I'm normally a lurker here, but I've got an issue with brake pad wear that you guys might be able to help with. To introduce myself, I am fairly new to track days with seven events under my belt. My car is still bone stock, at about 80,000 miles although that will probably change soon as I am getting close to reaching my max potential with the stock suspension. The problem I'm having is during my last track day at CMP last week, I went through almost half of my front pads. I'm running CL RC6E pads, which are endurance pads and normally last several track days, even on heavy, high horsepower cars with R comp tires. I also have no brake ducts, but I'm also running Dunlop Sport Maxx TT tires, which aren't too hard on the brakes. Even with a brake intensive track like CMP, I would think the pads should last longer. Even with the fast wear rate, the pads seemed to hold up well with no noticeable fade last week. Brake fluid was AP Racing 600 fluid one week old so I don't think the fluid is the problem.

My guess is that the calipers may be sticking, but I have not noticed any other symptoms, such as the car pulling to one side when braking. Would re-greasing the sliding pins help, or should I rebuild or replace the calipers? The rear pads are wearing much more slowly.

Regardless, I'll probably switch pads, since the RC6E dust left spots of rust deposits on the sides of the car after driving in the rain that only came off with clay. I may try XP8's or XP10's next. Sorry for the long winded explanation, and hope you guys can point me in the right direction!

Drew

 

Do the wheels spin freely when the car is jacked up? If you have a 06+, are you leaving VSA on? Do you smell the brakes?

Generally, if the pads are wearing abnormally fast, it is because something is causing it to overheat, whether its too much braking, not aggressive enough of a pad (in terms of temp capacity), VSA, or a sticking caliper.

Are the pads wearing evently?

 

The main cause of fast track pad wear is not properly bedding them when they're first installed. It's difficult to get the pads up to the required temperature on the street so you may have to burn your first track session bedding your pads. Follow your pad manufacturer's instructions on pad and rotor bedding.

 

For Pagid on the cup cars they say 2 or 3 runs from 90ish to 50ish mph at mid pressure
then cool down for a few hundred yards then 2-3 runs from 110 to 50 mid to high pressure then a cool down.

 

Thanks psychoazn, yes, the wheels spin freely, and I don't seem to have this problem with the OEM pads on the street. I have been turning VSA off except for a couple of laps where I forgot, and I don't smell the brakes. I did notice 1-2mm difference in pad wear from top to bottom, although I always thought this was somewhat normal for single piston calipers. I figure the pads are overheating for some reason, and it may be because of the caliper pins binding. I have not greased them yet, but I will definitely do so before another track day.

Thanks Rob and crash, I bought these pads partly because they are advertised as not needing to be bedded in, and I have always started my first session all out. I had slightly uneven pad wear at the end of the day, so next time I will try to bed them in first before going all out with braking.

 

I experienced an accelerated pad wear situation on the left rear caliper. Turned out to be a collapsed SS brake line. In my case I could verify by comparing right and left caliper temps.

 

Even with "pre-bedded" (really pre-cooked) pads you have to bed them to the rotors to transfer pad material to them. You don't have to bed the pads with the rotors if you were running the same compound on the rotors with the previous pads. If you change brake pad compound or install new rotors you have to bed the pads to the rotors. If you don't your pads can wear much quicker than normal--and that can get expensive.

 

Shooting the calipers, rotors and hubs with an IR thermometer immediately after a track session is a good way to spot impending problems. On a related note my rear hubs are running about 160 degrees F cooler since I installed 2 piece rotors back there.

 

Cracknut, thanks, that may be my problem, but I'm running new OEM brake lines, and both front calipers wore the same amount, but I will keep an eye on this when inspecting before a track day.

Even with "pre-bedded" (really pre-cooked) pads you have to bed them to the rotors to transfer pad material to them. You don't have to bed the pads with the rotors if you were running the same compound on the rotors with the previous pads. If you change brake pad compound or install new rotors you have to bed the pads to the rotors. If you don't your pads can wear much quicker than normal--and that can get expensive.
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Rob, I will keep this in mind when I switch to Carbotechs. This is probably a newbie question, but are any extra steps necessary if bedding in pads on a rotor that was used with different pads vs bedding in pads on a new rotor?

I definitely need to do this next time. The pads must have easily been over their normal operating range.

 

Generally, I recommend heating up the the pad during bedding to the point where you get a hint of fade. Once you do, stay off the brakes as much as you can and let them cool while you're rolling. You'll probably lose a session if you do this at the track, but it's difficult to get true race pads to the point where they fade on the street safely.

Cover up your brake ducts while bedding to help heat them up faster.