Thought I would post this picture of what happens when you run street pads at the track.
These are some rear pads I recently installed on my 89 325i before a track day at Bremerton Raceway. I needed to replace the rear pads and these were brand new, cheap and available at the time. Basically a quick fix to get me through the track day until I did a rear brake overhaul. Besides the initial bed-in and some street use, they pretty much just have that one events worth of use.
The rest of my braking system is pretty well suited for track and autocross use-Hawk HP+ front pads, fresh stock rotors (work better than slotted or cross-drilled), cooling ducts, stainless lines, M3 master cylinder, and ATE Blue fluid. Braking overall was good that day with minimal fade but the rear was the weak link. As you can see in the picture, the inside pad (on the piston side) cracked in two places and shows some heat damage. The outside pad shows some severe heat damage and both pads wore more than 30%. One more event on them and they would have likely chunked apart.
These are a basic replacement pad by PBR and I'm sure they are fine for street use but are not meant to track. These are softer, non Semi-metallic, and actually have less surface area than the replacement Hawk HP+ pads. The HP's are a much harder semi-met pad with a slot cut in the middle to allow the pad to flex and it helps prevent cracking. Like a full race pad, they do require some heat before they work best and they are noisy but they do very well in track and autocross conditions.
Anyway, I just thought it was interesting seeing the condition of these basic street pads after just on day at the track. The pads before these were also stock and actually did chunk apart when I removed them but I never got a picture.
Justin
These are some rear pads I recently installed on my 89 325i before a track day at Bremerton Raceway. I needed to replace the rear pads and these were brand new, cheap and available at the time. Basically a quick fix to get me through the track day until I did a rear brake overhaul. Besides the initial bed-in and some street use, they pretty much just have that one events worth of use.
The rest of my braking system is pretty well suited for track and autocross use-Hawk HP+ front pads, fresh stock rotors (work better than slotted or cross-drilled), cooling ducts, stainless lines, M3 master cylinder, and ATE Blue fluid. Braking overall was good that day with minimal fade but the rear was the weak link. As you can see in the picture, the inside pad (on the piston side) cracked in two places and shows some heat damage. The outside pad shows some severe heat damage and both pads wore more than 30%. One more event on them and they would have likely chunked apart.
These are a basic replacement pad by PBR and I'm sure they are fine for street use but are not meant to track. These are softer, non Semi-metallic, and actually have less surface area than the replacement Hawk HP+ pads. The HP's are a much harder semi-met pad with a slot cut in the middle to allow the pad to flex and it helps prevent cracking. Like a full race pad, they do require some heat before they work best and they are noisy but they do very well in track and autocross conditions.
Anyway, I just thought it was interesting seeing the condition of these basic street pads after just on day at the track. The pads before these were also stock and actually did chunk apart when I removed them but I never got a picture.
Justin
Attached Files