StopTech kit installed...is it race day yet?

[dparm]

Took the car out of winter storage yesterday and had my StopTech big brake kit installed up front. ST40 calipers with stainless lines, Castrol SRF fluid, slotted 355mmx35mm AeroRotors, and StopTech Street Performance pads.

While having the rear pads changed at the same time (also StopTech Street Performance), the shop strongly advised changing the rear rotors, so the car is now on fresh brakes all around.

As I had predicted, the car doesn't stop appreciably better on the street. I was able to engage ABS on dry pavement even with the stock system, but this purchase was mostly for the track. I will say that the pedal feel is fantastic: linear and firm but not too grabby. I'm really glad I went with the gloss black since it looks factory from far away.

[roastbeef]

lookin good!

[///Mobbin]

Congrats on the upgrade, I run the exact same setup! Only difference is I swap in PFC08 front pads at the track. BTW, you really should bed the brakes in, it will increase the performance on the street even. Just be sure to give plenty of no-stop cool down time after bedding them, that's just as important as getting them up to temp. The result is a nice even layer of pad material on the rotors themselves.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by ///Mobbin

Congrats on the upgrade, I run the exact same setup! Only difference is I swap in PFC08 front pads at the track. BTW, you really should bed the brakes in, it will increase the performance on the street even. Just be sure to give plenty of no-stop cool down time after bedding them, that's just as important as getting them up to temp. The result is a nice even layer of pad material on the rotors themselves.

The shop did it for me, but advised me to do it once again before my first track day just to be sure.

[JustAnothaM4]

Very nice! I have the exact same black stoptech bbk for front only sitting in my office waiting to be installed.

Sidenote: Shouldn't you be running the 355mmx35mm AeroRotors on the front? The 32mm are for the rear. I could be wrong though.

[///Mobbin]

Originally Posted by dparm

The shop did it for me, but advised me to do it once again before my first track day just to be sure.

Good deal and congrats again on the new kit, you're going to love it at the track!

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by ///Mobbin

Congrats on the upgrade, I run the exact same setup! Only difference is I swap in PFC08 front pads at the track. BTW, you really should bed the brakes in, it will increase the performance on the street even. Just be sure to give plenty of no-stop cool down time after bedding them, that's just as important as getting them up to temp. The result is a nice even layer of pad material on the rotors themselves.

I had the same street vs track pad setup strategy but never bedded them in. PFC pads unlike Pagids aren't picky about being bedded in before being used hard, and while bedding in street pads will indeed make them work better, it will be short-lived because regular street braking levels are going to scrape those deposits right back off again, so unless you want to be repeatedly looking for appropriate spaces to do several consecutive bouts of hard braking from 80 to 20, with the extra wear that will entail on your pads and rotors, don't bother with street pads. One thing I did do in order to minimize the risk of weird pad deposit issues created by swapping front pads for street vs track though was to swap my PFC 08s in a week before a track event so they had time to scrape off any street pad deposits (race pads are better scrapers than street pads) and then I left them in a week AFTER the track event so they could scrape off their own deposits. Enjoy the BBK OP!

[dparm]

Originally Posted by project e46m3

Very nice! I have the exact same black stoptech bbk for front only sitting in my office waiting to be installed.

Sidenote: Shouldn't you be running the 355mmx35mm AeroRotors on the front? The 32mm are for the rear. I could be wrong though.

My mistake, they are 35mm.

[JustAnothaM4]

Originally Posted by jphughan

I had the same street vs track pad setup strategy but never bedded them in. PFC pads unlike Pagids aren't picky about being bedded in before being used hard, and while bedding in street pads will indeed make them work better, it will be short-lived because regular street braking levels are going to scrape those deposits right back off again, so unless you want to be repeatedly looking for appropriate spaces to do several consecutive bouts of hard braking from 80 to 20, with the extra wear that will entail on your pads and rotors, don't bother with street pads. One thing I did do in order to minimize the risk of weird pad deposit issues created by swapping front pads for street vs track though was to swap my PFC 08s in a week before a track event so they had time to scrape off any street pad deposits (race pads are better scrapers than street pads) and then I left them in a week AFTER the track event so they could scrape off their own deposits. Enjoy the BBK OP!

Same thing I do when changing to and from street and track pads. Do you guys just keep the Stoptech street performance pads on the rear when doing track events? Do you notice any odd rear pad wear or the front nose diving into the braking zone when running an aggressive track pad?

[///Mobbin]

Originally Posted by jphughan

I had the same street vs track pad setup strategy but never bedded them in. PFC pads unlike Pagids aren't picky about being bedded in before being used hard, and while bedding in street pads will indeed make them work better, it will be short-lived because regular street braking levels are going to scrape those deposits right back off again, so unless you want to be repeatedly looking for appropriate spaces to do several consecutive bouts of hard braking from 80 to 20, with the extra wear that will entail on your pads and rotors, don't bother with street pads. One thing I did do in order to minimize the risk of weird pad deposit issues created by swapping front pads for street vs track though was to swap my PFC 08s in a week before a track event so they had time to scrape off any street pad deposits (race pads are better scrapers than street pads) and then I left them in a week AFTER the track event so they could scrape off their own deposits. Enjoy the BBK OP!

All good points and I generally do the exact same before/after track days. I also recently switched back to the PFC08's from the Pagid RS29's for exactly this reason. I concur also that the street pad layer will wear off with daily driving but I still prefer to bed-in brand new rotors (though perhaps not necessary with my current setup).

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by project e46m3

Same thing I do when changing to and from street and track pads. Do you guys just keep the Stoptech street performance pads on the rear when doing track events? Do you notice any odd rear pad wear or the front nose diving into the braking zone when running an aggressive track pad?

Yes, I had StopTech Street Performance pads in the (otherwise) stock rear brake setup at track events. I didn't notice any odd wear back there, although I did change those pads out once they dropped to about 40% because street pads unlike many track pads aren't good until close to the end and because they're cheap anyway. I probably wore down my FRONT pads faster than I would have otherwise if I'd had better pads in the rear, but I was happy with the PFC 08 wear rate, and even if I could've somehow known how much more life I could get out of them by running track pads in the rear, I probably would have accepted the higher running cost of this setup anyway, since the alternatives would be swapping pads either in the stock rear caliper (which requires detaching it) or else buying a rear BBK, which is more cost and which even StopTech argues is mostly unnecessary -- and either way I'm now doing twice as many pad swaps for track days. As for brake dive, I didn't notice anything concerning. Granted I never compared that setup to having PFC 08 on all four corners, but from what I remember from early on when I ran StopTech pads on all four corners before getting the BBK and AD08Rs, I don't recall noticing a bunch of extra dive that wasn't there before when I switched to the setup I've been describing.

Originally Posted by ///Mobbin

All good points and I generally do the exact same before/after track days. I also recently switched back to the PFC08's from the Pagid RS29's for exactly this reason. I concur also that the street pad layer will wear off with daily driving but I still prefer to bed-in brand new rotors (though perhaps not necessary with my current setup).

Yes, I too will definitely do an initial bed-in for new rotors. I agree it may be unnecessary if most of the pad deposits will be scraped back off on the street anyway, but that somehow makes more sense to me.

[dbyrd]

Nicely done, sir!

I installed the Trophy kit for the rear this weekend. I couldn't get one of the rotors off, and I finally figured out that I left the e-brake on - brilliant. I'm trying to decide what pads to run at the track in the rear. I'm using the SR34s for the front, and I thought that I would want something more appropriate for track use than the Stoptech Street pads - recommendations?

[Longboarder]

Congrats. For the street I loved the feel of stock brakes. But then they didn't last very long on the track

Stop Tech's are epic for the track and long-term I'm so glad I went with ST vs Brembo because I've gone through a lot of pads and one set of rotors and with ST the maintenance items (including labor) are much less expensive.

[M3 Esq]

Awesome mod, congrats. Just watch out for a slightly longer pedal going into the first turn at speed. You need to get some heat into them, but once you do they rock.

I installed mine last year and when I hit turn one at LRP I was like oh shit no brakes but after that they were great. I'm running ST streets all around as well.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by dbyrd

Nicely done, sir!

I installed the Trophy kit for the rear this weekend. I couldn't get one of the rotors off, and I finally figured out that I left the e-brake on - brilliant. I'm trying to decide what pads to run at the track in the rear. I'm using the SR34s for the front, and I thought that I would want something more appropriate for track use than the Stoptech Street pads - recommendations?

I talked to Dave Zeckhausen and the guys at Turner (where I ordered the kit), and both advised me to try the included Street Performance pads. Why?


1. They were free with the kit, so you may as well.

2. Although they are a "mixed use" pad and can tolerate light track use, big brake kits run cooler than the stock system so you may not be approaching the pad's limits.

3. BBKs also use larger pads (more surface area and sometimes thicker) than stock, so the pad itself can dissipate more heat and simply has more material to burn through.

4. The Street Performance pads are forgiving at their limits, so if you do cook them at the track, you will start to get signs before it becomes a problem. The stock pads, and some stuff like the Hawk HPS, will "fall off the cliff" without much warning, by comparison.

5. Depending on the track, car, and driver skill, you might find it difficult to keep enough heat in race pads. If you aren't careful, they might cool off too much which would lead to poor stopping power when you really need them.


If the SP pads just aren't what I want, I'll probably try Ferodo DS2500s since they're still somewhat streetable. I used them on my Audi S4 and was quite happy with their performance in both circumstances (they were a bit noisy when cold).