Went through my NC brakes in under 10000k's

[Charlie Brown]

eastla, that’s a pretty good effort getting through a set of pads in 10,000K but if you abuse them like Hellmun I can understand why. No-one but no-one can get brakes to get hotter than he can.

For track pads try Hawk Blues. I tried them on MX-5 Racings NC and they were awesome. Not a pad for the road though as you will need to replace your rotors after about 6 -7Ks as they are very abrasive. It would be worthwhile considering just swapping the pads for the day.

I’m running Hawk HPS but they aren’t much good on a track with a lot of heavy braking where they can’t cool down between stops. They seem fine at Eastern Creek but at Wakefield..nah.

And the Mazda supplied replacement pads aren’t as good as the ones that came with the car. Didn’t last as long or bite as hard as the originals.

[eastla]

And the Mazda supplied replacement pads aren’t as good as the ones that came with the car. Didn’t last as long or bite as hard as the originals.

Dont like the sound of that

I still think, that without abusing my VSC I would have gone at least another 5000 k's plus on the originals.
Ill just have to see how I go on these replacements now...

[DavidM]

For track pads try Hawk Blues. I tried them on MX-5 Racings NC and they were awesome. Not a pad for the road though as you will need to replace your rotors after about 6 -7Ks as they are very abrasive. It would be worthwhile considering just swapping the pads for the day.

Any recommendations for pads that would work on both road and track?

[CoffeeBoss]

DSC/TC ( I assume that's what you mean by VDC) won't wear out your brakes prematurely.

DSC uses the brakes, which in itself implies that it will wear the brakes. MX5 is not the only car that 'suffers' from brake-wear due to DSC/VDC ... all cars do if it's active (ie. working) all the time.

It's not much different to driving with your left foot constantly on the brake ... the brake pads will not last very long even if you're just on the freeway.

What Eastla is describing is:
1. Slowing the car via brakes before the corner.
2. Turning the car in, and then using the most/full throttle through the corner while letting the DCS/VDC make sure that the car gets around the corner. This uses all 4 brakes through the corner ... all the way until the car is pointing straight again (ie. on the straight).
3. Then repeat again at the next corner.

The above will use T/C as well, but the brakes are on for ~75% of the time while on the track like Winton while driving like this ... and considering that each session is ~15min, that's a lot of brake use.

This sounds spot on to me - using the DSC on a track day and driving against it would certainly rapidly increase brake wear.

Any recommendations for pads that would work on both road and track?

I too would be interested to hear what people have to say on this topic! A new thread perhaps? Although, as i have discovered, not quite the 'critical mass' of NC drivers tracking their cars on here to have a decent body of information on the topic yet.

[Charlie Brown]

Any recommendations for pads that would work on both road and track?

I too would be interested to hear what people have to say on this topic! A new thread perhaps? Although, as i have discovered, not quite the 'critical mass' of NC drivers tracking their cars on here to have a decent body of information on the topic yet.

Not much of a pad library from me.

My progression through the pads goes like this:

• The first set of fronts completely worn out at 17,000 kilometres.
• Mazda replacement front pads. I changed these at 29,000 kilometres as a bit of track insurance as I was heading for Phillip Island. Nothing worse than arriving in a corner to find there’s no brakes left. This second set probably had another 5K left on them.
• Hawk HPS fronts. With 20,000 kilometres on them, my service manager got a little excited at the 50K service and said I needed new front and rear pads. When I pulled them down I found that they still had about a third left on both the front HPS's and the original rears. So much for honest service.
• Hawk HPS front and rear – still going strong 10K on them.


Next time I might try EBC Greenstuff. The fronts can be had for 55GBP from

http://ww2.mx5parts.co.uk/product_info. ... ts_id/1316

I don’t expect that I will need to replace the rears before 140,000 kilometres which will be in 2011.

David, I don’t think that you can get a perfect pad for both road & track. There is always a compromise somewhere with wear to both pad and rotor, operating temperature, modulation, noise and dust. As 99% of my driving is on the street, I felt that the step up to the HPS pads was as aggressive as I needed to go.

[eastla]

Any recommendations for pads that would work on both road and track?

I too would be interested to hear what people have to say on this topic! A new thread perhaps? Although, as i have discovered, not quite the 'critical mass' of NC drivers tracking their cars on here to have a decent body of information on the topic yet.

Not much of a pad library from me.

My progression through the pads goes like this:

• The first set of fronts completely worn out at 17,000 kilometres.
• Mazda replacement front pads. I changed these at 29,000 kilometres as a bit of track insurance as I was heading for Phillip Island. Nothing worse than arriving in a corner to find there’s no brakes left. This second set probably had another 5K left on them.
• Hawk HPS fronts. With 20,000 kilometres on them, my service manager got a little excited at the 50K service and said I needed new front and rear pads. When I pulled them down I found that they still had about a third left on both the front HPS's and the original rears. So much for honest service.
• Hawk HPS front and rear – still going strong 10K on them.


Next time I might try EBC Greenstuff. The fronts can be had for 55GBP from

http://ww2.mx5parts.co.uk/product_info. ... ts_id/1316

I don’t expect that I will need to replace the rears before 140,000 kilometres which will be in 2011.

David, I don’t think that you can get a perfect pad for both road & track. There is always a compromise somewhere with wear to both pad and rotor, operating temperature, modulation, noise and dust. As 99% of my driving is on the street, I felt that the step up to the HPS pads was as aggressive as I needed to go.

Funny thing was, when the service dept. told me my pads were gone, I said I may as well get after market ones.
He said, you cant get them yet for NC.
I knew that was rubbish, but thought Id get the stock pads one more time and see how I go.
He also said, if there are any other pads, they will do in your rotors; that has been my experience in the past with harder pads; so it helped me make a decision to stay with OEM for now ;)

CB do you think the HPS are going to kiill the rotors a lot quicker than the stock pads?
Or have you already got aftermarket rotors as well?

[Hellmun]

HP+ are hawk's street/track compromise pad. The HPS is an outright street pad.... it should be quite mild on a rotor.

[Charlie Brown]

HP+ aren't available for the NC to my knowledge.

I have had no problems with rotor wear with the HPS. It raises the high end operating temperature by 100C. Have a look here:

http://www.hawkperformance.com/performance/hps.php

As I said in the post above, I think that I'll try the EBC next and probably get some Hawk Blues for the track that I'll just fit the day before the event and take them out the day after.

[eastla]

As I said in the post above, I think that I'll try the EBC next and probably get some Hawk Blues for the track that I'll just fit the day before the event and take them out the day after.

Thanks for the run down.
Could you please keep us posted once you test out the EBC's.

Thanks