Curious what the common wisdom is about a few things like this These are miata specific. Would you track your car with..

(1) a whirring wheel bearing/hub? If you can't locate which corner the sound is coming from and none of the wheels 'wiggle' ?

(2) a clutch that slips on repeated hard launches (IE autocross)? Is it toast or is it good for another track day?

(3) on brake discs with hairline cracks?

Any other seemingly niggling problems that have to be fixed right now before you get on track again?

 

Yes.
Done.
No.

If the wheels aren't wiggling they shouldn't fall off, you'll kill them but you'll be okay. If I had paid for a track day that is a couple days off when I noticed the problem, I'd still take the car and replace them asap.

I've had a clutch that would slip with hard launches, if I was easy on it it would work great, and did for a couple track days. That's not something that's going to endanger anyone buy your money if it should die on the track. You'll just be towed off. Hence my $30 toe hooks.

Rotors are $15 a pop. Seriously. You should NOT be tracking your car if your budget is that tight. You should hardly own a car if your budget is that tight. Unless you're one of those people that buys $500 cars and runs them into the ground over and over.

 

Curly,

Thanks for the quick reply, kind of what I expected. I can also assure you # 3 was only part of my own curiosity. I've read a few contradicting threads about it on the Spec Miata forums and seen quite a few hairline cracks on lots of corvettes at the track days I attend.

I suppose the question is more what is the cutoff for safety.

Number 1 & 2 are problems I'm having right now and are more related to time than anything. . I can't ship and replace blueprinted front hubs fast enough, and yes, clutches are expensive (including a new flywheel) for me.

 

If properly installed, $200 ebay clutches are the dog's *****. My 6-puck ~$175 ebay clutch went on a freshly surfaced, lightened, and balanced flywheel and holds my 200hp amazingly well. Starts from a stop suck, but I can still burn it a bit to do some grandma starts from 2nd, and once you're moving the shifts feel awesome, instant engagement.

Edit: this was using my older SPEC throw out bearing, and the ebay pilot bearing.

 

yes
no
yes if you're referring to the little heat crack spider webbing and not cracks that extend to an edge. My rotors look like that after 1 session.

 

The pic Hustler linked is normal. Rule of thumb, if you can slide your thumbnail across the surface of the rotor and it catches on the cracks, time to replace. If any visually significant crack goes to the edge, time to replace.

 

no
no
no

 

Note: wait for rotors to cool.

I understand why it's a high potential for a waste of money if you go to a track day with a bad clutch, but why are you two (trey and emilio) against a slipping clutch? Doesn't seem like a high risk. Like I said mine would slip with hard launches but act fine in normal shifting.

 

Because if the clutch slips at all now, it will slip a lot more later when you put some heat on it a the track. Track time costs me $200 alone...I don't want to waste $200 on 5-laps or a session at the most because I needed a clutch.

 

1 yes, but get cheap blanks from the auto parts store cost $90 or less for all four
2 yes, but jack the car on all fours, take the wheels off spin and listen, call junkyard, keep as spares when the "blueprinted" hubs come in
3 yes, but shift easy no speed shifting and rev match on down shifts, I ruined half a track day once in my spec not following this advice

 

No, yes, maybe.

Slipping clutch isn't likely to be dangerous. Wheel bearings certainly are dangerous if one fails. Brake disc is also dangerous if fails but it depends on the type of cracks. I wouldn't hit the track with any kind of cracking showing but others certainly do with that fine checking.

The vette guys are a **** poor example. They really need better rotors. Seems all of the vette rotors check heavily.

 

I ordered some of those blueprinted hubs too.

 

Reliable source for blueprinted hubs?

 

ART (Advanced Racing Technology).

And, to the original question, while the first two are debatable, the third is an iron-clad guarantee that you will end up in the wall.

Feel free to ruin your day, your car, and, many other people's enjoyment.

 

This thread is a little old, but I had something you might look into.

I've had a similar experience with local parts store brand rotors (from the big 3), and since I started using the Cryo-Stop rotors sold on TireRack, I haven't had the issue anymore. ...and they are cheap for the CRXs and Miatas.