah sure. Going away for Thanksgiving, so will take a few pics the weekend after that and post them up. The set up is not perfected but I was monitoring hub temperatures with my infrared and was getting temps in the 240F range, which I think is OK.

Did find this on my phone but will get some detail pics in a few weeks. I used 3" flex tubing

 

[Whiskey11]

Yeah sure. Going away for Thanksgiving, so will take a few pics the weekend after that and post them up. The set up is not perfected but I was monitoring hub temperatures with my infrared and was getting temps in the 240F range, which I think is OK.

Did find this on my phone but will get some detail pics in a few weeks. I used 3" flex tubing

Looks like that would warp the rotors. I'd focus as much of that air in the actual center area as I could to avoid differential cooling of the rotor itself. Shouldn't be too difficult to find something to focus that air in better.

 

[steveespo]

Great job Plimmer, focus the ducting towards the center like Whiskey suggests and it will protect the rotors, calipers and bearings.

 

[Norm Peterson]

I'd been thinking off and on about running separate cooling ducts/hoses directed specifically at the calipers - should help cool the calipers and help the boots at least live a little longer. Then recently I saw where this was being done (a 6th gen Camaro running at the Trans-Am level).


Norm

 

[higdominator]

Yeah sure. Going away for Thanksgiving, so will take a few pics the weekend after that and post them up. The set up is not perfected but I was monitoring hub temperatures with my infrared and was getting temps in the 240F range, which I think is OK.

Did find this on my phone but will get some detail pics in a few weeks. I used 3" flex tubing

Thanks.

I need to get under there an see what room I have. Haven't been under the car since October and didn't quite look around with this in mind. I was brainstorming possibilities of a simple aluminum "deflector" attached below the caliper somehow then bent and angled in such a way that it would feed air up to the cooling vanes/hub. Other idea was similar to that with a small 'glass scoop make to tuck up under the car and catch a bit of air to funnel over to the brakes.

I plan to work on a rear tray as well this winter, along with brainstorming for a diff cooler, and this seems like a worthwhile endeavor.

 

[stoli]

I ended up getting a rebuild kit for the front from Girodisc and just bought new calipers for the rear ($130 for both + $100 core charge from a local dealer).

I like the idea of a cooling option in the rear...

 

[Optimum Performance]

Looks like that would warp the rotors. I'd focus as much of that air in the actual center area as I could to avoid differential cooling of the rotor itself. Shouldn't be too difficult to find something to focus that air in better.

The rear rotors are vented from the wheel side so you can not do it properly by design. I think the examples above are far superior to nothing at all. If you can get air on the caliper it would help but just having any positive air movement in the hub area is good. I doubt air blowing over a rotating rotor will warp it, it's not sealed, it's just adding more air in the general area. Too many moving parts in the suspension to directly cool the calipers.

There is room to built a flat duct on the bottom of the spindle which would direct air at the hub of the rotor and it could connect to [MENTION=15674]Plimmer[/MENTION] 's hose. I already put my rears back together for an upcoming track day so I will have to revisit it.

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