Brake overheating help.

Author
Discussion

Geeman1211

Original Poster:

1 posts

113 months

Sunday 16th November 2014
quotequote all

Hi,

Looking for some advice on brakes overheating on track standard gear on a 2001 s3
I had black diamond race pads and ate super blue fluid.

Basically I cooked out the pads brand new to virtually nothing left after one track day.
I need to get rid of some heat I know some cooling ducts will help will it be enough?
Obviously new and hopefully better pAds and discs.
Over on audi forum there all saying brembo upgrade but it's big money and most people at the track had standard brake gear.

Any help on where to go would be great!

BritishRacinGrin

24,691 posts

160 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
Describe 'cooked' for us?
  • Did you have to push the pedal harder to slow the car?
  • Did the pedal feel 'spongy'?
  • Or was the problem just the very rapid wear rate?

andyiley

9,217 posts

152 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
The issue is that you need better pads, if you are saying there was no brake compound left on the pads.

Don't 'dis the pad manufacturer on here or some over-zealous mod will remove your post.

See if you can pick up some Pagid RS 14/15/29 compound pads.

Ferodo DS UNO are a good & sometimes cheaper alternative.

All will be expensive, but WILL be worth the extra believe me.

RC Developments

83 posts

124 months

Wednesday 19th November 2014
quotequote all
I would look at also getting some more cooling to the caliper area with some extra ducting, road cars are designed for low drag which does not aid with cooling to areas like brakes.

Mr2Mike

20,143 posts

255 months

Thursday 20th November 2014
quotequote all
Geeman1211 said:
Looking for some advice on brakes overheating on track standard gear on a 2001 s3
I had black diamond race pads and ate super blue fluid.
Are you certain they were Race pads? AFAIK Black Diamond only sell a fast road pad which are most unlikely to be appropriate for track use. As said above, dig deep and shell out for some quality Pagid or Ferodo competition pads.

The Wookie

13,946 posts

228 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
quotequote all
Bin the black diamonds, I had a set where the the pad material fell off the backplates after several months and this was on a 1.6 Focus that never went anywhere near a track!

As said, plenty of decent pad materials around, if you're running standard brakes on a track day you may wish to consider having a set of full on race pads and swapping them in for the session.

andygo

6,803 posts

255 months

Saturday 27th December 2014
quotequote all
Pads alone will not really solve the problem on a hard driven track car. They may keep on retarding the car, but that heat has to go somewhere. The discs overheat and crack and the caliper dust seals can carbonise wth the heat soak. Bigger discs and calipers are the only correct solution. There is a reason why they are produced and sold.

The only other effective remedy once you have fitted better quality pads alone (and removed the disc splash guards) is to brake earlier and more gently.

Mr2Mike

20,143 posts

255 months

Saturday 27th December 2014
quotequote all
andygo said:
Pads alone will not really solve the problem on a hard driven track car. They may keep on retarding the car, but that heat has to go somewhere. The discs overheat and crack and the caliper dust seals can carbonise wth the heat soak. Bigger discs and calipers are the only correct solution. There is a reason why they are produced and sold.

The only other effective remedy once you have fitted better quality pads alone (and removed the disc splash guards) is to brake earlier and more gently.
Depends entirely on the original brake system, some can work perfectly well with just decent pads. A friend tarmac rally Civic VTi had the standard (and pretty small) front discs for years but with DS3000 pads and despite often visibly glowing on the stages they worked superbly. He now has bigger discs which don't get as hot and the pad life is better, but he's not really stopping any quicker.

Brummmie

5,284 posts

221 months

Tuesday 30th December 2014
quotequote all
We sell loads of pads to people who have to use stock brake systems, due to regulations.
Most brake systems can be used to great effect, by using proper race pads, decent fluid (300C+).
Make sure Pistons are clean and free, and watch for play in sliding calipers.
As said ducting increases pad life greatly, some classes do not allow this but a Trackday car, fill your boots!
We see many who spend a pile on the non consumable parts, and scrimp on pads, but mostly the other way around would be more effective.