OK, so I am officially bitten by the DE bug. Have done two so far, the latest being Mid-Ohio this past weekend. I'm going back in two weeks.

My first two events I ran on my stock, original pads and brake fluid.

Now I want to get set up right, so here's what I am thinking of doing and am looking for advice.

1. Order Ferodo pads from raceshopper.com. $168-fronts, $128-rears. They told me that they have the highest friction coeficient of any street/track pads made and handle temps above 1000 degrees. I want pads that I can keep on the car all the time and work well in both steet and track applications.

2. Order what seems to be the Z06 track rotor of choice, the Raybestos rotors from NAPA that run about $20 apiece. Everything I read on the forum seems to say that you can pay more but you can't get better for track use......

3. Get some Super Blue DOT4 fluid from raceshopper.com

4. Take everything to a local Corvette specialty shop and have them install everything and bleed the brakes for ~$250. I have no tools or desire to do any of this work myself. No way i am going to trust my absent minded self with installing something that is supposed to slow me down from 145MPH reliably........I want a pro to do it.

so, any thoughts on my choices here and is that a reasonable price for everything I am having them do?

thanks very much for the input.

 

Yup you have the sickness. Congrats.

That is the difficult one. I hope these work for you and let us know.

Most ppl who do more then two DEs a year learn to change their own brake pads, rotors and bleed the brake fluid. All are very easy to learn.

The most popular brake pads for racing / DEs ( not in any order )
1. Wilwood H or J
2. Carbotech XP9 f and XP8 r or XP10 f and XP9 r
3. PFC-01

Unforutntly these pads dont work well on the street as they need heat to really bite into the rotor. Then change back to street pads


That is correct, Good man.

or Motul, or Wilwood or Castrol SRF.

That seems to be a fair price.

Now would be a great time to put on Stainless Steel brake lines too. Earl's or Goodridge are two brands that are very good.

If you going to do more then two DEs a year, and since you have come to your scences, that corvettes are to be driven, not shinned and hidden away in a garage or parking lot. Get the tools you need and learn to do this work yourself. It is not difficult and there are pleanty of Corvette ppl that do DEs that will help you.

Heck I watched ppl for a long time to doing this work and then had them watch me do it. Now it is second nature as there have been times I had to change a brake pad or rotor with very little light to see.

 

Well put, Tom.

jnjboc - you should hang out in the autox/rr section of the forum. You can learn ALOT over there...anything from simple pad changes, to complex race setups, to driving tips...plus, find out when all the good events are happening.

 

Take it from a neophyte at hands-on mechanical things, changing the pads is a snap. It takes longer to jack the car, remove the wheel, and then replace the wheel than to change the pads.

But I understand your desire to have someone else do it. I also don't want to be bothered but enjoy learning how just in case.

 

thanks much guys.

yes, I was going to order the Goodridge SS lines.

I'm only going with the Ferodo's since the folks at raceshopper, which I have heard good things about, say they are the best compromise between street and race specific pads.

since I'm brand new to corvettes(had my first one only 6 months), and have only been to two DE's, I don't know a lot of folks yet. Hopefully, I can hook up with some people at the track that will be changing out their pads/rotors and jump right in.

 

I have never heard of Ferodo's before your post. Have no opinion on how good they are. For street/track a lot of people go with the PFC Z rated pad from AutoZone. They have a lifetime guarantee. As for having a pro do the work that may be OK for a while. But as you get faster you want to really check the car and there is only one person who is going to do it right and it isn't that pro unless he is on your payroll. Changing the pads and rotors is a good time to go over all of the suspension pieces, brake lines, calipers, wheel bearings, etc. So my advice is to start investing in some tools and getting involved in maintaining the car.

By the way a lot of these pro's including the ones who drag race have no clue about the stresses encountered by a car in a DE and just don't realize they really have to check things out. Work that is OK for the street isn't acceptable on the track.

Bill

 

I'm really in a quandry here regarding getting the brake equipment installed.

The problem is that all the local Corvette specialty shops I have talked to(there are three of them), want to sell me their rotors, and pads, and they all suggest slotted/drilled. i explain to them that I am tracking the car and the stress is far too high for post-manufacture drilled rotors.

they seem dumfounded. They have the attitude of "well if you want to bring the parts in, fine, I will charge you straight labor rates". I'm looking for a shop that understands performance driving and gives a damn about the job being done right, and that parts are like everything else-everybody has an opinion and just because their shop does not sell Raybestos rotors for instance, does not mean they are bad...

I can't have my dealer do it as they have already told me they won't bleed the brakes and put in DOT4 fluid as they are concerned with mixing DOT3 and DOT4 which, of course, is a lack of knowledge on their part(they say that even with bleeding, some DOT3 will still be in the system and they don't want to be responsible for a failure due to DOT3 and DOT4 being mixed together???), and the fact that the owner's manual specifically states to use ONLY DOT3 fluid, so I am screwed there.

OK, so if there is anybody in my geographic area who would have the tools, experience and time to do this with me, I will gladly pay you for your time and instruction. I'll drive to where you are with my parts and we can put them on together and bleed the brakes so I can learn by doing.

Otherwise, I'm not sure how I'm going to get started into performance driving seriously.........

looking for HELP!!

 

Bummer. Unfortunitly you have come across guys who spend TOO much time in the shop and /or dealers techs who know nothing about real mechanics and have to do everything by the manual for liabilty reasons.

At the two schools that you did do, did you met any guys that have corvettes and still keep in contact with them??

Or what is your next event and track and where do you live?? lets see if we cant get you some local help.

 

Find a local mechanic who races himself!

My mechanic races drag cars. He completely understands when I bring in a box of parts for my cars. Dealer mechanics, though good in their own right, just aren't experience with non-factory items!

 

I've been where you are so here are my $.02. I wish you lived in So Cal, I'd show you how to do this in a second. First, why are you changing your rotors? Do you have a problem with the current ones? I would be very surprised if they are fried after only a couple of track days, especially with stock pads. As to pads, I'd be careful about using a high coefficient pad. They will not work as well on the street as they require heat to really grip. Also, they will eat rotors and tend towards overheating. You have a couple of good recommendations above for a more aggressive than stock, but not race pad. My personal opinion is that until you are one of the fastest drivers in your group, about the only thing I'd worry about is upgrading fluid. Are your stock brake pads bad? If I were you, I'd wait until you need to change them to think about upgrades and that will give you time to do some more research.

I would upgrade fluid. I use ATE blue. I've put it in both my vettes with no problems mixing fluids. Nice thing about blue is you know when you've got all the old fluid out.

I wouldn't worry about using a corvette specialty shop. These brakes are so easy to replace, any reputable repair shop can do it. Get a recommendation from a friend. When I first started tracking my car, I was living in an apt. temporarily while my house was being built, so I didn't have access to a garage or my tools, so I went to a good local shop and they did a fine job. Enjoy the obsession