Ok, 49 pages is a lot - haven't read them all and will ask a basic question that was probably answered earlier:

- stock power and weight Miata doing 25-30 minute track sessions on 200tw tires and not braking at the grip limit. Are standard brakes (not Sport brakes installed on some 2001+ cars) with good pads (StopTech, PFC, G-Loc), fresh hi-temp fluid, Centric Premium rotors enough or upgrade to Sport calipers/pads is recommended even for such use? I had 2001 with Sport brakes and it did just fine on track, but I don't know what year and model my next one is going to be...

 

stock power you'll be fine with stock brakes and good pads.

 

Yes, this.

 

That's essentially what I'm going for - like I said, I think the RX-8 one can also be used standalone, and the PN I ordered off ebay is the same one specified by WC so I have every reason to believe it'll tolerate Hoosiers. I'm concerned by the Mk60 module, simply because it seems like there's a lot of necessary screwing around with programming and the like, (plus good lord are the premade harnesses expensive) but it's an option too I suppose. Class allows ABS and to be frank, not flatspotting R7s is a great luxury where I'm at so far in skill.

 

It took a while to report back but the bleeding didn't seem to be the issue: So i tested the brake on trackday, After more than 180 mile of track driving, no issue to report: no fade, nor spongy pedal...
Except for some less than perfect heel and toe shifting due to the longer pedal travel ( I will have to get some stiffer motor mount) too...
It' not a major drawback but, if i can't get used to it, i'll have to find a solution.
I usually end up braking a bit more than i'd like (longer travel doesn't help to "feel" the brake. so far, it is a mixed feeling regarding the "success" of the mod... but once the "glitches" will be solved, i think i'll be able to appreciate and take full advantage fo the "big" brake kit... ( to help following, i have 11" dynapro front, with Ferodo DS3000 front and ds2500 on oem rear)

 

You could try running a stiffer pad. I am unaware of where the Ferodo lands in that category but the PFC is a good bit stiffer over the Padgid offerings. shortens the pedal throw.

 

Don't run the DS3000 pads... they destroy rotors. If you can get the Ferodo DSUNO which are an endurance pad, they have far better life and flatter coefficient of friction and are designed for limited compressibility. They cost a bit more but make up for it in rotor and pad life. I run the DS1.11 pads and they are awesome, although it took me a couple of hours to trim them to fit the stock rear caliper.

 

Hey OGRacing, I've been enjoying my PFC97 pads per your store's recommendation. However, I've been struggling with locking up only the front left during hard braking. I've ordered a brake bias valve and I plan on corner balancing shortly. Anything else I should look at?

 

few things to check.
-Quality of the tires. perhaps one tire is corded, older, or losing air.
-Hubs, a won hub can cause excessive drag and heat. the issue might be a worn hub on the right side of the car, and causing poor performance.this would result in the left side locking.
-Another thing to keep in mind is driving style or track surface. A tire might lock repeatedly at the same turn due to an unknown dip, Oil, or other surface debris. Perhaps you're carrying the braking too deep into a turn.
- Alignment settings. Caster and camber both play a large roll in braking performance. do verify that both sides are even.
-Shock setting, or a blown shock. Verify that the front shocks Bump or compression is evenly set, verify that the shocks are no leaking. Uneven shock pressure can cause one tire to lock.


I hope this helps. let us know if you find the issue.

 

Quote:Originally Posted by cyotani
Is there any particular caliper grease you recommend for lubing the float pins? Will an autozone part be okay or should I be looking for a more performance oriented product that can withstand higher temps. This would be for 1.8 brakes using hawk hp+Sorry for bumping this old post, but just finished reading the rest of this thread and this was the only head scratcher I came away with. Great info by the way, and I've learned quite a bit.

I have always been told not to use anything other than the recommended brake pin lube, usually included in little packets with a rebuild kit, or purchased as Sil Glyde from NAPA
So I'm curious why you recommended anti-seize given (my personal experience) its propensity to dry up, get gummy etc due to age or maybe also heat exposure. I've gotten away with moly grease myself, though not on the "race car". I saw the question asked twice more in the thread but was never answered.

 

If you have rubber anti vibration bushings on one or more slide pins, you must use a rubber-friendly grease like Sil Glyde, lest the bushings swell and seize the caliper. If you don't have rubber bushings, you can use pretty much any high temperature grease. There is nothing wrong with the grease that comes in the little packets with a new set of brake pads.

 

I recommend Anti-seize just from personal experience. There very well could be a better lubrication, I haven't found it, I also haven't looked. 75% of our customers are running nonfloating calipers, the others are removing and inspecting the calipers regularly. Stuck caliper pins can easily cost a few mph on a straightaway. Just enough to watch the field walk away.

 

FWIW, on my sport calipers I replaced the floating pin with the rubber insert things, with solid pins. You can get the bolts/pins in a set on rockauto for dirt cheap. I couldn't find any high temp greases that wouldn't make the rubber swell and bind the calipers. Even those that should have been safe from descriptions and ingredient list, would cause the rubber to swell.

At any rate, removed the rubber slider pins in exchange for pins without and I use permatex ceramic extreme grease.

 

Same. It was bad enough that I've warped pad backing plates from the heat generated on a stuck one. I just replaced the slider and rubber with a bolt and jam nut. The bolt has a little more clearance than I'd like but its acceptable. You know the part number for the pins that worked?

 

Guess a rear caliper rebuild/upgrade using these pins will be part of my 4-corner winter brake upgrade (11.75 front, 10.9 rear).

I found the solid pins that were mentioned for my particular car 1999 MAZDA MX-5 MIATA 1.8L L4 Caliper Guide Pin | RockAuto

 

It depends which brake setup you have (obvious statement is obvious). For the sport brakes it's basically any one of these 2002 MAZDA MX-5 MIATA 1.8L L4 Caliper Guide Pin | RockAuto Get any of those that is listed with sport suspension and you're g2g. Some (most) require that you buy 2 of them to get the 2 slider bolts you need. Cost should be around 15 bucks shipped for everything you need iirc.

 

Oh for the rear, you just use 2 of the bigger pins. I thought you had a solution for the front sliders.

 

I do, that's the solution I was talking about. It's been a long while since I've touched non-molested brakes so I don't remember if it's the top bolt or the bottom bolt that has the non-damped slider.... But for the sport calipers you can simply use the non-damped (no rubber condom) slider bolt from the top in both caliper slider positions. They are the same OD and thread configuration so you simply just replace the one with the condom with one that doesn't have the condom. I'm reasonably sure the same tactic works for regular 1.8 brakes, but admittedly, it's been years since I touched those.

 

For the front 1.8 and 1.6 brakes have different size threads in the bracket, so that doesn't work.

 

Has anybody run into an issue with Stoptech lines being too short/ tight on NB Sport brakes?

My dad just bought a really nice looking, really badly maintained 2002 SE that needed a master cylinder, at least one caliper, pads and rotors. I just bought the other 3 calipers and lines and swapped everything. In the process I went to bolt on the front lines, and at full droop/ full lock, the front lines are about half a banjo diameter from being able to bolt in when I'm pulling as hard as I'm comfortable with.




I pulled a line back off to measure, and they might be a touch (<5mm) shorter than stock, but not enough to matter. Even if these were 5mm longer I wouldn't be comfortable with them. The issue is that the strain relief on the body end is longer than the Mazda parts, and puts a bunch of tension in the line where it makes the 90 degree turn right off the body mount.

Has anybody had this issue before? This would only be an issue with stock length shocks, at full droop and full lock, which would be a pretty unusual place to find yourself in actual use.

For the record, I called Stoptech before I pulled the line off to measure when I thought they were all just too short. They're happy to replace the lines, and even discussed changing the print if it's necessary. Now that I see that the lines are the correct length, I feel like this must have been noticed be somebody at some point.