Brake calipers, for those who track their R:s

[wassen]

For those of you that track their FK8:s (once or more per moth ish).
How are your brake front calipers holding up?
Im running Ferrodo DS3000 front and DS2500 rear. My rear are ok, still red, no heat issue with them.
However my front are turning orange (no big deal) but after a total of about 4 trackdays I did notice that the first dirt seal on the pistons have kind of melted (no leaks yet). I have seen some use the special plates to protect the calipers but I did not think this was necessary on these big Brembo calipers.
Anyone else with these caliper problems?
For the record im not a complete amature track driver =)

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[sean465]

Get some shims!

 

[wassen]

Yes saw this movie. This was quite extreme, don’t think that shims would have done much help for him.
Wrong rotation on the rims and he ran one trackday

 

[wassen]

Bump, no one tracking that could share their experience?

 

[SBPerformance]

I have a couple track events, but with the stock brake pads. I don't think they created enough heat to melt seals and turn my caliper orange. I recently purchased a set of Winmax W5 and am planning on running them for next weekends event, I also purchased titanium shims with them as I was told "these are a must with race brakes" from others who track their type R.

Sorry, this wasn't exactly the answer you are looking for as I haven't had this issue yet. I will have more feedback after next Friday on the shims as this track is well known for shredding brakes.

 

[ipeefreely]

Bump, no one tracking that could share their experience?

It depends on what sort of tracks you're hitting but the ones here in nor cal are pretty intense on the brakes. With that said, we've had a few guys who have essentially baked their calipers (they've mostly turned black). That guy in the video, Baxi, is one of the guys in our group. I was there with him when he pulled in, brakes smoking, and calipers black.

With that said, if you're doing repeated track days, don't be surprised if your calipers change color.

As for pads, we find that this car goes through them fairly quickly. Especially on the fronts.

 

[Type R 761]

4 to 6 days on track pads seam about right for the front pads. I have tried OEM, DTC60 and pagid yellow in front. Pagids Seam to be good for 6 days, OEMs 3 but are half the price. If running street tires I stick to OEM pads, with r888r tires I run pagid yellow in front and hawk DTC30 in rear. Very balanced set up. For discoloration, or dust booths cracking. Could simply be that the front pads wore out to much, and increased heat because you have less pad material. Learn to live with it... price to pay to track the car ..... your track battle scars

 

[wassen]

Appreciate the replies.
I have not gone below 50% of the pad wear so I don’t believe that I have ran them much to overheat.
Do I mind the discoloration and pad or disc wear, no not at all. It’s just the fact that if I track this car a few times per year I will not accept that I have to refurbish the calipers (change dust and sealings on them) maybe even buy new calipers. That’s just wrong. I have had many cars and tracked them, no problem like with the fk8 calipers.
Last car I tracked was a m3 e92, ran it hard with oem brakes and R tyres, got brake fade once but no problem with caliper cooking, dust seal damage etc.
I mean we have a rather light car and PROPPER front calipers.
I’m starting to think that the abs computer or traction control is playing a big part in this problem shooting.
Also I flush brake fluid before every trackday.

 

[iqbad]

In my experience, all calipers will suffer from damage on the dust boots after some hard track use. You can probably get them to last longer by taking cool down laps every 6-8min, and additional brake cooling will also help.

My m3e46 with stock brakes, dust boots was damaged after one track season. Then with csl disc and Porsche 996 calipers in the front (and brake cooling) + pfc08 pads, brakes were very good but dust boots were still damaged after about a year.

My tt-rs with similar mods (370mm girodisc and pfc331 and proper brake cooling) I could see that dust boots were starting to crack when it was sold.

I would like to try titanium shims, does anyone have any links where you could buy them for our fk8?

 

[veehexx]

track mine in the UK, so ambient air temp is around 21c. fluid is ATE typ200.
OEM discs: i've cooked 2 sets of pmu hc800 pads (800c temp)
DBA 4000t3: 3rd set i changed to PBS Prorace pads which started to melt but still working fine. I also reduced session time from 20-25 down to 15mins and also removed dust shield plates.
first two pads on OEM discs also cooked my dust seals. £11/ea in the UK and 8 needed. easy enough to do though.

few days ago my Girodiscs discs & shims turned up. i'm torn between CT XP12/20 or the CL RC6/RC6e pads to run with the giro's. both seem good for 1000c+ temps so i dont envisage any more heat problems. next trackday is planned in 4-6 weeks.

 

[TheShadow]

I would go for the titanium shims. The Girodisc ones are about the only ones I've seen, and honestly if they even only are helping a small amount they are pretty inexpensive. I linked them below. While I only have one track day with mine it was still enough to bake all the paint from my brake pads, but everything on the calipers looked good - no discoloration of the paint at all and no noticeable damage to piston seals. I agree that this is likely a track specific issue but still - cheap insurance.

https://www.unitedspeedracing.com/index.php?id_product=114&controller=product

 

[Ansix Auto]

Bumping a bit of an old thread but I wanted to show another option for brake pad shims. These will keep your brakes from fading and your dust boots from melting! Thanks to the ceramic coating we use, the thermal protection is better than standard titanium shims giving you more track time. Here is the thread with the details and a discount code.

https://www.civicx.com/threads/ansix-auto-ceramic-coated-titanium-brake-pad-shims-15-off.45192/

 

[.grimace]

So far I’m at 13.5k miles and 11 track days. Zero discoloration yet but that was also on stock pads and 80% Thunderhill west (slower track).

I upgraded to girodisc and winmax w4 pads for this year going to Laguna soon I guess we’ll see if I get brownbos

 

[Dave B]

Appreciate the replies.
I have not gone below 50% of the pad wear so I don’t believe that I have ran them much to overheat.
Do I mind the discoloration and pad or disc wear, no not at all. It’s just the fact that if I track this car a few times per year I will not accept that I have to refurbish the calipers (change dust and sealings on them) maybe even buy new calipers. That’s just wrong. I have had many cars and tracked them, no problem like with the fk8 calipers.
Last car I tracked was a m3 e92, ran it hard with oem brakes and R tyres, got brake fade once but no problem with caliper cooking, dust seal damage etc.
I mean we have a rather light car and PROPPER front calipers.
I’m starting to think that the abs computer or traction control is playing a big part in this problem shooting.
Also I flush brake fluid before every trackday.

If you leave the nannies on at the track, you will have significantly more brake wear.

 

[jetydosa]

Last year after the end of a track day I noticed the calipers on my car turned kinda brownish orange color, but it came back to the normal red after a few hours. Weird eh?

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