Outer front pads getting much hotter than the inner
 

Gents,

I've got the early TSE front duct kit with the 2" hose, and Sport rotors and calipers on my Rotrex-equipped '99. The ducting seems to work well for an HPDE car. I've always noticed after several track events the outer disk has more heat fractures than the inner disk, but I've never had any warping or serious cracking. However, I didn't realize how much of a temp difference there is between the inner and outer pads. I ran a new set of EBC Yellowstuff at Shenandoah this past weekend. I've never run a pad that had significant paint before. The inner pads are still pretty much yellow. The outer pads have not only had ALL the paint burned off, they got hot enough to melt the adhesive holding the shims in place. The shims shifted position, I assume with gravity. (I don't normally run shims, but installed them as they came from EBC.)

Cooling the outer disk/pads more has got to help braking and pad life. The only thing I can think of is drilled rotors, but I know they're not recommended. Has anyone found a drilled Sport rotor they trust? Is there anything else I can do? Am I worrying too much?

Thanks,

With ducting, you'll naturally get more airflow to the inner pad. Are you actually seeing accelerated wear on the outer pad, or just color differences?

If it were my car, I would try a nicer pad (EBC is not well liked). Anything from Hawk's DTC lineup, Cobalt XRs, G-LOC, or PFC will do the trick. Do not use drilled rotors, ever.

At a certain point, you're simply exceeding the capabilities of the stock caliper. I never used Sport fronts on my turbo car, but I did see pad destruction on a 1.8L caliper+Corrado rotor setup at ~220whp. Jumping to an 11.75" BBK may be something to consider at your power level, especially if you're starting to see accelerated pad wear.

+1 on 11.75s, they're awesome.

--Ian

Just color differences, but I wonder what the temp difference is between burning and not burning off all the paint.

The EBCs were another in the ongoing experiment looking for a track pad I could drive to and from certain events with (not daily drive). I was actually pretty happy with them. I swap front pads to ST-43s at VIR, but I don't drag my tire trailer to Summit Point anymore, and don't want to change pads there either. Cobalts can't take the commute, but neither can the ST-43s, and they're certainly too much pad for the street. I tried PFC 11s, too. They're a better pad than the Yellowstuff, but they're twice the price. If the EBCs last as long as the PFCs, I will accept the compromise and buy them again.

" Cobalts can't take the commute "

Put on some XR3s, it might change your mind.

Does the XR3 have corrosive dust? My threshold for a "streetable" pad is an acceptable first stop (ST-43s would send me through the first stop sign I tried to stop at) and dust that isn't corrosive (i.e. doesn't damage the wheel finish if left on for 1-2 weeks in wet weather). The only race pads that I've found that are truly streetable are the G-LOC R8/10/12s.

Beats me. Seems to clean up fine to me. It's a carbon/iron pad.

I destroyed a fairly new pair of XR3s driving to and from VIR. The nice folks at Cobalt told me to never, ever drive them on the street. I also think they have the most corrosive dust of any pad I've used, but they would be my pad of choice if I was trailering my car.

My experience has been the opposite. I like them so much that I don't even bother putting the BP10s back in even though it only takes 30 seconds with the wilwood kit. Admittedly, I don't see a ton of street miles and I am a lot lighter then most - but they're a great pad.

Sav,

I'm running Sport calipers and rotors up front, and Sport calipers over non-Sport rotors out back. Wilwood proportioning valve. 203hp/164tq. I've settled on XP8s as my rear pad. Which of those G-LOC pads would you recommend for the front for HPDE? They sound like exactly what I'm looking for.

Thanks,

R8 or R10s. My personal choice would be the 8s, because I feel the 10s are a little too compressible for my tastes. YMMV, though.

Cobalts are not recommended for the street.

No track pad is recommended for the street, but that wasn't the original thread topic. What's your point?

Just backing up your post above about what cobalt told you as I have been running them for 3 years, and they are very corrosive to a wheel finish if the dust is hot from track time. They tend to chunk if used cold on the street.