theVcar

Im putting track pads on for Sat Pocono event. My left inner pad wears the most, say 1.5mm faster. I want to switch L and R. That little warning tab hits the caliper when it is on the bottom of caliper. Can I nip that of, being it is only for warning brakes are low?
Thanks, David

froggy47

I did a video on pad rotation. Click on the link in my signature. If you get to the squealer clip on track, they are DONE, install new pads.

CHJ In Virginia

You can swap the pads no problem. As long as your pads are thick enough for use, there is no problem with cutting the wear indicator off for clearance with the caliper.

RDnomorecobra

i know what you're talking about. yes you can take that off. As long as you are checking that you have enough pad left.

theVcar

They are DTC 70 with 6/32. Just for the track. I am switching L to R because inner pad wore the fastest. The slide pins are lubed.

VicCaerter

You definitely want some pad material out there so it can soak up some heat. If you are going to run pads down to 1.5mm, I personally would put them on the rear. I hardly wear rear pads at all. The more pad material you have, the longer the heat has to travel before it gets to the brake fluid; just something else to think about.

You make any more upgrades since memorial day weekend and whats up with George and Bob, they coming or what?

theVcar

The inside pad wore faster, they have 5-6/32nds left. Rear are new? They are not attending, I tried.

VicCaerter

ahh thats right, I forgot you aren't running a Z06. Completely slipped my mind; of course you couldn't flip front to rear. By all means, if you have the pad depth to get through the event then go ahead and flip em.

Sucks for them I guess. I got a decent alignment now so I may be able to give them a better fight through the infield and a GM full length spoiler to go flat out through the banked turn

theVcar

140 mph for you isn't fast enough?

VicCaerter

The car has more in it. Peter showed me that when he ran away from me like that in the ZR1. The Hoosiers probably had something to do with it as well. Bob kinda drug me along after I gave him a point and that showed me the car was capable of so much more. It appears I'm on a quest to find the limits. I just hope it doesn't end picking my car up with a shovel.

theVcar

Well, no $ million sponsors. So stay at 7-8/10 th's only. 10/10 th's is an accident waiting to happen IMO.

moespeeds

I seem to wear my left side faster than the right, but I think this is track specific. That outside wheel is doing the heavy braking in right turns. I constantly swap pads, and if they wear crooked, make sure you put the fat side down to even them up.

Bill Dearborn

Are you swapping pads from one side of the car to another or just swapping in the caliper? You should swap from driver side to passenger side and keep the pads in the same orientation they were in on the other side. In 8 years of C5 ownership before going to aftermarket brakes on the front I never had an issue with the wear sensor hitting the caliper no matter how I mounted the pads.

Bill

kmagvette

Buy track pads...no wear sensor...problem solved

To Bill's comment about swapping pads...simply flipping them within the same caliper is pretty much useless as the pads will continue to taper in the same direction. Take the pads in the left caliper and swap them with the pads in the right caliper. Be sure this is the end result:

Left outboard pad becomes Right inboard pad
Left inboard pad becomes Right outboard pad
Right outboard pad becomes Left inboard pad
Right inboard pad becomes Left outboard pad

Sidney004

If you do this rotation, the leading edge of the pads are the same and the pads will taper in the same direction. Its an excellent rotation pattern if you want to balance the excessive inboard wear on pads that don't show any taper wear. If you want to reverse the leading edge of the pads and change the direction of taper, you have to flip the pads within the same caliper. I use both rotation patterns depending on the wear characteristics of the pads.

kmagvette

Looks like we will need a tie breaker

The motivation for flipping the pads as I do is that the natural flex in our braking systems is the cause of longitudinal taper (leading to trailing edge) of the pad. So, as the knuckle/bracket/caliper flex under hard braking, the observed taper of the outboard pad and the inboard pad on the same caliper is such that the outboard taper is the opposite of the inboard taper. So, if flipping within the same caliper you effectively take the thick end of the inboard pad and put it where the thick end of the outboard pad was ... kind of useless if the goal of the swap was to balance longitudinal taper over the lifespan of your pads.

This is 100% based on my experience with an AP BBK, your mileage may vary.

Sidney004

Well I can tell you that on a PBR 2 piston C5 caliper(at least mine) that the longitudinal taper is symmetrical between the inboard and outboard pads, the greatest wear on the leading edge. The inboard pad is always substantially more wore than the outside.

Bill Dearborn

When I had the stock calipers on my two C5s the longitudinal taper was as Keith mentioned. That is why I swapped from one side of the car to the other. Outside pad on both calipers was worn on its trailing edge while the inside pad on both calipers was worn on its leading edge. This is shown in a picture I took of a set of passenger side pads that I had back in 2006. I never had an occurrence of tapering on the leading edge of both pads in a caliper.


Swapping to the other side of the car compensated by wearing down the thicker parts first. If I just flipped them inside the caliper the taper just got worse.

Bill

Sidney004

I've got a "lab day" coming up at Sonoma this weekend. I'll monitor the results and post back.

Sidney004

I retract my earlier comment after examining my pads after my latest track outing. I'm with Keith and Bill. The taper wear on the outboard pads is greater on the trailing edge. In my case the wear rate on the outboard pads is about half of the inboard pads. I am also seeing some radial taper on the pads(although the calipers dimensionally measure out parallel) so its looks like its time to swap in new calipers.