Can you recommend an upgraded street/track brake pad for my C6 Z51? How about a recomendation on brake fluid? DOT 3 (GM spec) seems to overheat easily on the track when braking heavily.

 

Dont know enough to reccomend pads, but I know one thing for sure.

Castrol SRF for brake fluid. Absolute best there is in terms of boiling point.

 

how do you tell that the brake fluid is overheating??

 

Brake fluid is the easy part. Good DOT 4 with a wet not dry boiling point as close to if not above 400* . ATE Super Blue or Gold, Motul, Wilwood 600 and Castrol SRF. I use the Castrol SRF.

Brake fluid needs to be changed or bleed before each time you go to the track.

Brake pads. Street pads are for the street and track / race pads are for the track. There really is no good compramise. Why? Heat or what the brake pads need to work properly. street use may get temps up to the 600 degree range where on the track seeing pad temps of 900 to 12-1400 degrees is not uncommon.

Top track pads; Carbotech XP10,11 or 12s, Hawk Blue, Black or Ht#s, PFC-01s, Wilwood H seem to be the most used track pads. Now track pads really need dedicated rotors. For a pad to work propely the rotors needs to bedded with each pad. Bedding is the process of putting brake pad material on that rotor, This is done with heat and hard braking, 40-5, 80-5 and 100-5 stops doing severl of each then putting the car away for 24 hours to cool the brakes down.

So many ppl switch pads and rotors when they go to the track then back again for street use.

Performance brake pads = lots of brake dust. There are no two ways around it. no to low dust performance brake pads is an oxymoron.

Have to wash the car and wheels a lot.

Ceramic pads have their place in the automotive industry, just not the performance end. Ok for street use, almost suicide for track use as they will glaze from the high heat and not work

Next is cooling. The cooler you can keep your brakes the better. DRM ( Doug Rippie Motorsports ) makes a brake duct extension for the C5 and the C6, which blows cold air directly on the rotor or caliper.

Many ppl still want the comprise. IMHO brake fluid, Cooling ducts and yes the stock C5 ZO6 brake pads, which fit the C6 caliper ( actully the same caliper design just differnt lettering)

Guys that track their cars, race and auto-x hang out over in the Corvette General - Auto-x and Road race forum. Lots of good info there.

HTH

DRM cooling ducts

 

Your brake peddle goes to the floor and the car does not stop. Same happens when your street or ceramic brake pads are used on the track. They over heat, melt or glaze over, and the brake peddle goes to the floor and car does not stop

Scary though, especially at 125+ mph and there is a turn in front of you.

 

Thanks for your response and all the useful information.
Ric

 

AU N GLE answered this.

You can also tell when the pads get too hot. The brake pedal stays firm but the rate of deceleration just goes away.

As a track driver*, you get to the point where you can feel the pads getting overly hot, and you start driving around the brakes. You can also feel when the fluid starts to boil but in this case, its time to pit and let them cool.
[*] after one or two off track excursions from lack of brake performance, you need to get serious about getting the brakes to work right on track. Performance Pads and fresh fluid are you first line of defense; more air ducting to the brakes is your second.

 

* BINGO. VERY VERY Scary. Just glad there was a big grassies field to run off into and slow down enough to turn and avoid a tire wall.

I did this when I was using ATE super blue fluid, PFC-01 pads with DRM ducts. I was driving over my head and over my cars abilties.

Chasing A Prosche GT3s does that to a guy. Once -- I learned my lesson, learn the limites of my car and drive consistantly just below those limits. The car and equimpent last longer, the driver does not get the RED MIST .

Some times your faster then others some times your not. and that is OK. The big prize is taking my car home in one piece with a big .

Be safe on the track.

 

As long as we are on this topic:

When you start track driving, you have no idea as how often you need a bail out strategy, nor that you need one for each and every turn.

For the tracks I drive, most of the bail out strategies end up by taking a tigher line INTO the turn. Here, you blow any chance of a good exit speed, but you gain 10-30 yards of deceleration distance that can save you from having to take an off track excursion. Comming up on a high speed braking area, and noticing that the brakes are not providing the retardation rate you expect, the tires have a triffling of latteral grip due to the lack of deceleration and you actually can steer into the turn while on the brakes. This ends up being a lot less scarry than having to leave the paved surface!

As I warm up each day (my mind not the car) I drive the first two laps looking for and remembering where and how to bail out of each turn. I just consider this "track insurance".

 

Yuppers