psreynol

just as a reference point. when I had just the wilwood type E pad and the porterfield r4 pad I only lit up my lowest temp reading on my alcon strips. on a very brake intensive track they started to feel a little mushy at the end of a session. so perhaps I might try the next stronger pad but I might not because overall I liked how the brakes performed.

this is for the wilwood dynalight caliper. Unless you are running mad power or have stock calipers I'm not convinced you need the ultra aggressive pad.
they are expensive, wear fast, and will in many cases it a rotor on the street. and

czubaka

iTrader: (3)

I haven't seen anyone mention the 6-piston calipers. Does anybody feel those are worth the extra $$$?

Savington

iTrader: (31)

I tried them and they are not.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

Lol @ anyone not running the TSE 11.75 kit. Seriously, /your pathetic lives.

soviet

iTrader: (10)

casting on the rotor was changed and made that area a weak spot. I have other corrado rotors (from same manufacturer, Centric) that don't have this casting defect.
more pics here - In Soviet Russia car build YOU! - Page 25 - Miata Turbo Forum - Home to the Turbo Miata

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

Damn, Leonid, that's an impressive failure.

soviet

iTrader: (10)

I'm sure the "good casting" rotors won't do this, but after this failure I just don't care. I was instantly sold on "proper" big brakes.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

The TSE 11.75 will pay for itself in time on pad and rotor replacement interval. They will pay for themselves the first day, after the first session. They elevated my confidence and braking manliness significantly.

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

Props. It's rare to find a vendor of something that will speak a bare naked truth like "don't buy this, it's not worth it."

Savington

iTrader: (31)

That's what we do.

mx5-kiwi

Savington, I have a friend with an LS2 in his MIATA (from an HSV Commodore if anyone is interested) and he has the 6 pot calipers but is having issues with brakes,originally they overheated and caught fire but that was the standard pads they came with at fault (I believe) he has since upgraded to race pads and now not fading etc (with added ducting) but now his rotors are showing signs of cracks etc...possibly from the overheating they recieved 2 trackdays ago...

Do you know if the 6 pots are required for the extra weight and power or are the 4 pots capable of handling this too...? He's talking about going to a bigger size rotor.....("think" currently 11" and is talking of going 11.75 or whatever the next size is...)

I have been anti this idea becasue I HATE the 17 wheels he runs to fit all this heavy metal inside the wheel.....but that is a lame reason at the end of the day...

Help us Obi Wan Savington, your our only hope...!

Savington

iTrader: (31)

The only benefit of the 6-pot is a small improvement in pedal feel. The pad is not significantly larger than the 4-pot caliper, despite being significantly more expensive. I would use a 4-pot caliper no matter how heavy the car is.

An 11.75" rotor would help - our 11.75 kit fits under 15x9 6ULs, so a 17" wheel wouldn't be required. Rotor cracks are a fact of life on any car that sees regular track use, though - you should expect to swap the rotors every other time you change pads. Small cracks are not a concern, but if they grow to 1/3 of the distance from the inside of the rotor to the outside, then it's time to change it.

mx5-kiwi

Thank you I will pass this on.

YES, my 15" wheel rule still survives

dgmorr

iTrader: (4)

What Dynalite caliper part number do you use for your 11.75" kit? I want to know if I can reuse mine with your upgrade, or need to get a whole kit - not sure if there are offset differences or are the mounting centers all the same?

Savington

iTrader: (31)

If you have a lug-mount DL4, it works with our kit. They only make one.

pmhaddad

iTrader: (2)

Ok, so I have a question or two regarding pads. Before hustler chimes in, I know that the TSE BBK is the solution. The reason I'm not going with a TSE BBK (at this point), is because I'm prepping the car for NASA SM and a BBK isn't allowed.

Currently, I am DDing this car (I know, I know, but it can't be avoided for another 5-7 months) - its a '99 w/o sport brakes. I have been using the Hawk Blues and they SUCK with regard to rotor and pad life, and the dust is pretty bad.

So I want a pad that I can change once or twice a year and do a track day every month on, as well as DD with. After talking to some Lotus guys at my last track day they suggested CL Brakes - Essex - CL Brakes

This seems sort of too good to be true, but if I really only had to change them once a year I would actually safe a lot of money. The two guys I was talking to said they only change pads twice a year, but with the high power of their cars that makes sense (SC elise and exige).

Questions:

1) Has anyone here had experience with the RC5+ or RC6e pad? How was/is it?

2) My current pad/rotor setup has 2 track days on it, it seems like I could just do a pad change, especially since these pads seem to self-resurface the rotors. Does that seem right, or is it safer to just get new rotors?

3) Pros/cons with this vs the xp8? XP8 is a bit cheaper, but I have no real data on how long they would last compared to the CL brake pads.

Thanks in advance for the input!

Savington

iTrader: (31)

lol @ pads more expensive than Carbotechs.

If you absolutely have to have a dual-duty pad, the Carbotech XPs are what you want. 8s or 12s, forget about the 10s.

pmhaddad

iTrader: (2)

How is the life of the pad though? I don't want to be changing them 3-4 times a year, because it'll still be cheaper to get the CLs.

Savington

iTrader: (31)

Pad life depends entirely on how fast you/the car are. Try the XPs first, then try the other ones - that's the only way you're going to get data good enough to make that decision on your particular car.

"change pads twice a year" is totally meaningless, too - if you do 2 events a year and I do 20 events a year, we're not going to each be changing pads twice a year.

pmhaddad

iTrader: (2)

This seems like good advice, thanks. I'd still love some opinions on the CLs from people who have used them on a Miata though.

I think I mentioned in my previous post, I do ~1 track day a month, so 12 a year. Brake wear wasn't really an issue when I first started a couple years ago cause I wasn't carrying enough corner entry speed into a lot of turns for the wear to be really high, now that I know a bit more, that is changing a bit, and the blues need to be changed after a single weekend (2 track days). So basically, I want a pad that has good high temp, good cold/hot bite, and is durable. The CL seems to fit that, so does the CF XR series (probably any sintered pad works).

So maybe its more a question of should I run a sintered vs semi-metallic pad?

EDIT - Another big factor I forgot to mention is bed-in. A complicated bed-in procedure is less than ideal for me, cause I don't really have a method for doing it on the track unless I show up and do pads at the track (call me a sissy, but no thanks - at least not for a simple little HPDE). One of the big advantages of the CL/XRs is that they have a really simple bed-in procedure.