Cooking Rear Brakes Through Track Use?
Some background on the car and its use:
The mode of failure is never total seizure. At least I usually catch them before they get to that point. They'll usually start to drag a bit and cause one wheel to get hotter than the other under braking. I also notice that they're harder to twist back in. These symptoms, lead me to believe that I'm cooking the square seal and that it's becoming stiff and non compliant causing the drag. On a somewhat puzzling note: the front left is the factory one and still kicking after almost 20 years, no problems at all. My main question is this: If I continue my current track usage, and I looking at replacing a each caliper every year or so or has my experience been atypical? A secondary question is: are there any solutions to extend the life of the stock calipers given the extreme heat they see on the track? |
This is not normal, are you replacing them with OEM calipers or some cheapo china rebuilt ones?
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The one that failed again was an OEM reman meaning it came from the Honda parts counter at my local dealership but was not a new unit.
I can source Chinesium specials around here (Although, they're still Nissin castings) for around 75 bucks. "New" Honda units around here are about 300 bucks while Honda remans are around 200. In order for the Honda new and reman units to make sense over the parts store specials, they'd have to last 4 and 3 times as long, respectively. |
What I noticed is more pad wear, its more prone too not retract into the caliper,due to over piston extension..
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That's exactly what I'm experiencing. It's a sign that the caliper is starting to stick and isn't long for this world. A normal, new caliper (reman) retracts fully and there's almost zero drag on the wheel when the brake isn't engaged. This also manifests in increased resistance when I go to wind the pistons back in to refit my street pads.
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DTC-30s are not up to snuff for regular track use and not with experienced drivers.
Get DTC-60s or 70s. I also had an intermittent dragging caliper issue. I replaced it with an OEM re-build one from Honda - no problems. |
The heat is bad on stock rear brakes, the end of it you need cooling to the calipers/disk or upgrading to a vented disk setup to cure it
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I do have ducts running to the rear brakes. I've stayed away from vented rotors since they require shaved pads, which is a PITA, in my opinion.
Although, come to think of it, I might have run a couple of track days with that caliper before I put ducts on the car. |
Are you lubricating the pad slides so that the pads can actually retract?
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The slide pins move very freely (I only lubricate them with silicone paste because, in the past, I found that the heat was cooking normal caliper greases into a paste) and the pads can move freely (I can easily move them with my fingers) within the bracket, if that's what you're asking.
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Originally Posted by IndyS200090
(Post 24593260)
The slide pins move very freely (I only lubricate them with silicone paste because, in the past, I found that the heat was cooking normal caliper greases into a paste) and the pads can move freely (I can easily move them with my fingers) within the bracket, if that's what you're asking.
To check more of the basics, is the slot in the rear caliper lined up with the post on the back of the inboard pad? |
That's correct. I always double check that through the window in the caliper.
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Originally Posted by IndyS200090
(Post 24593230)
I do have ducts running to the rear brakes. I've stayed away from vented rotors since they require shaved pads, which is a PITA, in my opinion.
Although, come to think of it, I might have run a couple of track days with that caliper before I put ducts on the car. |
Originally Posted by Chibo
(Post 24593816)
The shaving thing is a non-issue, you can order pads in the correct thickness or rotate through pads once you've spent fifteen minutes orbital sanding your first set of full thickness pads
As for killing the calipers - overextension and heat seems to be what kills them, I seemed to make my rear calipers last longer when I stopped trying to get every last mm out of my pads. |
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