Sucks to have this be my first post but I just recently ran into an issue with my car where the rear calipers are destroying the brake pads.

To make a long story short, my car has gone through three sets pads in the past two days.


Carbotech XP8:
I noticed even but accelerated wear on the xp10's I had originally on the car but 50% of the pad was worn through within 3 trackdays

Street Pad:
Since I only noticed the xp8's were gone the night before the BW event this past Sunday I decided to run street pads on the rears since I thought the rear wouldn't see enough heat melt them over just one event. After 5 laps on my first session I heard a grind coming from the rear driver side and pulled off track. Both rears, which were previously like new, were shot. The driver side was down to metal inside and outside while the passenger side was both at about 15%. I've spoken to other track regulars who said that they ran street pads as well but this never happened to them either.

Porterfield R4:
Assuming that it was my fault for believing the street pad would hold up on track I found a fellow s2ki member (Jonathan dont know his s2ki handle but thanks! ) who was nice enough for sell me a new set of R4. After coming off the second session, I checked the rears and to my disbelief, the driver side pad was down to the metal backing again but the passenger side was still intact. I didn't bed in the R4 before I went on track thinking that it would bed itself in . (Additionally the driver side rear rotor was pretty scored from making contact with the backing from the street pad. Could this have contributed? )


Has anybody experienced an issue like this before?


My best guess was that the rear caliper may be stuck or some kind of brake balancing/proportioning issue.

Any help would be great thanks!




Might be relevent/might not:
Stock Brake Lines
XP10 Fronts
255 sq z2 tires
Since this is a new to me car it seems like the gas mileage has been lower that it should maybe due to pad drag?

 

1: Have you checked for a stuck rear caliper? Thats the most likely culprit. If thos does turn out to be the cause, be aware you may be in the market for wheel bearings soon too because of the extra heat you been putting into the spindle.

Alternatively,

2: Do you experience heavy front fade? IF so when your front pads overheat but you stay on the brakes the rears start picking up the slack and go FAST.

 

If you think it's a stuck caliper, I'd try Mac's rear caliper refresh. Pay attention when you take the pins out and clean them if they are tough to remove or they have marks on the side from binding, that would be the smoking gun.

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/921...liper-refresh/

 

I agree with what anorexicpoodle and odb812said but Ive never heard of calipers that were as bad as yours. How many miles are on the car? Has it seen a lot of track abuse before?

At the very least, Its definitely time to rebuild the calipers. You may end up being better off just buying new if the current ones are that bad. Also, as long as you have the calipers off, it would be a good idea to replace the stock lines with some higher quality braided stainless steel lines... Ive seen stock lines fail and cars hit walls or other solid objects as a result. Unfortunately, in at least one circumstance this failure cost someone more than his car.

 

What year is your car? I seem to remember a post from long ago about someone tracking a 06+ and killing rear brakes because VSA wasn't disabled. Based on the pads you're running I'm guessing you aren't new to the track so I'm inclined to think you either have a 00-05 or already have VSA turned off if it's 06+. Figured I'd at least put it out there.

 

You'll kill more than just rear pads if you leave VSA on (you shouldn't)

But I'm pretty sure his rear calipers are sticking.

Edit: Just realized this was my old car and OP is my friend. Car is a MY05.

Kevin - when you installed the rear pads - did you make sure to slot the holes into place for the rear pad? There is a certain way to install them and they are not just plug and play....that might cause uneven wear from side to side too. I didn't have a single problem with the car nor the brakes....I'm going to venture a guess that either A) They really do need a rebuild now or B) You installed the pads incorrectly.

 

1) I'm not sure how to check, I lifted the rear and tried moving the wheels and they are normal. Is there a procedure to this?

2) And no, I havent been experiencing much fade at all on this car... except when the rear is going..


Yeah I was definitely looking into that. Autozone offers rebuilt calipers from Duralast. Does anyone have experience with that?

We checked for that as well and they are freely moving, thanks though. I'll probably do that refresh you suggested anyways just in case.


The car has just under 65,000 miles. Also I was debating whether to replace both or just the driver side one.

Yeah I have already ordered the lines since I was guessing I needed to replace the calipers anyways.


The car is 05, I dont think it has VSA.. Or I could be severely mistaken

Yup, the piston was lined up properly and the R4 doesnt have the pins on the backing plate either.

Yeah I know since the rears were fine the past few track days I'm pretty sure this is a new issue

 

OEM rebuild kit. I would never use duralast parts on this car for the track. I don't think the OEM kit is all that expensive, either.

 

Don't know if mentioned yet, but you have to align the rear pad up to the dimples on the cross pattern. Otherwise it'll over heat you pads BC its not seated right

 

3 days for 50% wear is not that bad. Sounds like you then messed up the rotor and then kept using it also without bedding the new pad. Maybe get new rotor and pads and bed them and maybe you are ok.

I have destroyed street pads completely in 1/2 a day they can't hang. Get some ducts too.