I'm trying to squeeze 1 more open track day out of my front Panther plus brake pads. The pads are pretty faded, so the pedal feels mushy but safe. There's about 40% of pad left on the skinny side, about 50% on the other.

I'm not terribly hard on the brakes, as I've only been turning low 2:20's at Thunderhill. So do you think I can get another day out of them?

 

have you bled the brakes? New fluid might help with the mushiness.

 

Mushy brakes is almost always fluid fade. Pad fade is a solid pedal but poor stopping with high pedal pressure. I have never been able to get P+ pads to fade.

 

Thank you for the replies.

While at the track, I skipped a session to bleed the front two lines. No luck. Then I bled them again and also bled the rears. Still no change. I've been using the ATE Super Blue with the stock brake lines, and this was the first time I experienced mushiness (on my 6th track day).

Maybe I'm not using the correct term though when I say pad fade. Each pad is definitely worn more on one side than the other, leaving a pronounced slant to the wear pattern, though.

 

If you know how much pad wear occurs at every track event then you can figure out if you still have enough pad material for one more. Remember that your driving and the particular track are variables since different venues and how hard you drive will influence pad wear. So if you have 50% left after 1 track event, assuming the same track and the same driving style, you will have 0% left at the end of the day.

Mushiness may be caused by pads if the temps for that particular compound have been exceeded or green fad from the binding material on new pads. Most of the time it is caused by the rubber line expanding from pressure and heat. Air in the system from fluid boil usually causes sinking brake pedals. Try a high boiling pt. fluid like Motul or Castrol and stainless steel brake lines.

 

I found that the P+ feel a bit "mushy" after using them for a track day. But I haven't noticed any reduced stopping power. Just pick a brake reference point when you have new pads and compare them to pads that have been used for a few track event.

If your pads are worn on one side more than the other (inside vs outside), you might want to remove the brake dust shields.