Rotors and pads for daily driving and light track use?

[Rodpwnz]

What issues have you noticed? You mention issues and then say you've never felt any brake fade or smelled burning brakes. Is it just the rotors looking worse for wear?

Much like Dr. Zed's recount, I was experiencing less bite and a little more NVH while braking. I don't think the rears are actually glazed, but the front left is looking odd and the front right FOR SURE looks rough.

I really just want a hybrid pad + Rotor combo that can do it all. I live in an apartment complex that doesn't allow any vehicle work and all my tools are at my parents place 2+ hours away anyways.

I just visited the shop today and the mechanic said my front right rotor was heat checking/cracking and that my front pads were below roughly 25%(eyeballing here). He said he would know for sure of pad depth and if rotors could be resurfaced once he had it on the lift. He advised getting rotors replaced with pads.

I'll probably stick with a new set of stock pads and rotors(or quality slotted) for the fronts since they've help up for over 37K miles.

I'll also start tracking with TC off, maybe Advance trak off unless you guys think that's a bad idea lol

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[tosha]

Much like Dr. Zed's recount, I was experiencing less bite and a little more NVH while braking. I don't think the rears are actually glazed, but the front left is looking odd and the front right FOR SURE looks rough.

I really just want a hybrid pad + Rotor combo that can do it all. I live in an apartment complex that doesn't allow any vehicle work and all my tools are at my parents place 2+ hours away anyways.

I just visited the shop today and the mechanic said my front right rotor was heat checking/cracking and that my front pads were below roughly 25%(eyeballing here). He said he would know for sure of pad depth and if rotors could be resurfaced once he had it on the lift. He advised getting rotors replaced with pads.

I'll probably stick with a new set of stock pads and rotors(or quality slotted) for the fronts since they've help up for over 37K miles.

I'll also start tracking with TC off, maybe Advance trak off unless you guys think that's a bad idea lol

Just my opinion and others' may be different, but unless tc is preventing you from going faster and you know exactly what you are doing, just let it do it's work when needed and rather work on driving and braking skills. Sending my car into a wall because I tried to save few $$ on a cheap consumable is something I wouldn't want to do to myself ever.

I once did something not very smart that caused a snap oversteer on a long sweep on-ramp and TC recovered it amazingly.

 

[EFI]

For light duty track work, there's nothing wrong with OEM PP rotors/pads and good fluid.

I'd stick with OEM unless you have a very good reason as to why those do not meet the needs...which again I don't see how those won't at your level.

 

[Rodpwnz]

Just my opinion and others' may be different, but unless tc is preventing you from going faster and you know exactly what you are doing, just let it do it's work when needed and rather work on driving and braking skills. Sending my car into a wall because I tried to save few $$ on a cheap consumable is something I wouldn't want to do to myself ever.

I once did something not very smart that caused a snap oversteer on a long sweep on-ramp and TC recovered it amazingly.

I usually have TC off but AT on, that's what track mode is set to automatically- I'll slip a bit sometimes when gassing too aggressively on or out of the corner but I'll either lift off the gas and correct or the car will catch me.

For light duty track work, there's nothing wrong with OEM PP rotors/pads and good fluid.

I'd stick with OEM unless you have a very good reason as to why those do not meet the needs...which again I don't see how those won't at your level.

This is how I see it too - I don't consider myself to be that fast, my hotlaps on Thill East bypass are low 2:20's according to Trackaddict app. I'm on a completely stock PP1 magneride with heat cycled MP4S.

I was mostly wondering if there was anything better than the stock pads and rotor for my use case and needs.

 

[Rodpwnz]

UPDATE: I just ordered OEM front rotors, Centric blank front rotors, OEM front brake pads and 2 bottles of OEM brake fluid from CARID.

I know they have a bad reputation, but I wanted to have these parts installed before my next HPDE on 2/20. I would have gone with levvitown ford, rockauto or tasca, but due to my procrastination and analysis paralysis I delayed ordering till now. CARID reps told me where each warehouse for each SKU was, and based on UPS/Fedex delivery schedules when they should arrive so that gave me some peace of mind. They would all arrive within 4 days so that's within my timeline.

Worst case, if they don't get here in time I can still source from the local dealers for $300 more than I paid at CARID.

I also went with CARID since they carried both Centric CTEK blanks and OEM rotors - I want to compare them physically when they arrive. The centric blanks were like $150 total so it's not a huge investment to check out the differences since people have vouched for both. I'll report here when I can.

 

[NeverSatisfied]

There's not much "light track use" with a 3900lb pig on a road course!

I bought a set of GS1's to run and swap pads, but I ended up just leaving my R18/R12 combo in on the street. They're a little grabby at low speeds and the first brake application at the start of the day--you've gotta be careful. But I've found them very tolerable for daily driving and surprisingly not that noisy.

and the R18 is magic at the track.

 

[Rodpwnz]

Alright so I got all my parts from carid in time but the rotors look vastly different between CTEK and OEM.

Even the OEM rotors look different… both OEM boxes have the same motorcraft logo and rotor SKU:KR3Z-1125-G, but one rotor has a sku and bar code on it while the other has nothing… both have a grey coating on them. The coating and metal in the center where they bolt on are different shades and texture between them. I looked up the GR3Z-1125-DB SKU on the one that has it and it returns a couple results that show brembo mustang rotors. Not very reassuring though.

And here is the centric rotor below

And compared to motorcraft:

I’m getting a set of one of these mounted tomorrow morning and not even sure if I should mount the Motorcraft ones. The centric ones look identical to each other, as expected… any thoughts fellas?

 

[shogun32]

mount the Centric. you'll have much better luck returning the Motorcraft. But I also wouldn't worry about it. The coating will burnish right off after you smoke it good braking (heh) the pads in.

 

[Rodpwnz]

mount the Centric. you'll have much better luck returning the Motorcraft. But I also wouldn't worry about it. The coating will burnish right off after you smoke it good braking (heh) the pads in.

ha! You got a laugh from that one!

yeah I’ll go with the centric for now, thanks for the reassurance.

Still confused though as to why the Motorcraft rotors are so different from each other!

 

[Chevy mustang]

If your pads are glazed (i.e. shiney and mirror like), then yes you need to step up to a higher temp pad for the track.

I did this and even with new track pads pretty well bedded in, I still never got back to that aggressive bite feel and I think it was because the rotors were kinda too worn and grooved. Replacing the rotors helped.

The issue with track and street pads is that if you're using the same rotor you need to be careful that the pad compounds are compatible, otherwise you need to get the old pad deposits off before running the new pads. (a lot of pads work by depositing material onto the rotor, others are strictly abrasive and just wear the rotor down).

Anyhoo, I've had good luck with GLOC GS1 for the street and GLOC R12/R10 (F/R) on for the track. Prices are decent. Dust is low on the GS1, and the R12/10 track pads are compatible with the GS1 deposits and hold up to the track use.

What would happen if I run the R12/R10 on the street? Is it really horrible?? I mean after the track day can I go home with track pads on , or that will be risky and need to replace before I leave the track ?

 

[NeverSatisfied]

What would happen if I run the R12/R10 on the street? Is it really horrible?? I mean after the track day can I go home with track pads on , or that will be risky and need to replace before I leave the track ?

Nothing.. I daily on R18/r12 year round

 

[NightmareMoon]

What would happen if I run the R12/R10 on the street? Is it really horrible?? I mean after the track day can I go home with track pads on , or that will be risky and need to replace before I leave the track ?

Not really risky at all.

Sometimes R12/R10 can squeal a lot which is a little annoying, sometimes they’re quiet. Either way the windows seem to cut that frequency well, so not that big of a deal.

And they dust a lot, which was too much for me to tolerate for daily use, so I spend the 30 minutes or less to swap pads whe I get home after events.

 

[Jstang23]

If your pads are glazed (i.e. shiney and mirror like), then yes you need to step up to a higher temp pad for the track.

I did this and even with new track pads pretty well bedded in, I still never got back to that aggressive bite feel and I think it was because the rotors were kinda too worn and grooved. Replacing the rotors helped.

The issue with track and street pads is that if you're using the same rotor you need to be careful that the pad compounds are compatible, otherwise you need to get the old pad deposits off before running the new pads. (a lot of pads work by depositing material onto the rotor, others are strictly abrasive and just wear the rotor down).

Anyhoo, I've had good luck with GLOC GS1 for the street and GLOC R12/R10 (F/R) on for the track. Prices are decent. Dust is low on the GS1, and the R12/10 track pads are compatible with the GS1 deposits and hold up to the track use.

G-loc sent instructions with my new R10/R8 pads saying to just sand the rotor with 80 grit for ~15 minutes a rotor, clean with brake clean and then wipe with a shop towel. As long as the rotors aren't cracking and aren't too worn down the OP shouldn't run into issues in the future with refinishing the rotors for new pads.

 

[Bossdog]

In my experience, there is no such thing as "light" track use.
Like @Jstang23 above I use is the Carbotech track pads + Carbotech street pads in the front and Leave the track pads in the rear for street use. Other brands have this option as well. They have street pad material that is compatible with their track pads. It is a matter of having the same pad material on your track pads as your street pads. The manufacturer just alters the percent of one component over others in the pad to have a track pad vs street pad.
XP 8 in the rear and XP10 in front for track beginners is a good starting point. Not too much squealing on the street, you may even be willing to live with that level of squeal. That is where I started. Now I run the XP10 in the rear and XP12 up front. I was hoping I could live with the Squeal but it sounds like a freight train every time you come to a stop. So I added the Carbotech 1521 street pad up front for street duty.

 

[Rodpwnz]

Just to provide an update: I was at 37K miles when I switched to the centric rotors, and I'm now at 56K miles and have had multiple more track/HPDE days. Still using OEM PP Ferodo brake pads. Performance and quality have been fantastic while on track and while on street. Very minimal fade on track and very minimal squeal on street, if at all.

I got 37K miles out of the Factory OEM rotors, curious if I'll get the similar with more track days on the centrics. The centrics are indistinguishable from OEM to me, except for the brown rusty look in the center where an OEM rotor is coated grey.

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