Race pads front and rear

[hmd]

Hi all,

Do people use race pads for both front and rear? Or you use race compound on the fronts and performance street at the rears?

I don't know how hard the rear of the NC mx5 brake work compared to the front.

[Dan]

I use mild race pads (Carbotech XP8) on the rear of my car but performance street pads are fine. You'll get a small performance benefit but the main benefit of a race pad on the rear will be longevity.

When I got my car I ran with Carbotech XP10's on the front with the Bendix street pads that came when I brought my car on the rear and they lasted as long as the first set of XP10's on the front and now with the XP8's I get around 2-2.5 sets of fronts before the rears need to be replaced if that helps you gauge how little the rear brake is used.

[rascal]

I use race pads (hawk blue) front and rear on mine.

The rear pads still get hot enough (ie do enough braking) to burn the blue paint off, which to me justifies having proper pads in there.
Also find similar wear pattern as Dan, in that's rears last just over twice as long.

[hmd]

The reason I asked is because I have a stock NC that I would like to run on the track 2-3 times a year.
I was thinking of putting on XP10 for front and 1521 for rear then just swap out the XP10 back to street pad after the event.
This way it will save me from changing all pads in and out, just the fronts.

Would you recommend against this?

[rascal]

If you are running a mostly stock car then you should be fine with just using better fronts..

[Magpie]

Whilst this would have a high initial cost to set up it should give the best solution.

Have a set of pads/rotors for both the track and for the road. When you take off the track setup note which pad/rotor came from where so you can put them back on again in the same place. Bonus is there is no need to bed pads/rotors in again

The issue with mixing pads on rotors is the way in which pad material is laid onto the rotor. It is acceptable to use a 'harsher' pad on a rotor as this will remove the previous layer of pad material, however going the other way (softer pad) will not always work the best.

I now use Winmax 6.5's on the front and rear, however used a W5/W3 combination on the street/track for a few years with no issues.

http://www.motorsportbrakes.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/MSB-Compound-Selector.pdf

[hmd]

Magpie,

I agree with what you are saying, I am just trying to save time by not having to change over all four wheels brake set.

[Magpie]

Another 'bonus' is that the brakes get a good check when you have to swap over... but yes it can be a pain in the arse...

[Dan]

For just a couple of track days a year I think running XP10's on the front, swapping out after the track day with street pads on the rear is more than fine especially if you are using the stock springs as the spring rate and damping will make the weight transfer very heavily biased towards the front meaning almost all of your stopping will be done at the front.

Just ensure that you use Carbotech pads as your street pad as carbotech suggest not mixing brands of pads ont the same set of rotors, see:
http://www.ctbrakes.com/faqs.asp#bedding2

If you've never used Carbotech brake pads on the car I would suggest changing the rotors over before you start on your first set if you can, the cheap DBA rotors are more than fine and my fronts last me 2 sets of XP12 pads before crazing to the point I want them replaced and from memory they are about $200 for the front and $120 for the rear.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[Luke]

I'm running a Standard NC on track 6-8 times a year.
I am at the extreme pointy end of the NSW club competition in it.

I am using Carbotech AX6 up front and 1521 in the rear.
I do not get fade with this combo.
It doesn't need any more bite as road tyres combined with spongey suspension can't take advantage of any better braking.
You do not need to change pads for street use either as the AX6 is pretty much a high end street pad.

I already suggested this to you in a previous thread see below.
http://www.aus-cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=73845

Wear out you stockers first assuming they are OEM because they are actually half decent.


Also.
Do not go the route of having an extreme difference in pads from front to rear. It feels wrong when you are on track.
I tried that in my SE for one event with XP12 up front and stock in the rear and went straight back to a more balanced setup with XP10 in the rear after that.
NC's have 4 channel ABS and EBD so the car does all brake biasing for you.

[hmd]

Luke,

I did read your recommendation. Was thinking the AX6 would be noisy so may as well go for some thing more track oriented and swap them out.

[Luke]

My experience with the AX6 says otherwise.
The AX6 is noisy whilst bedding in. They squeal under light braking. No grinding noise, just the squealing.
Once they are bedded in they are just as quiet as most road pads. It literally takes one go on the track and they go quiet.

Also if you are being put of by Carbotechs website about elevated noise and dust, ignore it. Manufacturers have to put that out there.
The dust is non corrosive.
I can list many road pads that make way more dust and don't offer the same performance. Hawk HPS, Benidx Heavy Duty. Various EBC pads. A lot of factory fitted and aftermarket European car pads make more dust.

[hmd]

No carbotech stocks, no Winmax either so I ended up going to hawk he plus all round.
And they weren't too bad.