What Pads Do You Use at the Track?

[TennTex]

Quick summary of my experiences with pads. Starting a few years ago on an '06 330i I ran Hawk HT-10's Front and HP+ Rear. (I had HT-10's on the back as well, but it was too much grip on the 330i in the rear and made the car squirly.) The Hawks stopped great, but my car squealed like a freight truck! They dust a lot, which is not a problem, but they are iron-based, and basically form a carbide on the wheel which I had to use CLR cleaner to work the spots off. I moved over to Carbotechs, but then got my Shelby GT. I've had 2 track events with my 'stang with XP-10 Front / XP-8 Rear (stock calipers/rotors). On the 2nd day at MSR in May I started getting a long pedal. I've decided that I need to add air ducts, and will be installing soon. I have finally started getting used to the car and pushing it harder, and I noticed more wear than usual on the pads. I think I can get one more HPDE weekend out of them. Note that I also use another set of rotors for the front, so I can have one street and one track. I haven't bothered doing this for the rears.

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[Gene K]

In answer to the original question of weight. A base 2007 GT Deluxe with spoiler delete should have had a shipping weight of 3348 lb.

2007 GT Deluxe with Spoiler and 3.55 Option
MSO Shipping Weight - 3353 lb

Actual Weights on Scale (6 gal fuel and no driver):
Total - 3420 lb
Front - 1860 lb
Rear - 1560 lb
Distr - 54 / 46

[Argonaut]

Originally Posted by TennTex

Quick summary of my experiences with pads. Starting a few years ago on an '06 330i I ran Hawk HT-10's Front and HP+ Rear. (I had HT-10's on the back as well, but it was too much grip on the 330i in the rear and made the car squirly.) The Hawks stopped great, but my car squealed like a freight truck! They dust a lot, which is not a problem, but they are iron-based, and basically form a carbide on the wheel which I had to use CLR cleaner to work the spots off. I moved over to Carbotechs, but then got my Shelby GT.

I've had 2 track events with my 'stang with XP-10 Front / XP-8 Rear (stock calipers/rotors). On the 2nd day at MSR in May I started getting a long pedal. I've decided that I need to add air ducts, and will be installing soon. I have finally started getting used to the car and pushing it harder, and I noticed more wear than usual on the pads. I think I can get one more HPDE weekend out of them. Note that I also use another set of rotors for the front, so I can have one street and one track. I haven't bothered doing this for the rears.

Your results and comments concur with mine: The HT-10s work great but squeal like a MFer. The Carbotech seem to wear out fast. Thanks for the info.

[Sleeper_08]

My car is a DD used for road course track days. It has the GT500 brake kit and Quantum front cooling ducts. I want to run the same pads for street and track days.

Last year was my first time for tracking a car. I ran Ferodo DS2500 pads on the front and Hawk HPS on the rear. I got 6 track days out of the pads and they were worn about 50%. There was significant dusting on the track and some on the street but my main objection was brake squeal. The pads performed well on the track and the street.

I switched to the EBC Yellowstuff pads front and rear this year. Yesterday was my fourth event this year. Two were on a short tracks, TMP, which is hard on brakes and two were at Mosport which is a much faster track and not as hard on brakes.

I have been watching the front pad wear and so far they are down to about 1/2 thickness. After yesterday the rears however are toast and almost completely worn out!

This surprised me. I wonder if it is because the front brake cooling helps the front pads last longer even though they do most of the work?

I'm now considering going to Hawk HP Plus for the rear. The alternative would be back to Hawk HPS but they may not hold up as I am getting better at this and am going faster than last year.

All suggestions and comments would be appreciated.

[Red06]

Originally Posted by Sleeper_08

I switched to the EBC Yellowstuff pads front and rear this year. Yesterday was my fourth event this year. Two were on a short tracks, TMP, which is hard on brakes and two were at Mosport which is a much faster track and not as hard on brakes.

I have been watching the front pad wear and so far they are down to about 1/2 thickness. After yesterday the rears however are toast and almost completely worn out!

This surprised me. I wonder if it is because the front brake cooling helps the front pads last longer even though they do most of the work?

I'm now considering going to Hawk HP Plus for the rear. The alternative would be back to Hawk HPS but they may not hold up as I am getting better at this and am going faster than last year.

All suggestions and comments would be appreciated.

Do you remember to turn traction control off? With your boosted Mustang, the TCS may be detecting wheel spin coming out of corners which will use the rear brakes to control it. That would explain the excessive rear wear in the rears.

I have five days on mine and I have maybe 1/4 to 1/3 left on the front (I have ducts too) and the rears still have some of the taper left in them so I'd say 3/4. I remember to turn the TCS off most of the time but I'm not boosted either.

I've been looking at going to the Cobalt pads to see if I can get rid of the late session pad fade I still get with the EBCs. The XR 1s seem to have a very wide (advertised) operating range, 100 - 1600 degF, which would allow me to still run one set of pads for occasional street use and on the track.

[Sleeper_08]

Originally Posted by Red06

Do you remember to turn traction control off? With your boosted Mustang, the TCS may be detecting wheel spin coming out of corners which will use the rear brakes to control it. That would explain the excessive rear wear in the rears.

I have five days on mine and I have maybe 1/4 to 1/3 left on the front (I have ducts too) and the rears still have some of the taper left in them so I'd say 3/4. I remember to turn the TCS off most of the time but I'm not boosted either.

I've been looking at going to the Cobalt pads to see if I can get rid of the late session pad fade I still get with the EBCs. The XR 1s seem to have a very wide (advertised) operating range, 100 - 1600 degF, which would allow me to still run one set of pads for occasional street use and on the track.

Thank for the response. I usually remember to turn traction control off but sometimes forget so that might have contributed to the high wear rate. In future I'll try to do a better job of remembering.

My front are probably about the same as yours after about 4 sessions.

This morning I ordered HP+ for the back and a spare set of HP+ for the front. Meanwhile I'm taking public transit until the rear pads are here and replaced

[Red06]

Originally Posted by Sleeper_08

Thank for the response. I usually remember to turn traction control off but sometimes forget so that might have contributed to the high wear rate. In future I'll try to do a better job of remembering.

My front are probably about the same as yours after about 4 sessions.

This morning I ordered HP+ for the back and a spare set of HP+ for the front. Meanwhile I'm taking public transit until the rear pads are here and replaced

Bummer about the public transit... I forgot you have the GT500 front brakes. Maybe there is a bias issue with the brakes. If the switch to the Hawk brakes doesn't work you may want to look into a manual proportioning valve so you can dial in more front bias. That has always been my concern with the big brake kits that switch out fronts only.

Good luck

[Sleeper_08]

Originally Posted by Red06

Bummer about the public transit... I forgot you have the GT500 front brakes. Maybe there is a bias issue with the brakes. If the switch to the Hawk brakes doesn't work you may want to look into a manual proportioning valve so you can dial in more front bias. That has always been my concern with the big brake kits that switch out fronts only.

Good luck

I was wondering the same things about the GT500 front kit. Last year when I was running the Ferodo DS2500 on the front and Hawk HPS on the rear I ran 6 track days plus maybe 6,000 road miles and the fronts had from .12 to .16 left and the rears from about .18 to .22. According to Hawk the their front pads new are .585 front and .656 rear. Assuming that the Ferodo pads had the same initial thickness then last season I got about the same wear rate front and rear.

Does anyone know if a stock GT500 has a different front/rear brake bias than the stock GT?

[Argonaut]

What do ya think? Did I get my money out of these?

Rear CarboTech XP8 after 8 dry track days and 2 wet (which don't really count). Only two of these days were on a track I'd call hard on brakes.