After running the dragon... rotors cooked my brake pads and have been causing some pretty annoying pulsing in my brake pedal... Tackled replacing trashed front rotors and cooked rear (stock) pads. I'm running the willwood 6 piston front setup with their E pads and now running the axis ultimate rear pads and ATE super blue fluid..

Wish I would have been running the more aggressive rear pads the whole time... Brake balance is back to stock now. I believe by running the stock pads in the rear with the more aggressive pads up front shifted brake bias forwards more than i thought.. In turn front rotors were getting hotter than normal..

 

Did you try rubbing the rotors down with a scotch brite pad or sand paper? A lot of times you can remove the brake pad deposits that bond with the rotor. The build up of material causes the vibration in the brake system.

I can only imagine the bruises on your arm from Joe hitting you for going too fast.

 

Yep tried that 2-3 times to no avail.. I waited too long and continued to use them aggressively despite the problem.. I think that i have the problem stated below

From stoptech website:
It gets worse. Cast iron is an alloy of iron and silicon in solution interspersed with particles of carbon. At elevated temperatures, inclusions of carbides begin to form in the matrix. In the case of the brake disk, any uneven deposits - standing proud of the disc surface - become hotter than the surrounding metal. Every time that the leading edge of one of the deposits rotates into contact with the pad, the local temperature increases. When this local temperature reaches around 1200 or 1300 degrees F. the cast iron under the deposit begins to transform into cementite (an iron carbide in which three atoms of iron combine with one atom of carbon). Cementite is very hard, very abrasive and is a poor heat sink. If severe use continues the system will enter a self-defeating spiral - the amount and depth of the cementite increases with increasing temperature and so does the brake roughness. Drat!

The obvious question now is "is there a "cure" for discs with uneven friction material deposits?" The answer is a conditional yes. If the vibration has just started, the chances are that the temperature has never reached the point where cementite begins to form. In this case, simply fitting a set of good "semi-metallic" pads and using them hard (after bedding) may well remove the deposits and restore the system to normal operation but with upgraded pads. If only a small amount of material has been transferred i.e. if the vibration is just starting, vigorous scrubbing with garnet paper may remove the deposit. As many deposits are not visible, scrub the entire friction surfaces thoroughly. Do not use regular sand paper or emery cloth as the aluminum oxide abrasive material will permeate the cast iron surface and make the condition worse. Do not bead blast or sand blast the discs for the same reason.

The only fix for extensive uneven deposits involves dismounting the discs and having them Blanchard ground - not expensive, but inconvenient at best. A newly ground disc will require the same sort of bedding in process as a new disc. The trouble with this procedure is that if the grinding does not remove all of the cementite inclusions, as the disc wears the hard cementite will stand proud of the relatively soft disc and the thermal spiral starts over again. Unfortunately, the cementite is invisible to the naked eye.

Taking time to properly bed your braking system pays big dividends but, as with most sins, a repeat of the behavior that caused the trouble will bring it right back.

 

That sucks.

BTW, how do you like you Wilwood's? Would you buy them again? Do you think that they offer you more stopping over than an OEM setup with a better pad (Cobalt, Hawk)? I was contemplating switching to a bigger caliper, but I have heard so many different stories that I am now not to sure that I want to tinker with the brakes.

When are we going to get your car on the track? NASA is putting on a HPDE at Road Atlanta on March 19. Would you be interested in going?

Check it out.

http://www.nasa-southeast.com/schedule.shtml

 

Before I destroyed the front rotors I thought braking was improved in the sense that the system could tolerate more heat than stock. Of course some of my perception that braking (feel) is better might have something to do with more aggressive pads, braided lines, and ATE superblue. Stock i could definately notice some brake fade but after I switched pedal feel was rock solid all day long (no surprises).

What I do like about the willwoods:
Cheaply rebuildable
Extrememly easy pad changes (huge benefit... can't wait for a rear kit)
Improved steering feel (less weight than stock)
Cheap replacement rotors
Some bling factor... i will not deny it.. they look damn cool
Super easy to bleed

Let me have some more time with the improved brake bias with the rear pads for me to give a more accurate reading on these brakes. One of the things I did not like before the pad change was that when setting up for a corner hard on the brakes I felt there to be a little more upset in the balance. I think that with the pad change much of this feel will be eliminated. Another thing that annoyed me for awhile (wound up being rear brakes though) was that recently it started pulling to one side.. I noticed though when changing rear brake pads that one side looked as if half the pad had crumbled away (reference pic above)!

Another change in the not too distant future will be to run some lightweight 17 inch wheels... ala ssrgt-7s or stock 04rims. Maybe even some race rubber somewhere.

As far as track goes I think I'm probably going to have to hold out for another year.... Car will be paid off/will have more disposable income/will have transmission back at 100 percent

 

What stories have you heard about a bigger caliper?

 

Just that a lot of times when you switch to a bigger caliper without changing the master cylinder, the braking is less effective. More pedal travel. the first few inches of travel does not give any resistance. greatly increases moment of inertia of the braking components which causes slower acceleration. Those types of comments.

I am not implying that brakes are not an improvement. I just want to your opinion first hand.

I would like to be able to change the pads without removing the caliper. That would be so nice.

 

I forgot about your transmission problems. At least come out for a few Auto-X's this year.

BTW, SSR GT7's $$$$ (well not compared to the Kinesis, but for the average person)I have my eye on the Professors or Competitions. 17" of course.

 

The ssrgt7's are approx 1700buckaroos.. about the same as the professors and competitions... not to mention ideal offsets and the ability to fit just about any BBK without any spacers.

 

which is why I am still on 16's