Overheated brakes
 

So I was running a dual caliper setup with some cheap duralast brake pads but it wasn't really locking up the rears until it was really heated up. Installed some hawk HP+'s pads on the hydro calipers, I did about 6 35-0 moderate stops before really yanking on the handbrake.
She locks up really well now, but when inspecting my right calipers I noticed it looked a little black compared to what it looked like before I installed the hawk pads. (The left ones look fine)

I'm also having this issue when I do a burnout or drift, It seems like my left tire is spinning way faster then my right, or at least leaving more of a prominent streak compared to the right rear tire. (Although I'm thinking this issue might be because I swapped the front and rear driver side tires for the first time, but not the passenger side, so tire wear is uneven and it just chewing through the left rear now)
Although from my understanding, with a torsen LSD, if one side slips underload, the diff will lock and essentially spin at the same speed? Which leads me to the uneven tire wear being the cause of my burnout streaks looking almost like a one tire fire.


My question is what is destroyed?
Is the hawks still usable?
What could of caused this?
And yes, after I installed the brake kpads, I checked to see if the tires could freely spin. Both sides spun freely with relatively the same amount of force.

Left facing caliper is the caliper connected to the hydro with the hawk HP + pads, the right facing caliper is connected to factory brake system running some ceramic pads I got from autozone.
This happened within 30minutes of attempting to bed the new pads in.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fbd8e73b57.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6d5a86f950.jpg


Doesn't really matter but this is my left side. (Although I did see this side smoke up a little when trying to bed them in)
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5dd1160c82.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ec28ff8fe5.jpg

Alright, there's a lot to unpack here.

Those cheap duralast pads probably can't handle whatever abuse (temperature) you are throwing at it. I would HIGHLY recommend using the exact same pad on a dual caliper setups for whatever drifting shenanigans you got going on. Different pad compounds can interfere with their adhesion surface or transfer layer. Don't run different brake pads. Same brand, same compound. You are going to have to start over here.

You need to remove the brake transfer layer with a steel wire brush / flapper disc with a power drill / grinder, or just resurface the rotor. After that, you have fresh metal to work with.

I would recommend dual EBC Bluestuff or something if you are using them for this. Part store generic pads will not cut it. You can probably use dual "Hawk HP+" but I really hate the pad compound. If you do, might not be a bad idea to gently sand the used pad to remove any crappy duralast contamination if they smeared onto your Hawk pads. However, if that is the Hawk pad that is toasty, then they're done. I've had better experiences with EBC Yellows, don't really like Hawk HP+ all that much. I've heard good things about EBC Blues, and should be a good choice for this type of abuse.

Torsens don't lockup. That's not what they do. They add torque to the side that can support more torque, hence "torque-sensing" name. They can send like 70% of their toque to the wheel with the most traction. For example, if you have one wheel on ice... 70%* 0 ftlbs = 0 torque. So, you still get wheel spin. However, torsens are great for track use and autocross. If you want the wheels to both lockup (drifting), that requires a clutch-type differential.

Edit: Also, bleed your brake lines after doing this work. Looks like you nuked just one side, probably have uneven clamping here. Possibly have air in the lines of the brakes that didn't burn up. Also, make sure you aren't running really hardcore brakes in the rear and just generic pads in the front. The rears will probably lockup first in the rain and that could be dangerous!

I pretty much second everything Xaendeau said.

You definitely cooked the brakes on one side. I would recommend you take apart the calipers to clean and re grease all the pins. Probably want to check the piston boot as well. Flush/bleed your brake fluid too.

I would just toss those rotors and start with fresh ones. A pair of Centric rotors for the rear should only cost you $40-60 depending on which size you have. I'm not sure what pads are a good choice in your application since you just want really high torque/bite pads, but sticking with the same compound on both calipers is the move. IDK if Taylor Ray on youtube ever says what pad compound he runs on his drift Miata. Not sure if the GLOC R6 would work well in this application. I don't think the Stoptech 309 would have enough bite for you, they like a little heat to really bite.

You should avoid running unevenly worn tires on the rear like you did. This will eventually kill your diff. Also as mentioned before you need a locking diff of some kind like the Super LSD or similar.

Lastly, the wear indicators (little metal tab on one of the pads) is supposed to be the inboard pad....just sayin' lol

Haha, was wondering what those metal tabs were.

I'll be getting another set of remans as I don't know what I damaged on the calipers besides melting my rubber boots.


As for the different compounds. I heard people of running aggressive track pads when on track, then switching their brake pads to something a bit more streetable afterwards. Would it really be bad if I ran OEM pads for my normal braking and the hawk pads for dedicated hydro use? The hawks would only be used as an on and off, it shouldn't see any sort of dragging. Where as the OEM brake pads would be used way more.

Can you do it? Yes. Should you do it? It depends.

Many of the folks you hear about running a street and track pad on the same rotor are running pads that are known to be compatible. For example, GLOC is popular on here and their street compound (GS1) is compatible with their track compounds (R8 and up) on the same rotor. I'm sure the same holds true for some other brands. Any pads that rely on a transfer layer are going to be tricky as far as running two different compounds. If you go to abrasive friction you may have better luck, but that is not guaranteed. Unless you find someone that can tell you specific pads they have had luck with, you may just have to experiment and see how it goes.

Since you have OEM pads and the Hawk pads already, you might as well give it a try. Worst case you buy new rotors and try different pads.

I am not a drift guy and neither are most of the guys on here, so our ability to help will be limited.

Still a problem because you have two different transfer layer chemistries going on. Same pad brand, same compound.