SlothX311

Car is a Manual 13 GS on Pilot Sport 4S, factory pads/rotors.

I'm looking to pickup a dedicated track pad/rotor setup for light duty track days. I say light duty because I fully acknowledge my inexperience driving this platform hard, have zero seat time in a RWD on a track, zero seat time with a manual on a track. I will be more of a limitation than the pads for sure. I have some track experience but it was in a paddle shift, FWD car with much less power and overkill brakes.

That out of the way, I want something that will not fade but also has a good balance of "rotor friendliness". Dust, noise, street temps, not a factor as I will be trailering the car to event and swapping back to street pads/rotors after the event. I see Carbotech is the pad commonly recommended, but I have a few questions:

1. XP8, XP10, XP12, XP24... whats the difference here in real world terms? Car isn't crazy powerful and I can't see myself really doing anything north of 140 MPH on the tracks in my region.
2. Carbotech the way to go?
3. What rotors do you guys pair with your track pads?
4. I'm on the OE drilled rotors, no cracking yet but I also haven't tracked it. Should I be looking at slotted?
5. Do I need to upgrade the OE lines to steel?

Thanks in advance guys, really value the input from the community.

dclafleur

What tires are you running?

SlothX311

Pilot Sport 4S for now. With the dry sump, I'm considering Cup 2s or R888s as a dedicated tire with more experience.

BigMonkey73

Carbotech is definitely nice to start with, but if you're not experienced enough...you won't need pads that nice yet IMO. My street pads are Carbotech...and they work great and very low dust. Love them for sure.

If I were you, i would go with something like a Stoptech 309 set of pads. Low buy in cost, and they can handle a lot of heat and are rotor friendly. Once you start getting fast, they wear fast especially on brake heavy tracks (what tracks will you be running on?), but until then they are a great cost effective way to had a double duty track pad that you can leave on the car with no squeal noises...not too much dust either.

A more serious pad I would recommend is the Raybestos ST43. I had them on my car all around and I loved them. Not using them now because I got a discounted set of Ferodo DS1.11 with my new brake kit, but when these pads wear out that's what I'm going with again.

Other serious pads are once like GLoc, PFC, and Cobalt. Can't really go wrong with any of those really. I've had PFC 11 and they were really aggressive and noisy, and were too much for me personally...but they definitely perform well.

Adam@Amp'dAutosport.com

With that tire I would use the XP10 front and XP8 rear. Than when you get more seat time you can move up in compounds as you get better tires. The great thing about Carbotech is all there pads are compatible so, all you have to do is swap pads from street to track and go no re-bedding no cleaning of the rotors. This also saves you $$$ because you only need 1 set of rotors.

For rotors I would look for something plain face and get good brake fluid. lines may not be needed at this time that subjective.

SlothX311

Thanks for the reply. Your street pad is the 1521? Hows the noise / dust / bite vs OE? I find that my OE pads are noisy as hell and I can't enjoy a clean wheel longer than a few miles of spirited driving. Thanks for the tip on alternatives, cost really isn't a major factor in the decision in the sense that I want to get the right pad for the task. But if you're saying they're a solid alternative given my skill level, they're definitely something I'll look into.

I run at Mid-Ohio and PittRace. While the tracks aren't too bad on the brakes, but both have at least 2 heavy braking zones from speeds well over 130+ MPH in this platform. If it's worth doing, worth doing right ya know.

So you're suggesting a pad that can do both track duty and street driving? That would actually be ideal! I'm obsessive with keeping a clean car, to the point where I was actually considering a basic ceramic pad for street use even though I would suffer some initial bite.

dclafleur

I ran the Stoptech Sports (309's) last year and they did really well on my C5Z, they do wear a lot faster with a stickier tire. It also depends on how you plan to drive, on my track days I assume I'll catch traffic and also I'm more focused on getting my line right and learning how to drive. It means I'm easier on my brakes than the guys who are focusing on trying to hit a higher top speed on the straights. It's about having a good time so I'm not going to dismiss that as an element of track driving but wear and tear increase the faster you accelerate and the faster you stop. I am switching to the XP10/8 combo this year so I'll have stronger opinions on that by next year.

SlothX311

The 1521 being the street pad?

SlothX311

Yeah, like you, I'm not interested in lap times or top speeds. I guess I was listing the speeds as an indicator of how hard I plan to be on the brakes. If my home track was something like Road America I'd go with a more aggressive pad vs a track where much less braking is required. My gut tells me PittRace is harder on brakes than Mid-Ohio. I'd rather shell out a few extra bucks than have a track day ruined by fade ya know?

I'm doing some research on the Stoptech Sport 309s. Thanks for the tip.

KNSBrakes

Once you get faster the drilled rotors will crack.

We have good blank rotors that will match up with the Carbotech pads. XP10-/8 or XP12/10 is where most users start.

Lines on the Z06/GS can be difficult. The front one does not like to thread into the hard line.

dclafleur

Since your car is not very old, and I suspect your lines have not been abused you don't "need" to replace the brake lines right away. Out of the box for first time track days the biggest thing I expect in a well maintained car is fresh dot4 brake fluid and a decent pad (not a ceramic pure street pad).

SlothX311

Non-drilled sounds like the way to go. Nothing wrong with going slotted if you don't mind paying more?

Ah, wasn't aware of the level of effort involved in lines, on my GTI it was a 5 minute job assuming you had every thing torn down. I'll likely leave these alone for now.

SlothX311

Thanks, I was asking about lines based on what limited experience I have. The GTI was single piston brakes with rubber lines, the pedal had a spongy feel when you did anything even close to threshold braking. Steel lines firmed that right up, only reason I asked. I'll get some time with the factory setup to see how I like it.

I also wouldn't even consider tracking the car even on the factory pad, let alone a ceramic pad.

SlothX311

So I've been looking around, keep finding links back this forum. Why do so many people run the XP10s in the front and XP8s in the back? Why not match them?

dclafleur

Brake biasing, since under normal conditions your rear brakes contribute less to stopping power a similarly aggressive compound on the rear could cause earlier lockup. On older cars you could adjust bias by changing a spring in the master cylinder or with a manual bias adjustment setup. Since I think 2001, Corvettes have had automatic bias adjustment via the ABS system which removes that option. Different compounds gives you a different avenue to manage it.

IBAUCLAPlaya

I'll chime in as I've been running Mid Ohio in my C6 Z for 2+ years now. HPDE only, intermediate/advanced, hitting 150-158 in back straight. NT01 tires, headers, heads fixed, cam, tune 525whp.

I originally ran XP12/10 combo, KNS blank rotors, with LG ducting and fresh ATE Typ 400 fluid. This worked well for a couple laps, but if I was in a session without a lot of traffic and could string together 5+ clean laps without being backed up in traffic, I would notice brake fade in the back straight. This happened under what I would consider ~7/10th of the way to threshold braking, not once engaging ABS. Not to mention the front pads would only last 5-6 days.

I've since switched to AP CP9660 372mm front kit with DS uno pads and removed my ducting. Only have a few days on the setup, but I can tell you I've never had fade once and have pushed the brakes much harder. And pad wear I would say is reduced by 50% or even more. I know it's a much bigger investment, but long term depending on how often you plan to track the car, I really believe it will pay off. Not to mention there is nothing better in my opinion for having 100% confidence in your brakes. Also consider the time spent changing pads with the AP setup vs. OE.

Just my .02

Floridamark

Adam,

Is great to deal with! I have done the same thing, now for the last 2 year running XP12 Front and XP10 Rear with Gyrodisc and R7's. But Started with street tires and XP8.s

I consistently run 2:27’s at Sebring and when everything is perfect 2:24 and have never had a break fade problem however I am only running 143mph into turn 17 first breaking zone.

Wish I could hit 150-158, maybe some day.

Adam@Amp'dAutosport.com

Call me at 216-780-8825 I will be happy to help.

BTTBSS

The XP-10 front and XP-8 rear should work well with street tires. I run them on my C5-Z6 with Falken RT-615K+ tires, Stock size Centric High Carbon rotors. Running intermediate group no issues. I run them on the street as well because I got tired of changing wheels and brakes. The Z06 weighs less than 3,200 lbs but I ran C-5 brakes with the same pad on my 4,500 lb Impala SS for several years with no issues. That included several three day events at VIR when I could get close to 200 miles on track. FWIW the Impala was on Toyo R888's.