I decided to replace my brakes before the last track day. There was still some pad left, but replaced them just to be safe, especially after having a pad chunk off on the track. How far do you guys let them go before you replace them?

 

Generally until one side of the pad is fairly close to the backing plate. I then throw $20 pads from NAPA on until I get new rotors and race pads in. Pad taper FTL. Just keep a sharp eye on them by taking the wheel off, because the part you can see when looking through the wheel is the thicker part of the pad.

 

I replace when they pad is the thickness of the backing plate. When the pad is that thin temps skyrocket at the caliper.

 

Yeah, I checked through the wheel and thought it was good. I checked again after removing the wheel and with the pad taper it was about 3/16" at the lowest part. Next time I'll pull both wheels to check pads. One side was worn more than the other. Since the rotors weren't worn, I slapped on a new set of Carbotech XP10 and I didn't have to bed them in.

I hadn't thought about the heat transfer. I guess that explains the boil I had with the crap Red Stuff.