Mocky

Hi... first off, I'm going to preface this saying I'm not sure if this belongs in Wheel and Wax Forums or the Brakes and Suspension Forum... I felt that it should stay here becuase of the experience people have with different brake pads and the heat involved in my issue/question.

SO......

I recently purchased a set of the Project Mu B-force brake pads to replace my OEM pads. I am making this switch based on my experiences at Gingerman last summer. I had heard that these pads were still fairly street usable but able to take more heat than the OEM pads.

An issue was brought to my attention though (hence my question) so I was going to ask other people who may have experienced something similar.


Brake dust eating through powdercoat... has anyone experienced this? One other member on the site was running LE28s and saw after he returned home that the brake dust ate through the powdercoat. It wasn't like he left the brake dust on their for very long either... it was only a few days.


So, my concern... is this a known issue? Has anyone experienced this issue before? I'd like to run these pads based on what I have read but if this is a known issue, then I would like to switch to a different pad. I plan on doing 4 to 6 track days this year.


Thanks in advance.

06Estukay

What kind of rims are you running, and what type of surface finish? I had this happen to me with OEM pads (YES, OEM!) on my OEM AP2V2 rims which were "professionally" refinished. My guess is the clearcoat on the rim is heating up on track, and making it soft. Also, the brake dust is super hot when it comes off the pad, so it's probably instantly bonding on contact. The only way I was able to remove the dust was to polish them using a mother's powerball and some rubbing compound. Did another track day, and same thing happened. Gonna take them back to the rim refinishing place to see if they honor their "guarantee".

Mocky

I'm running my stock CR wheels. They have never been refinished...My friend that had the issue I think had his wheels refinished before.

I'm surprised to hear that the OEM pads did that... yikes...

zeroptzero

A high metal content pad with material coming off near melting temps is hard to protect against on clearcoat, more so in a track situation where brake temps can be extreme. On a street driven vehicle maybe not so much.

RedCelica

I would invest in some wheel wax. It's not going to protect from the above, but does provide somewhat of a barrier.

sam_spider

I'm the one Mocky is referring to with the discoloration in the wheels.

When they had the original Volk finish and OEM pads, they were fine, this was after a few track days. I then had the wheels powder coated to change the color and then I changed to the Project Mu pads shortly after. Street driving was/is not an issue, after the first track day, I washed the wheels the following day. The discoloration is mainly on the front, the rears have it as well, but not near as badly. I've tried wax, clay bar, and a mild rubbing compound, none had any impact on the discoloration.

I told Mocky not to run these pads because of the issue I encountered, but I don't know for certain if it was due to the pads, or because of a poor quality finish on the wheels. My other set of Volks are fine, makes me wonder if the finish is more of an issue as I've seen a lot of track junkies running Volks and I've never seen/heard off them having the same issue.

I'll take some pics this evening and post them up.

TheLast13

in for pics..

06Estukay

I think this is more likely. My guess is it's the clear coat used on the wheels. Lots of guys around here running aggressive pads with OEM wheels, and none of them had the same problem as me. With my Prodrive wheels, I've used both Carbotech's and Pagid RS-29 Yellow's on track, and I never had problems removing brake dust.

Chris S

Carbotech pads have non-corrosive brake dust, and are prob. the best prevention against it if you don't clean your wheels/calipers frequently.

sam_spider

Pics..

Rear wheel


another rear


Fronts








The rears are nowhere near as bad, the fronts are ruined though. If this is going to happen again if I have them re-done, I'd rather just skip it and not use these for the track anymore. Unless it is possible to have them clearcoated, but I don't know if that's possible with powder coat.