This past weekend I got some time to take off my track pads and rotors and put my street set back on. When I got to the driver's front side, I noticed that the rotor was cracked in two places and my brake pads were cracked and crumbling apart. Once I got to the caliper I noticed the dust boot was melted. (See pictures below.) It only happened on the driver's front side, the passenger front was fine.

During my caliper rebuild I got stuck at the point where you have to put the dust boot on the piston. I was able to seat the boot in the caliper but not able to push the piston past the rubber boot even using picks, pliers, two sets of hands, etc. I gave up and seriously began to consider alternative options.

At this point I am wondering what would be the best option to make sure this doesn't happen again. I am torn between brake ducts and a cheap BBK like the wilwood system and wanted some opinions on how to proceed. My three main questions are:

1. What would be the most likely cause of this failure? High heat? Frozen caliper?
2. Is there any special trick to get the dust boot on the OEM caliper?
3. Brake Ducts vs Cheap BBK?

Some details:
Driving skill: Novice, two track days under my belt
Car details: Supercharged AP2, 430rwhp
Brake setup: OEM Calipers, SS Lines, fresh ATE Fluid, Dedicated Track C-tek rotors, Dedicated track Project MU Club Racer pads (Front and rear)
Event Details: Last event was in April in Texas (MSRH) and the high ambient temp for the day was about 80 degrees. No parking brakes, did a cool down lap, etc. I didn't notice any brake fade but I am not 100% sure.

 

Best trick I have learn to getting the boot over pistons when rebuilding calipers is to stick an air gun from your compressor in the brake line hole, turn the regulator down really low and it will pop the boot over the piston.

 

If you're serious about tracking the car more in the future don't waste time and just get a BBK now. Upto you which one.. Stoptech (can be found for ~$1600 usually), Sakebomb, etc. The OEM brakes are inadequate for a NA track car with a quick driver, much less one with a whole lot more power. Brake ducts will help get a little better pad life, but the main problem is the oem brakes are undersized.

 

You have twice the power that braking system was designed for. You are probably on stickier rubber than the car came with as well. Why not upgrade the brakes to match the power and tire that you are using? I always put the boot on the piston and then place it in the caliper, not the other way around.

 

It's ludicrous to me how much people focus on all the go go go fast parts (coilovers, wings, wheels, tires, testpipe/tune, etc. etc. super charger?!?!), and do jack for the braking system other than pads, fluids, and SS-lines.

I'd say, the stop stop stop part of your car is far more important than the go part. It's absolutely baffling to me. If there's one thing that I want to be over kill, over engineered, and far beyond what is necessary - it's brakes. I don't ever want to question them or being in a situation where they're not working as expected. If I want the car to stop, it needs to do that unquestionably.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I agree with most of it and will probably have to bite the bullet on a BBK. My only issue is that not only will I have to pay for the BBK, but i would also have to get new wheels since my current CE28s will most likely not clear it (oem specs). The other option would be to run spacers but I don't feel comfortable pushing the car at the track and the added stress to the wheel bearing, etc.

One thing I don't fully understand is how i could not notice the damage when braking? Even when I drove it around on the street (3-4 times over the course of the last 5 months, small trips just to keep the fluids moving) I would think I would notice the drag and/or lack of performance. Especially so on the track.

Also, although my passenger side pads weren't as crumbled, i noticed they were starting to crumble around the edges. Is this normal for the Project MU CRs? It seems sketchy.

 

I like the compressed air Idea, I will try that method and hopefully it works. I was at the end of my rope yesterday trying to figure out how to get it in.


As for putting in on the piston first, I could not for the life of me find a way to get it to seat down in the caliper once on the piston. The crevice that the boot sits in is so small and so far down there that i couldn't get it to stay. I tried flatheads, pics, etc and nothing could push it in to make it stay.

 

Compressed air works best for getting the boots in. I gave up on replacing them, I can easily melt them in one track day depending on the track, I dont drive car in the winter nor is it my daily so no need for them. Most racing kits do not have dust boots.
As others have said since you are making that much power you really should just upgrade to a BBK.

 

I can also understand where some folks are coming from though who only plan on doing a couple track days a year. I happen to 100% agree though with you for someone who does more than a couple days a year at the track. Regarding spacers and extra stress on the wheel bearings, I think it's a non-issue. The bigger issue is whether you need a large spacer and then fender clearance is a concern.

 

So there's no risk of getting brake dust or debris inside and scoring the piston?