I remember reading somewhere that allowing the brake pads to get too worn results in more heat transfer to the caliper and thus the fluid,i.e. the pads act as an insulator.

Does anyone have any thoughts/experience on this?

For track days how far do you let your pads get worn before you replace them?

 

The pads start at about 10mm and I try to keep them above 3 for both heat transfer to the fluid and also because they seem to overheat more easily.

The back pads taper so badly that they might be 4-5mm on one end and 1-2 on the other (even with rotating them left/right and inside/outside).

- Wayne
- NASA TTC

 

Hey Sleeper,

Yeah, they definitely do act as insulators. My last set of XP10s were put on with little meat left and I noticed that they faded fairly quickly (on a track where they would have never faded before). The basic thermal principles seem to be sound behind the idea that less material will not be able to withstand as much heat as more material of the same compound.

I think the major manufacturers all list a minimum thickness to use the pads on track, so I would just use that as a baseline. From there, track configuration, your driving style, and the usual host of factors are going to determine how much you can get away with or have to be conservative.

Best,
-j

 

Is this thin enough for you (rear pads off my C5)? I know lots of guys who take them down really low...but as mentioned, the performance starts to suffer and the pedal get really long.