i was inspecting my car today and i came across this...my rear brakes...
anyone ever seen the rear brake pads get like this? they're white and cracked, looks like they're falling apart.
what caused that?

 

I know they look rusted after they get wet but then look normal after a day or so. Did u wash ur wheels sometime before you saw this? If not, get em changed.

 

sorry. i wasn't clear.

i'm talking about the brake pads. they're white and they look like they're all cracked and falling apart.

 

Have you been braking hard lately?

 

i've taken my car to the track 3 times this year and changed the brake pads out each time but they've never been like that. not even close.

 

no worries, my pads started to crumble a little like that after a weekend at the dragon, I have no plans to change them until they wear out.

 

And how do the front brake pads look?
The same?
What make / type are the pads?

 

front pads look fine. no problems.
using OEM pads all around.

 

are these the same pads you used on the track? (I think you said you swapped them out, but I'm not sure if you meant you used different pads.)

I've seen pads disintigrate under hard braking at the track, but OEMs usually glaze over before that. Are they scoring the rotors? If not, you've got plenty of pad there... It certainly wouldn't hurt to to replace them, but it might not be necessary.

 

Very simple diagnosis, actually: you got them too hot.

I strongly suggest you do not wait to replace them. Those things are probably useless as they are right now. If you take the pads off the car you will likely see that the pad surface just crumbles away to the touch.

I guess you could sand/file off the damaged parts and use the rest of the pad. Your call. OEM pads are actually pretty cheap....

I also suggest that whatever you did to overtemp them (probably the track days), you do not do again with the OEM pads.

I have a set of OEM rear pads I did that to. The rears seem to be more susceptible to this than the fronts.