Blitz_

I purchased a set of race pads for track days. Is it a problem swapping from street to track and back to street without any rotor prep? Will it screw up the pads? This will be my first season...

I do have motol fluid and R6 tires.

Ralph

Gary2KC5

No you're fine. I would think about getting some air vented to the front rotors though. It depends on how fast and hard the brakes have to work depending on the track and how agressive you are. good choices on the fluid and tires.

01C5fan

There are many opinions on this. I don't bed new pads or prep rotors, but many do and swear by it. I run cheap (NAPA) stock rotors and high performance (PFC 01) pads. My experience is that rotors and pads don't last very long no matter what you do. That's why they call them consumables. I do use stainless brake pistons which are supposed to do better with the heat. New or rebuilt calipers will help reduce some of the pad taper. As Gary says, get as much air to front rotors as you can. Good luck and have a great time!

Gary2KC5

I was mainly commenting on switching back to stock pads after the track event...

I do believe in bedding pads and seasoning rotors, although I have to agree it doesn't seem to make much difference. I've bedded pads to the letter and also have done a quick bed at the track, still seem to wear the same.

hisvett

You only have to bed street pads once. Your good to go!

Blitz_

Thanks. I read the stoptech white paper on the subject. They cited it's okay to do the swap as long as the bedding process is completed. I'm glad to hear some real world opinions.

I don't plan to switch rotors every time, I've just heard that the C6Z stock brake pads go real fast at the track. And they are expensive to replace. So that's why I decided to do the Raybestos racing pads (R1185 (ST43s)) and change them out as needed.

The white paper said to be sure to put them on before the track event to remove old pad material from the rotor. I think I'll go that route.

Blitz_

One more quick question. Should I make sure to put the pads in the same place for each brake? My gut say I should...

J Ritt

I would follow our bed-in instructions. That said, here's what I do with mine...assuming yours is also a street-driven car.

Put the race pads in a day or two before the event. Drive them around town. Driving them cold will scrape all of the old pad material off of the rotors, so you can start your bed-in with a clean slate. You'll know they're 'clean' when they are a nice silver color again (not blue/gray...you'll see the iron of the rotor, not the pad transfer layer), and they'll start making a lot more noise...squeaks and scrapes.

At the track, do a bed-in on the race pads to get a good transfer layer. Run the event as planned.

Drive home with the race pads still in the calipers. Drive the car for a day or two after the event on the race pads. Again, this will clean the rotors...all of the pad material you laid down at the track will scrape off when they're run cold.

Swap your street pads back in and re-bed them.

I've done this many, many times without any vibrations or issues. Proper rotor management pays dividends and eliminates a lot of annoying issues.

Sidney004

As for putting pads in the same location, that may not be the best alternative. If your pads are exhibiting uneven wear or developing a taper, it may be preferable to change their location to even out the wear pattern. I am not that picky with bedding in the rotors by the book either. Normally my first cold morning session is comparatively slow and will bed in the brakes for the action that is to come later. Interestingly, last time out I had to do a mid day pad change when two pads wore to the backing plates due to taper. I had a set of KFP Purples in but didn't come prepared with an extra set of this compound. Not one to pack it in early for any reason, I slapped in two Carbotech pads of unknown compound(possibly panther+) that I bought from a fellow board member and bled the brakes and headed out for two more sessions. Each front rotor had had 1 KFP pad properly bedded and 1 unbedded Carbotech with a transfer film from a different compound. End result with different Cf, different thermal characteristics, different rotor bedding was that it braked normally. Prior to the pad change I was getting 1.05 peak g levels, afterwards 1.02 g, which is insignificant. I would not be too concerned with the subtle details for an HPDE.

rocsvette

I have been swapping between street and track pads for years with no problems at all, and on a number of different cars including C4 and C5 Corvettes.

As to bedding the pads; for track use YES. I worked with a GM engineer changing pads at CMP in October and we discussed the problems with several Z06s losing their brakes. The discussion included the VLE and this is what was determined from a brief engineer meeting, for street use pads do not have to be specifically bedded. Think of all the cars on the road out of the factory and no one beds those pads. They are designed to work out of the box with no special preparation. However stock pads and racing pads need to be bedded if used on the track.

This is one of the things that Corvette engineers learned by taking part in the NCM HPDE schools.