Track Day Pads

[JohnD]

Great day on Monday, pretty hot and the day was fully subscribed so lots of traffic. I managed to get a personal best of 1:36.7 and another day out of the Powerstops without any issues. Also no axle overheats so far unlike last year. Twenty minute sessions (really you get 15 minutes of laps when you consider in/out laps), wrapped the exhaust around the diff this spring and put a small fan under the car blowing on the diff between sessions. Hopefully that's the cure without the added weight of a diff cooler.

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[Minthillbill]

Gentlemen,

I'm looking for a little advice on road course pads. I'm still in the novice run group and the OEM PP pads have performed flawlessly. I will be coming up on my 3rd event at COTA (1 at MSR Houston, and 1 at COTA) with another follow up event in Sept at MSR Houston. My question is so far the OEM Pads have performed wonderfully. I do switch pads out when not on the track for street driving (mainly for the dusting issues) and this isn't my DD.

That being said, is there a more track oriented pad that doesn't leave it's residue embedded on the wheels? I've read a few threads here that have found the dusting of track pads to embed and not come off. At some point I do plan on getting another set of wheels for track day use, but I'm not there yet and would like to no have to deal with scrubbing like mad after every track event for clean up. To be perfectly candid, I have not gotten any fade yet with the OEM Pads (touching 140 on the back straight so I believe def pushing a decent amount), so maybe they are the good option for now, but was wanting a little feedback that way may not have to re-buy as skills progress farther.

Thanks for any guidance!

I started HPDE with stock pads in 03, moved up to hawk in 06 and cut stopping distance in half moved to Carbotech in 10 and cut it in half again. They last forever. Now as an instructor I focus on stopping distance. My next ride will have Brembos and carbotech.

 

[Stuntman]

Just keep using stock pads (with good fluid like SRF) until you start to fade them. Just change out the fronts and use stock rear pads. If you use too aggressive rear pads you'll cause excess ABS intervention, which increases heat and pad wear. The front brakes do 90% of the work anyway in a Mustang.

 

[pgonza2723]

Just keep using stock pads (with good fluid like SRF) until you start to fade them. Just change out the fronts and use stock rear pads. If you use too aggressive rear pads you'll cause excess ABS intervention, which increases heat and pad wear. The front brakes do 90% of the work anyway in a Mustang.

My rears have plenty of pad left so figured I'll try the R10s on the front and OEM rear. I'll see how that works and feels. I doubt I'm pushing the car hard enough to cause any upsetting of the car under hard braking. When my skill level advances, then i may see that difference.

I'm using Motul 660 right now as fluid. Thanks for all the input gentlemen!

 

[jabrax]

the powerstop track pads are brutal when it comes to trying to clean and messing up wheel finishes. I would only use with dedicated track wheels now. Stock pads are dusty, but clean up easily.

 

[pgonza2723]

So post track day feedback on R10 front and OEM rear. No issues what so ever. Never had any feeling of the rears wanting to do more than track straight even under heavy braking on the front and back straight. This track day in particular was brutal as it was 99* air temp, track temp being 115*+ . For all sessions the brakes felt strong and fade free. I was able to brake deeper and deeper every lap as my confidence was going up, so for sure the R10s helped in this area. Excited to continue to test the limits in Oct.

Here's a quick snip my youngest son took with commentary added . This was towards the middle-end of the session when finally broke away from the crowd and had clean track to push the car and myself little farther. Was one of the deeper braking I did on turn 1 right around the 150 sign.

 

[Ewheels]

I thought this would be the right thread to ask this question...
I know each brake pad manufacturer uses different compounds and they leave a residue on the rotors which needs to be scrubbed off when switching between street/track pads unless they use the same material compounds. (Ex. G-LOC GS1 and R series)
I read somewhere that Ferodo DS1 track pads can be interchanged with OEM pads (PP pads??) without scrubbing the rotors off. Is this true? I was originally going to go with G-LOC GS1 & R12/10 but that's almost $1000 in pads. If I can utilize my stocks for street and only buy track pads, that would be great!

 

[HeelToeHero]

The stock pp pads are supposedly Ferodo ds2500 pads. So you can check with them if that's compatible with the ds1.

FWIW I just returned from a full day of lapping on a brake heavy track (mosport ddt) with no fading of the stock pads. I'd consider myself an intermediate driver. The factory pads are pretty decent for most people.

 

[JohnD]

The stock pp pads are supposedly Ferodo ds2500 pads. So you can check with them if that's compatible with the ds1.

FWIW I just returned from a full day of lapping on a brake heavy track (mosport ddt) with no fading of the stock pads. I'd consider myself an intermediate driver. The factory pads are pretty decent for most people.

Ask this guy:
https://www.gt350brakes.com

He's very helpful and knows these parts. I agree that the stock PP pads are very good, not a race pad but they do very well under hard HPDE use.

 

[L8APEX]

HAWK DTC-60/70 Are always great

 

[Mustang_Eh]

Ask this guy:
https://www.gt350brakes.com

He's very helpful and knows these parts. I agree that the stock PP pads are very good, not a race pad but they do very well under hard HPDE use.

Good to see locals on these forums. On topic, have you noticed any pad cracking after track day(s)? I've done 4 half days at TMP and 3/4 pads are cracked.

 

[HeelToeHero]

Good to see locals on these forums. On topic, have you noticed any pad cracking after track day(s)? I've done 4 half days at TMP and 3/4 pads are cracked.

I did a full day at tmp the other month but I haven't inspected my pads since then though. I'll have to take a look.

 

[PoppinJ]

Good to see locals on these forums. On topic, have you noticed any pad cracking after track day(s)? I've done 4 half days at TMP and 3/4 pads are cracked.

I've never seen my fronts crack. I've had the rears crack really bad, even using track mode, or the 6 second hold to turn all the nannies off. They dont get any airflow like the fronts do, plus TC hitting them occasionally doesnt let them cool.

 

[JohnD]

One of my stock PP front pads cracked a very small amount, not sure it's a big deal but they were getting near enough to end of life to trash them anyway. As you go faster these pads will become less than ideal, I've progressed to race pads now which are better able to take the extra heat being generated and so are less likely to cause problems. They are also cheaper than what Ford wants for the OEM PP brake pads so that's more incentive to change.

I also ran the Powerstop Track Day pads and was not overly impressed with them, they are marginal in long hard braking zones or a series of braking zones in linked corners, they really give up in those conditions but continue to build heat like mad even though they are not slowing the car much. They put enough heat into the rotors that they were showing extreme wear and heat damage and needed to be scrapped which is not something I ever saw with the OEM PP pads. Even tried to turn them to remove heat checks and see if they could be salvaged as they had only a few track days on them but they had become so work hardened from heat that the brake lathe could not penetrate the surface, it just jumped it across the surface.

 

[Optimum Performance]

One of my stock PP front pads cracked a very small amount, not sure it's a big deal but they were getting near enough to end of life to trash them anyway. As you go faster these pads will become less than ideal, I've progressed to race pads now which are better able to take the extra heat being generated and so are less likely to cause problems. They are also cheaper than what Ford wants for the OEM PP brake pads so that's more incentive to change.

I also ran the Powerstop Track Day pads and was not overly impressed with them, they are marginal in long hard braking zones or a series of braking zones in linked corners, they really give up in those conditions but continue to build heat like mad even though they are not slowing the car much. They put enough heat into the rotors that they were showing extreme wear and heat damage and needed to be scrapped which is not something I ever saw with the OEM PP pads. Even tried to turn them to remove heat checks and see if they could be salvaged as they had only a few track days on them but they had become so work hardened from heat that the brake lathe could not penetrate the surface, it just jumped it across the surface.

Pads cracking is normal from track use, not really a concern unless the material separates from the backing plate. Power Stop track day pads do not have a very high operating temperature. In a Mustang they overheat quickly unless you manage the brakes.

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