Was at Nelson Ledges Race track in Ohio testing brakes on September 7th . I am running big brake kit on the front with #3 racing pads from The Brake Man and stock pads on the rear . I wanted to find out temperatures that brakes were operating at to tune pads and find out if lightweight rotor for rear would work. Front rotors on my kit are directional , I have removed large metal dust shields that are on the inside of rotors ..The front brake pads are .645 thick. For testing temperatures I am using Raytek ST80 ProPlus infrared thermometer ( Temp range -25 to 1400F) and Tempilaq 400, 600, 900 temperature indicating paint. Temperature at track was about 80 to 84 degrees .
The first 8 to 10 laps I came into pits to check brakes . Front and rear rotors had gone over 400 degrees but not quite reached 600 . Heat gun confirmed front rotors were cooler than rear by about 50 degrees .
I had no brake fade and never induced ABS . I was going into corners farther than Porsche Boxer S and the 2 BMW's that were running . ( they were all running track tires ) I had my 02's on . Braking biase is another item that I was testing . The fastest part of track I was traveling 115mph going in to fast chicane ( you drop off about 20 mph ) than into tight left hander slowing to 45 . At no time on the track did I feel that car was pushing or rear was going to pass me by while braking . I tried to go as deep in the corners as my tires would let me . I tried some braking in the corners , again no problems . I made 4 to five trips out on the track 10 to 12 laps each time . Each time I returned to pits I checked temperature of brakes . Front calipers got up to 200 degrees on out board side ( tested with gun). Front rotors got to less than 600 with the paint and 550 with the gun in the pits . Front hat at wheel was 300 degrees less than rotor temperature!!!! . I am sure from this testing that cars that are having rear brake problems , are having problems because front brakes are no longer doing their share of braking and more braking moves to rear and system goes on over load . Tire wear was definitely more on my mind than brakes . I will be looking for track tires to use to save my street tires . I think I used up 2000 miles worth of tires on just one day . I am going to work on car this weekend . I will take pictures of pads and rotors ( they have over 8,000 miles on them ) . I am going to install Hawk HPS street pads in the front to test . We are still waiting for #3 stock pads and hot street pads to be made up. I will have street pads in for RICK's get together . The dust from racing pads is a lot of work to keep up with . If it weren't for dust, #3 pad is the ultimate pad for this car . It works great cold and never bites . It requires very little pressure to modulate braking . When on the track, every use of the brakes was the same as the first .
The steel arrived for rear rotors and we hope to have it cut this week to send west for final processing .
After all this testing and working out custom part availability we should be able to offer kits soon.

Brad
6410

ps
I have been reading posts by Andie. I find his replies very good . below are some of his posts.

" This is a design issue with the car; e.g. with a thicker pad, you need a thinner rotor, ceteris paribus - BUT, if you make the caliper larger, you can have a thicker pad AND a thicker rotor, but then you need wheels which will clear the larger caliper, which may change the offset and thus track of the car, which will affect steering geometry, etc., etc...so you have to call it quits SOMEWHERE as a vehicle engineer, and design the components in such a way that they will perform their intended task (in the case of the S2000 = spirited STREET driving) as well as possible, while, perhaps, being less than optimal under other conditions (such as race track driving).

Andie "




"I forgot to answer your other questions:

The inside pad WILL wear faster than the outside pad - you are correct on this point - because the piston is pushing directly onto the inside pad, and the outside pad is being pulled into the rotor; thus, there is some flex and deflection on the outside "pulling" pongs, in addition to some vibration, which cause it NOT to grip the rotor as well as the inside pad. This is not really a "design" flaw, but an inherent characteristic of non-differentially bored, one-sided piston sliding calipers, the likes of which come with nearly all cars, short of a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lotus (front), some Porsches, some BMW's, and some Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

Andie"

We have worked very hard to achieve all the things that Andie talks about .
Reduced flex
Lighter weight ( 9 lbs per wheel)
Larger diameter rotor ( directional vaned for better cooling)
Thicker brake pads
Faster cooling rotors
Fits in same space as stock brake system ( stock wheels no spacers )
Unlimited pad selection

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dwb1
[B]This is not really a "design" flaw, but an inherent characteristic of non-differentially bored, one-sided piston sliding calipers, the likes of which come with nearly all cars, short of a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lotus (front), some Porsches, some BMW's, and some Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

 

Brad, thanks for the update on testing.