Track Prep - Things to Do / Buy

Hi Guys,

I've been searching the forum, but I'm having a hard time finding answers to all the questions that I have. So, here goes.

I have never driven on a track or done any HPDEs. I'm looking to do a few autocross or track events in the near future and I want to get an idea of what I need in order to prep for the event.

Currently, I'm running completely stock. This includes tires, brake pads, fluids etc. What I want to know is:

1) Should I get new brake pads? From what I've seen on the forums, the answer to this is yes. What I can't find is the following: can I leave the race/track brake pads on the car for daily driving? I'm not very handy, and wouldn't trust myself to switch back and forth between pads in-between track events.

1a) Brake fluid: should I get track brake fluid? Can I leave the fluid in for daily driving?

2) I want to get a set of track tires/wheels but I don't want to spend a fortune. I'm hoping to find a set on craigslist... what sort of measurements should I be looking for? I know nothing about tire/wheel fitment on the M3. Is there only 1 specific tire/wheel size/spec that I can use on the M3?

Thank you!

Seeing that you're new & a novice--the most important thing is to be sure the car is in top maintenance shape--OEM-style... The only recommendation I'd say is prudent is some hi-temp brake fluid (and pads w/ enough material).

No need to mod your car, until you gain enough experience to warrant the changes, as the stock M3 is plenty capable as-is.

Your instructor will let you know if &when you're ready to start modding.

I've not had a novice student ever drive past their stock car's abilities.

And, finally... ENJOY!!!

GTB/ZR-1 wrote

Seeing that you're new & a novice--the most important thing is to be sure the car is in top maintenance shape--OEM-style... The only recommendation I'd say is prudent is some hi-temp brake fluid (and pads w/ enough material).

No need to mod your car, until you gain enough experience to warrant the changes, as the stock M3 is plenty capable as-is.

Your instructor will let you know if &when you're ready to start modding.

I've not had a novice student ever drive past their stock car's abilities.

And, finally... ENJOY!!!

Perfect- thank you!

Fluid and pads are a good idea. Motul rbf 600 or 660 are your best bets and both can be used on the street with no noticeable change. Track pads can also be used on the street but depending on which pad and how aggressive the compound is they'll be a bit noisy around town. As for track wheels and tires in a budget range, Apex's are solid and affordable, you can usually find a set in the classifieds for around $1000 picked up but they aren't much more if you buy them from a shop/vendor. Squared 18's are your best bet, around 20-25 offset and 9.5"-10.5" will fit easily all the way around. Stick with street tires, just like GTB/ZR-1 said, you wont be out driving the car your first few times out and its important that you stay on a tire that you can learn on as opposed to a r-comp that will act as a driver aid. Take your time and learn the car properly and don't change things too fast, you'll end up being a better driver quicker if you approach it this way.

Casey@RWE wrote

Fluid and pads are a good idea. Motul rbf 600 or 660 are your best bets and both can be used on the street with no noticeable change. Track pads can also be used on the street but depending on which pad and how aggressive the compound is they'll be a bit noisy around town. As for track wheels and tires in a budget range, Apex's are solid and affordable, you can usually find a set in the classifieds for around $1000 picked up but they aren't much more if you buy them from a shop/vendor. Squared 18's are your best bet, around 20-25 offset and 9.5"-10.5" will fit easily all the way around. Stick with street tires, just like GTB/ZR-1 said, you wont be out driving the car your first few times out and its important that you stay on a tire that you can learn on as opposed to a r-comp that will act as a driver aid. Take your time and learn the car properly and don't change things too fast, you'll end up being a better driver quicker if you approach it this way.

Much appreciated and good advice. I think that next time I go in for a service I'll bring in the motul rbf and track pads that I want to be used on the car.

I assume that most people who run on street tires on the track still have 2 pairs of wheels/tires, correct?

Also, any recommendations on track pads that can be comfortably used on the street?

great advice on going one at a time. The only mods that I did was SS line and Hawk DTC-70 pads (overkill) You can do some Hawk pads like HP pads for both street and track

mkPOTO wrote

great advice on going one at a time. The only mods that I did was SS line and Hawk DTC-70 pads (overkill) You can do some Hawk pads like HP pads for both street and track

Great- good call. I have pretty new pads on my car so I might just run stock until they wear and change to the Hawk HPs.

I'm looking on craigslist and there are a number of stock 3-series wheels/tires for $300-$400. They don't mention offset or width, but would stock BMW wheels/tires work as a track set?

MilkAndRelish wrote

Great- good call. I have pretty new pads on my car so I might just run stock until they wear and change to the Hawk HPs.

I'm looking on craigslist and there are a number of stock 3-series wheels/tires for $300-$400. They don't mention offset or width, but would stock BMW wheels/tires work as a track set?

i would not risk buying a set that you do not know what the offset is. I have purchased a dedicated set of apex for the track. Spend a bit more money to get a right setup wheels for the track

I just went for the first time myself with the M3 just a couple of weeks ago and had a blast.

Depending no how quick you think you are, brake fluid alone might be enough (highly recommended btw). Are we talking complete novice here? FYI, I went with stock pads and they did fine for the first couple of sessions at Carolina Motorsports Park. But then again, I was going pretty slow because I've never been there before. By the end of the day, I had some pad deposit and cut the last session short.

In terms of wheels and tires, I say since it's your first time, why don't you go with what you have? Decide first if this is for sure something that you'll like and will be going back before you drop $2000+for wheels and tires. Just my 2 cents.

helmet / instructor / castrol srf brake fluid.

nothing else.

MilkAndRelish wrote

Also, any recommendations on track pads that can be comfortably used on the street?

stoptech streetperformance
hawk hp plus, bad consumer reviews on hawk HPS
ferodo ds2500
project mu hc+

The car is really good out of the box. Fluid later, pads maybe later. Bring a chair and pop up tent..lol

Kunman wrote  

MilkAndRelish wrote

Also, any recommendations on track pads that can be comfortably used on the street?

stoptech streetperformance
hawk hp plus, bad consumer reviews on hawk HPS
ferodo ds2500
project mu hc+

i would word this a street pad that can be used on track. no track pads are quiet on the street.

Word. Don't sweat brake pads or track tires until they become a limit on your ability to get the most out of the car. That shouldn't be a problem your first time out. Gotta do the brake fluid, absolutely positively, for safety. Motul 600 is the best wet boiling point fluid for the $, so if you're prone to leaving it in there for 4+ months, it's your best bet.

Unless you enjoy the shopping aspect, in which case go for everything you want! Fun's fun, I always say.

Thank you guys, great advice. Sounds like I'll be getting fluid now, and waiting on the rest to see how i like it. I will be a complete novice here, so it seems prudent to make sure I enjoy the track before sinking in too much $.

i actually had similar questions about a year ago right before i tracked for the first time. i pretty much showed up with my car pretty much stock except for springs as far as mods went. I changed my oil before i went as well as my brake pads to stop-tech street pads as well as changed my tires (tires needed changing anyways). The stop-tech pads were good enough for me. I've gone a couple of times since and think that I probably still haven't gotten good enough for them to matter but the next time out I might upgrade to pads that are more towards track. If your car is pretty up to date with maintenance with tires decent i think you should be ok to go. Just bring with you some oil incase.

On your first couple/several track days, just go out there with everything stock, bring helmet, water & folding/beach chair and have fun.

After that, think brakes (pads, fluid & SS lines) and tires.

MilkAndRelish wrote

Hi Guys,

I've been searching the forum, but I'm having a hard time finding answers to all the questions that I have. So, here goes.

I have never driven on a track or done any HPDEs. I'm looking to do a few autocross or track events in the near future and I want to get an idea of what I need in order to prep for the event.

Currently, I'm running completely stock. This includes tires, brake pads, fluids etc. What I want to know is:

1) Should I get new brake pads? From what I've seen on the forums, the answer to this is yes. What I can't find is the following: can I leave the race/track brake pads on the car for daily driving? I'm not very handy, and wouldn't trust myself to switch back and forth between pads in-between track events.

1a) Brake fluid: should I get track brake fluid? Can I leave the fluid in for daily driving?

2) I want to get a set of track tires/wheels but I don't want to spend a fortune. I'm hoping to find a set on craigslist... what sort of measurements should I be looking for? I know nothing about tire/wheel fitment on the M3. Is there only 1 specific tire/wheel size/spec that I can use on the M3?

Thank you!

Before the first day I would like to have proper brake fluid like Motul 600 which you can leave in the system for street driving

Once you are faster you can use a better pad like the PFC08 one. It is not pleasant to use on the street but you won't sound like a garbage truck either.

Some negative camber is a big plus. I'd do that before the first day to not destroy your tires. Later on you'll need camber plates to increase front negative camber

You can run stock wheels/tires easily for the first events. Eventually you will want something better for track use. Apex sells good, light, cheap wheels. You can get these in 17" to have dirt cheap track tires and they will still clear stock brakes. You can also get them in 18".

Another advantage of track wheels/tires is you can get a square set which you rotate. So you buy 4 17x9.5 ET 35 wheels and 4 255/40 tires. You have eliminated understeer and now you can rotate wheels to reduce wear. In the rear you would add a 12mm spacer so it looks better.

People usually have at least 2 sets of wheels. One for the street, one for the track.
Street tires that still survive track use, like Michelin PSS, are around 1k a set for 18" sizes
Track tires in 17", like the Hankook RS3, are 620 a set. Huge difference.

With a setup like this you will run your PSS in the street and the RS3s for the track.
When you find you have worn through a set of RS3s and you're in the middle of a track weekend you can use your PSS set for the remainder and they won't immediately burn up.

Wow thank you for this thorough reply, SYT. As far as camber, how is this adjusted? Do I have to put in camber plates or is there another way? What is a good amount of camber?

Thanks for the brake/wheel suggestions. So 17'' Apex wheels will clear the M3 brakes... will most 17'' wheels clear our brakes?

Thank you!

OP - There is a lot of good advice embedded in the prior posts, so I'll try not to repeat in sharing my own observations - some of which overlap.

For background, I had two seasons of autocross under my belt before I went on track for the first time. As a result, I had a better sense of the car's (and my own) capabilities. That experience drove a few choices noted below.

1. It's not for everyone, but you'll know pretty quickly whether it's for you or not - probably after the first session on track. The grin on your face will tell the story.
2. The car IS awesome out the box (http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=968717) but so you don't cut your first time short, I would find out how much total time you'll be on track. 3 - 20 minute sessions is way different than 6 - 30 minute sessions - depending on the track. The more time, the more likely you'll use up your pads before the day is over.
3. So, bring an extra set of front pads with you to the track just in case. You'll find many perspectives on which kind, but little downside to a 'tweener pad (like the Hawk HP Plus) as long as you're getting new ones as they're not much more than OEM and they create far less dust.
4. Changing your brake fluid is smart - overkill for street, but no downside (other than the marginal cost) either.
5. After some seat time on track, based on tire wear and brake knockback (with stock rotors) I'm graduating this season to a brake cooling kit and adding some negative camber (as other posters have suggested).

Have fun and post again once you've been out there.

Great, thank you 4M. Good all on finding out total track time... I didn't think of this, but DUH.

As for changing pads or fluid at the track- at organized track events are there ever lifts and/or people willing to help change equipment?

Also, great that you eased into this with Autocross, I'm trying to get a co-worker of mine to take me to an Auto-X event before I hit the track, and I will absolutely let you guys know how it goes.