Getting very tired and embarrassed of running Carbotech track pads on the street, between track days. Ungodly noisy. I've read all of Carbotech's disclaimers about the no-no's of switching pads (out of the Carbotech line), but wanted to get some first hand experiences.

For the street, OEM pads are fine for me, though would be open to something else which is priced in the same ballpark, if there is anything. If you switched over to OEM pads for street, wouldn't the Carbotechs bed in at the track, once temps got high enough? Wouldn't the OEM pad material left on the rotors be cleaned off (or degraded) at that time? Or even sooner, if you drove to the track with the race pads?

Not interested at this time in swapping rotors - I wrench, but extensive track day prep is not my idea of fun, especially in the summer with other things more appealing to tend to.

Appreciate advice and/or first hand experiences.

 

I did it all the time with my street car. I just re-bed them everytime I reinstalled. Worked fine for me. YMMV

 

I run Carbotech XP-10's on my BMW, great on the track but as you know already, very annoying for the street. I use to switch pads from street to track but never the XP-10's. I have never really noticed a difference in performance after re-bedding track pads to the same rotors multiple times.

I did try the Hawk HP+ pads for a couple of years. Performance wise they are a good compromise, but they are just as noisy as the carbotechs on the street. It can be embarrassing driving a nice car that grinds and squeals to a halt. I have even had someone comment to me after parking my car "sounds like your brakes need some work!" Ironically of course, my brakes get WAY more attention than 99% of cars on the road!

 

I use Ferodo DS2500 for street and Endless race pads for track on the same rotors. Doesn't seem to be detrimental to braking power. Just make sure you rebed your race pads on the rotors before going to the track.

 

I know it's not what you're looking for, but it's really minimal extra work to change the rotor if you're changing pads.

What does it add? Maybe 2-3 min per side.

I always changed front pads and rotors and left the rear carbotechs and rotors alone.

 

When you first bed your XP10/12 in, make sure that you heat them to the point of fade. That will eliminate most of the noise.

XP10 once properly fully bedded in will make no noise beyond a very light 'scratching' noise. No screeching, howling, or anything that would draw attention. The scratching is only audible with no traffic and windows open, radio off. If you brake somewhat hard (street hard, not track hard), then even the scratching will be gone.

XP12, I've only been able to get so that they make no noise braking medium-hard on the street. Light braking always squeeks, except within the first week or so after a track day.

 

maybe run Carbotech Bobcat 1521 pads on the street?

 

I ran XP10/8 on track and then back to OEM. It took a LONG while before the OEM pads felt good again. Just FYI that the street braking might be compromised in the meantime (the track performance would be fine after a quick rebedding).

If I had it to do over again and didn't swap rotors, I'd probably pick up a set of Carbotech street pads (whatever name they're calling that compound these days).

 

I run XP10/8 on track & on the street I swap out the front rotors for another set, leave the rear in place & change pads to these DS2500. Theyre nothing like the XP10/8 but are decent for the street/spirited mountain drives. I'd actually like to try something with a little more harder bite than these. The XP series dust bad for daily whilst the DS2500s arent as bad nor do they adhere as much to the wheels as the brake dust from the XP series does.

 

I had a conversation with Mike Jr from Carbotech a couple weeks back, regarding this same topic. He said it's not a problem to swap to the OEM pad after the rotors have been bedded in with the XP line of pads. If the XP transfer layer on the rotor is removed by the OEM pad between track days, it won't take much to transfer a new layer when you swap the XP's back on.

I agree with swapping pads between street/track. Why waste a track pad on daily driving?