I own a 2009 Mustang GT that I have modified heavily, and I'm using it learn to drive road courses. I've got the Wilwood Superlite Big Brake kit on the front, and stock GT brakes on the back. But man, I am burning through the front rotors and pads a lot faster than I want to....
My strategy was to swap brake pads, and run race pads at the track, and street pads otherwise, but all I did was swap the pads out. I did NOT follow any of the complex rotor or pad bedding procedures, other than take it a little easy during the first session on the track.
I ran a new set of rotors at NJMP over 2 days, with a new set of race pads. When I got back home, I swapped the pads for a set of street pads, and at that point, the rotor wear didn't look bad at all, and even the race pads showed little sign of wear. I put the street pads in, and didn't worry....
3 weeks later, I go to swap the pads before driving Lime Rock Park (just yesterday, actually -- 7/16/12), and to my surprise the street pads had just about vanished (I have never seen so much brake dust!!), and the rotors were almost wiped out. This is REALLY counter-intuitive. I drive very aggressively ON track, but I drive pretty reasonably off track on the street, and certainly don't do any threshold braking!!
Reading Wilwood's tech tips, they recommend a very specific procedure for bedding the rotors and pads, separately, and I am wondering if skipping this is why the rotors wore down so quickly. They very specifically recommend sanding/grinding the rotors to remove the previous pad material, but this seemed tedious, so I didn't bother.
Going forward, I'm going to start measuring the wear on the rotors and pads after each track session, and get some real numbers to compare, but I'd love to hear how anyone else who has the Wilwood kit manages pads and rotors.
Those rotors aren't cheap ($250 each!!), and if I am going to burn through a new set every 2 or 3 track days, I need to plan for this. Better, I'd like to understand if there's a different strategy I should be following.
For example, maybe I should be using dedicated track and street rotors to go with the pads, and change BOTH when I do my track prep?
Any feedback from others more experienced would really be appreciated.
My strategy was to swap brake pads, and run race pads at the track, and street pads otherwise, but all I did was swap the pads out. I did NOT follow any of the complex rotor or pad bedding procedures, other than take it a little easy during the first session on the track.
I ran a new set of rotors at NJMP over 2 days, with a new set of race pads. When I got back home, I swapped the pads for a set of street pads, and at that point, the rotor wear didn't look bad at all, and even the race pads showed little sign of wear. I put the street pads in, and didn't worry....
3 weeks later, I go to swap the pads before driving Lime Rock Park (just yesterday, actually -- 7/16/12), and to my surprise the street pads had just about vanished (I have never seen so much brake dust!!), and the rotors were almost wiped out. This is REALLY counter-intuitive. I drive very aggressively ON track, but I drive pretty reasonably off track on the street, and certainly don't do any threshold braking!!
Reading Wilwood's tech tips, they recommend a very specific procedure for bedding the rotors and pads, separately, and I am wondering if skipping this is why the rotors wore down so quickly. They very specifically recommend sanding/grinding the rotors to remove the previous pad material, but this seemed tedious, so I didn't bother.
Going forward, I'm going to start measuring the wear on the rotors and pads after each track session, and get some real numbers to compare, but I'd love to hear how anyone else who has the Wilwood kit manages pads and rotors.
Those rotors aren't cheap ($250 each!!), and if I am going to burn through a new set every 2 or 3 track days, I need to plan for this. Better, I'd like to understand if there's a different strategy I should be following.
For example, maybe I should be using dedicated track and street rotors to go with the pads, and change BOTH when I do my track prep?
Any feedback from others more experienced would really be appreciated.