OE Pad Wear on Track?

[ChrisF]

Hi all.

I know this is a highly subjective question based on driving skill but can anyone tell me how much wear one could expect from an advanced driver on a single track day? Just got the car, have about 30% pad in front. Would love to sneak in a track day (at Thunderhill) before I have to replace the pads. Thoughts?

[arter]

An advanced drivers likely to melt the OEM pads so that they will fade big time.
It is the one part ( plus maybe brake fluid) that should be upgraded on the stock M3 before going on the track.

[Sleeper519]

Ahah! This man obviously NEEDS a BBK. jk



Seriously, street pads can easily be fried in a day or two. I'd be worried about having to drive home after the event starting out with only 30%.

Track pads and fluid upgrade is a solid start.

[LiM3y]

In advanced group, you'll be scared shitless by the end of the second session and go home.

Pad wear will be a minimal issue, so 30% will be fine for the 1.5 run sessions...

You will likely get uneven coating of the rotors too, so you will have at least a week of shuddering braking during daily driving to consider buying track pads for next time.

[M3 Esq]

I wouldn't do a track day with 30% pad left unless you bring a spare set and be prepared to swap them out, especially if you need to drive the car home. Not sure if you need a pre-tech inspection, but I believe Porsche and BMW CCA require at least 50% pad.

[Estoril Blue]

Originally Posted by M3 Esq.

I wouldn't do a track day with 30% pad left unless you bring a spare set and be prepared to swap them out, especially if you need to drive the car home. Not sure if you need a pre-tech inspection, but I believe Porsche and BMW CCA require at least 50% pad.

QFT

They require it for good reason.

[M3 Esq]

And I am not sure how well the pads will manage the heat at that thickness. I am not saying don't do it, but I'd definitly bring a spare set and monitor throughout the day. If it were me, I'd probably start with fresh pads because the last thing you want is to be thinking about/worrying about is your brakes while driving on the racetrack. Just my 2 cents.

[Sebringjetta]

Originally Posted by M3 Esq.

I wouldn't do a track day with 30% pad left unless you bring a spare set and be prepared to swap them out, especially if you need to drive the car home. Not sure if you need a pre-tech inspection, but I believe Porsche and BMW CCA require at least 50% pad.

^^^ WHAT HE SAID....BUT IF YOU DECIDE TO PUSH IT T-HILL ISNT AS HARD AS LAGUNA ON THE BRAKES SO PUSH COMES TO SHOVE AND YOU TRY IT YOU MIGHT BE OK..TURN 14 IS WHERE YOU WILL BE THE HARDEST ON THEM.....PEDAL CONSISTENCY WHEN THEY GET HOT MIGHT BE A PROBLEM THOUGH...IF YOU ARE DRIVING THE CAR HOME AS OTHERS HAVE STATED THAT MIGHT BE SOMETHING TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT..

WHEN YOU GOING TO T-HILL?

[1MOREMOD]

your fresh set of pads should be something besides oem. 100 percent on a set wont help you if advanced.

[Notnug]

Intermediate to advanced drivers on a track with large brake zones will destroy the pads. Even if you have new OEM pads they will fade fast and make the brake zones pretty scary! When I had the OEM setup it took me about 2 runs before I started to break much earlier out of fear. I also did a lot of coasting after the session to try to cool them down (didn't do much...).

[VictorH]

False economy, don't do it.

[ChrisF]

Kinda what I thought. Will wait for proper pads, fluid...and alignment. Sometimes my excitement with a new vehicle gets the best of my common sense. Thanks for the grounding.

[surlynkid]

Put on a new set for the DE. Then swap back for the street until the old set is worn out. Then put these new pads back on. 30% is not enough.

[Porschefile]

Definitely don't run with 30% left on OEM's as an advanced driver. Pad wear is not linear (the last 30% is way faster than the first 30%), and hard braking absolutely melts stock pads (in my experience).

[dmw16]

No offense, but it's interesting that someone who would be driving in the advanced group even needs to ask this question.

[1MOREMOD]

Originally Posted by dmw16

No offense, but it's interesting that someone who would be driving in the advanced group even needs to ask this question.

nailed it.

[M3 Esq]

Originally Posted by dmw16

No offense, but it's interesting that someone who would be driving in the advanced group even needs to ask this question.

I didn't want to say it. But at least OP asked the question and is reconsidering.

[smmmurf]

Originally Posted by dmw16

No offense, but it's interesting that someone who would be driving in the advanced group even needs to ask this question.

Agreed, the stock pads will be worthless after one maybe two laps max to anyone driving close to the potential of the car

[arter]

Originally Posted by dmw16

No offense, but it's interesting that someone who would be driving in the advanced group even needs to ask this question.

There are other cars that their OEM pads and brakes could handle 30% pad thickness without worry.

If I had 30% on my pagid yellows, I would go out on the track.
Would gauge them at the end of the day though ( I tend to use ~ 0.7 mm per day)

[ChrisF]

^^This. I've had cars that ate pads and others that made them last forever. The OE pads on my GT3, while pretty weak, lasted about 7 track days + street mileage. I wanted to gauge wear and make an informed decision.

[jphughan]

Agreed on the risks of running with 30% of a street pad left -- and yes, you probably wouldn't (and definitely shouldn't) pass a tech inspection that way. 30% of a race pad left MIGHT be fine depending on the track and race pad compound (e.g. enduro pads like PFC 08 last a lot longer than sprint pads like PFC 01), but even then I'd have a spare set ready to swap in.

In terms of how the OEM pads perform though, my experience was that the stock brake fluid gave out before the pads. I upgraded to Castrol SRF fluid to fix the fluid issue, and then the pads were ok (but just ok) in the intermediate group at a track that's relatively easy on brakes (Texas World Speedway). BUT, on the drive home I had severe steering wheel shudder under medium braking. I waited it out for 4 weeks in the hopes that (presumed) uneven pad deposit would solve itself, but it didn't. Fortunately my awesome BMW SA got me new front pads and rotors under warranty/Ultimate Service even after I disclosed that this happened after a track weekend. I knew he wouldn't keep doing that after every track weekend of course, so I upgraded to StopTech Street Performance pads, which were entirely reasonable on that track and never created any issues afterward. Now that I'm in an advanced group, I run race pads on the front axle for the track (PFC 08s), but keep the StopTech pads in the rear on the street and track. I'm still recalibrating my footwork to get smooth on the brakes again since these things bite so much harder and faster than street pads, and their release is very different too.

In terms of camber, buy Vorshlag camber plates and call it a day. They'll pay for themselves in tire savings alone. In fact if you're in the advanced group I'm surprised you haven't encountered this already. You simply can't get enough camber on these cars even after pulling pins to protect the outsides of your front tires. I wore them down to the cords after 3 track weekends (plus 7500 miles of street driving), so I had to chuck two otherwise perfectly good tires with plenty of life still left. Now with new front tires and camber plates running 1/16" toe-in and -2.3 camber full-time (I may go up to -2.5 at some point), I've already got 3 weekends on these tires and the outsides look perfect. I keep pressures around 38-40 hot, fwiw, often closer to 38 since I'm measuring after a cooldown lap.

[Notnug]

The OP might not be super familiar with this specific M3 and its dynamics, but might be a very good driver. He is asking a valid and important question. Useless comments challenging the information clearly stated are just counter productive.
Like others mentioned, some more track oriented cars can run with 30% pad life. E9x's are so damn heavy which really effects its brake performance, especially as the pads wear. A GT3 RS is obviously much lighter and has better brakes so it can handle less brake pad life much more. I would definitely not go out for a hard day with the current brake life with an E9x. Get new pads and some good brake fluid something like RBF-600 before running it hard.

I still remember when I was running my stock E92 pretty hard a couple years ago. I could feel the fade quickly, but I kept driving. I was coming down the back straight at Mid-Ohio at about 145MPH and needed to brake to about 60 to make the sharp right hander. I pushed hard with very little response. Somehow I was able to slow down just enough to stay on track and not into the gravel. Scary couple seconds for me! They fade really fast with hard driving and on tracks with big brake zones. I really would get some RBF-600 brake fluid or something similar and get new pads before going out for a hard day. OEM brakes simply can't stop these heavy beasts!