Jawnathin

A few friends and I are thinking of doing a track day around Thunderhill Raceway in June. I've had track day experience in other cars on Thunderhill, but this would be my first HPDE event in the C6Z06.

Currently the car has about 25k miles on it, no previous HPDEs, so nothing too abusive or high stress, though there has been a few local autocrosses and occasional trip through the mountain roads. Not sure how much pad is left as I'd have to check to be sure, but its got 25k miles of use.

Normally I wouldn't even question it and just buy a set of race pads/rotors for HPDE, but since I am planning on swapping out the brakes at some point I am reluctant to invest in a new set of rotors/pads. So given the circumstances, I'm trying to see if I can leverage the existing components.

I'm an intermediate level driver and I'm open to the idea of taking it a little easier around the track at 7-8/10ths or so if it'll help. The car does have a healthy amount more power than stock at 560~rwhp and I'd expect it to be very hot at Thunderhill in June. I do plan on replacing the brake fluid wtih the ATF stuff shortly before the event.

Any thoughts on whether or not this is a bad idea?

froggy47

You have to look at/measure the remaining life on the pads, miles mean very little. IMO they need to have 50% or better to track.

Don't worry about taking it easy, when/if your brakes go south you WILL take it easy.

Question is do you want to spend the money for a track day & end up doing parade laps & giving point bys.

harrydirty

Learned long ago not to skimp when it comes to safety on the track. If in doubt, fix/replace it. Thunderhill main straight is long, you will be at 130mph or better and braking hard for a slightly off camber left hander, no place for questionable brakes. Back straight is over 100mph as well, as well as straight between T9 and T10. Both of these straights lead to turns that are taken at 75 or slower.......only you can decide what's right, but I tend to be conservative fwiw.

jcsperson

Car $70,000

Pads $400

383 Z06

Supercharged111

The understatement here is how much better upgraded pads suck the eyeballs out of your head and send your confidence through the roof.

Jawnathin

Thanks everyone.

I will need to pull the pad off to check but a quick glance and guess shows about 4~mm or so worth of pad before it gets to the padlet backing. Is the stock around 10mm? I might be a tad bit short of 50% thickness.

I agree that Thunderhill is a pretty quick track and I got fade on my previous car the first time I took it out. My butthole puckered up pretty good the first time that happened and ended up swapping to a more aggressive pad and that made all the difference.

I also agree that any chance of brake failure isn't worth it, but also be mindful my post is trying to understand exactly what the risk was. So all feedback is appreciated.

Assuming pad thickness is at 5mm or greater (I'll still need to pull the pad to find out for sure) does anyone else see any other problems or issues with taking it out? Or should I not bother with the stock pads/brake rotors at all?

JeremyGSU

Bad idea. Especially if you're making 560whp. Get some pads and go have fun.

Adam@Amp'dAutosport.com

I would not chance it with the stock pads. I would go to the Carbotech XP10 front and XP8 rear set up and if you decide that your going to change caliper`s you can always sell the pads on the forum they are popular. Give me a call at 216-780-8825 I will be happy to set you up.

Jawnathin

Thanks. I think that is what I was looking for.

Thanks Adam. Slightly hesitant to invest in a component that will be replaced later this year, though I am keeping an open mind about it.


Worst case, I'll just drive my other car that does have race pads and just call it a day. Won't be as fun as the Z06 but oh well.

Supercharged111

I've not tried the 12/10 combo, but you might start pushing that harder than the 10/8 combo. 10/8 is way stronger than stock, but still gets a little bit of a long pedal for me when hot. At any rate, they never disappear, and it could be personal preference too. The reason I tried something other than 10/8 was because that slightly long pedal hampered my downshifts. I still have separate Carbo bedded rotors. . .

Bill Dearborn

Stock pads are 15mm thick when new. If you only have 4 mm you are far less than 50%. Time to change them out.

Bill

MarkDFW

I run carbotech and very happy with them.

Glad you plan to flush with a good DOT 4 brake fluid right before you go to the track. That is just as important as the pads IMO.

froggy47

Get your ruler out, 15mm? Stock pads on a c5z are about 6mm maybe 6.5

Seriously.

Supercharged111

Incorrect fine sir. I just measured some used ST43 at 11mm.

froggy47

Stock pads. Lets be clear, I am talking STOCK pads not aftermarket.

Don't post some stuff about aftermarket. Seriously.

Supercharged111

Dude if stock pads are 6mm that's a ripoff. I wasn't aware that aftermarket pads were thicker than stock when made to fit a stock caliper.

froggy47

yep.

Supercharged111

How stock are you talking? Because I have generic Autozone semi-metallic pads for my street brakes and they're about 14mm when new. What brand pads did you buy that started out at 6mm? Even LG's site says 14mm for stock caliper'd pads.

froggy47

My bad guys, I was giving a spec for one pad so x2 puts them in the 13-14 mm range.