In preparation for an upcoming track day, I'm switching my stock front brake pads out for Carbotech Panther +'s and flushing out my brake lines. This, after my experience a few weeks ago w/ stock pads and fluid. My question, however, is what people think about running the Panther + F w/ stock rear pads. Bad idea? My other option (within a time constraint) was to get Porterfield R4S for the rear.

Thanks in advance.

 

I think the R4S is a better option but when you pull the P+ after the track event you do NOT want stock on the front and R4S in the rear if you just change out front pads.

The R4S friction level is higher than the stock pads and I don't think the stock brake bias handles higher friction in the rear well. I use R4S on the rear but that is what I run on the street, so I just change the fronts when I change to track tires.

Do be sure to bed the new pads a day or so in advance so they have a chance to get fully hot and completely cold before hitting the track. IMO they wear and perform better.

 

cdelena,

Thanks for your input! BTW, I was actually going to try just leaving the pads on for both street and track use. Only if I ran into problems with that approach (i.e., unacceptable noise, dust, etc.) was I going to go the route of changing the pads out for events.

 

I used R4S's on the front and stock pads on the rear once only. The rear pads wore very, very quickly, and were done within 30 laps. Watchout!!

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by busaboy
[B]I used R4S's on the front and stock pads on the rear once only.

 

I've been running racing pads up front and stock in the rear, and I've observed the rears running very much hotter than the front.

I've not noticed any braking imbalance/problems, but I get the feeling that my rears are working harder than they should be.
They really take a long time to cool, which will tend to cause the pads to break down quicker I'd imagine. I was horrified when I took my last set off..they were crumbling to dust!

I'm going to run the same (racing) material all round from now on.

 

Several people notice this, myself included. The rears really don't have any efficient ducting or cooling, such as the fronts have, so they do tend to get hotter...even with aftermarket rear setups. I've seen NSX's with the same rotor/caliper system front and rear...and the rears get hotter than the fronts...we decided it was because the rears had no cooling...

Andie