Titanium brake shims.
Discussion
Does anyone know a cheap place to buy a 150mm x 200mm x 0.5mm sheet of grade 5 titanium?
Emailed a few places and only 1 came back with a price that was for 1mm thick for some reason at £125 + £25 postage (I'm guessing they were sending it via private jet).
Which seems a little steep.
Cheers.
Emailed a few places and only 1 came back with a price that was for 1mm thick for some reason at £125 + £25 postage (I'm guessing they were sending it via private jet).
Which seems a little steep.
Cheers.
GreenV8S said:
My local stockist quoted 150 for 300mm square similar thickness so I think you'll find that's about the going rate. It's pricey stuff.
Cheers, it may be worth buying a ready made set for another car and trimming them to fit then as that may save a bit of money!I cooking brake caliper seals within a season so I'm going to add more cooling but thought I'd put the shims in to help also.
Thankfully I've never had any issues with fade or boiling. I've just noticed that my pad wear has gone up considerably and I'm having to replace the seals often.
This is because I've gone from 140bhp-200bhp-240 and now 260 so I expect the pads to wear faster but as its cooking the seals I'm guessing the heat is too much for the current cooling. So if I can sort that out hopefully the pads won't actually wear quite as quickly also. Ideally I'd replace the brakes for larger ones but as the car has become pretty much a once or twice a year use car im hoping reducing the heat will help pad life and seals for a relatively small outlay.
This is because I've gone from 140bhp-200bhp-240 and now 260 so I expect the pads to wear faster but as its cooking the seals I'm guessing the heat is too much for the current cooling. So if I can sort that out hopefully the pads won't actually wear quite as quickly also. Ideally I'd replace the brakes for larger ones but as the car has become pretty much a once or twice a year use car im hoping reducing the heat will help pad life and seals for a relatively small outlay.
GreenV8S said:
If you aren't boiling the brakes, you probably aren't overheating the seals. Have your calipers got dust seals fitted?
Rears have, fronts don't.Rear dust seals go brittle in less than a season. Just refurbed the fronts and the outer (interal) seals in those was quite brittle too although as its not an external dust seal it wasnt as bad.
GreenV8S said:
Put some temp tabs on and see how hot they're actually getting. If they're decent quality seals it seems odd that they're suffering from heat damage without the calipers getting hot enough to boil the brakes.
I use RBF660 fluid, apparently RC6 pads do run quite hot but as they are so good I'd not like to change from those if I can. The rear discs are showing some signs of being pretty hot too!I'll get some temp tabs though. I'm not using that car until September now so I hopefully will add the extra cooling before then.
SlimJim16v said:
I think stainless has similar heat conduction/insulation properties as titanium. It'll be cheaper, easier to get hold of but harder to work with.
I assume grade 5 titanium is used as its better in mostof the critical areas than stainless. Although as you say would stainless be good enough.Grade 5 titanium is lighter (negligible in these quantities)
Better thermal conductivity (as in conducts less)
Less expansion when heated (probably quite a critical one).
Other areas don't matter so much.
Given I need 2 x 90x60 pieces and 2 x 75x65 pieces it may be easier to get them individually as offcuts from somewhere.
Its a vx220 racecar, circa 915kg with driver. In less than a season the dust seals are crumbling with signs of blueing and microcracks on the discs. All signs that there's alot of heat, along with accelerated pad wear.
I've tried OEM, eliseparts and a different supplier of seals. No draging brakes that I know of, I dont left foot brake but do trail brake.
The signs all point to excessive heat, bearing in mind I use standard calipers and standard sized discs.
I've tried OEM, eliseparts and a different supplier of seals. No draging brakes that I know of, I dont left foot brake but do trail brake.
The signs all point to excessive heat, bearing in mind I use standard calipers and standard sized discs.
I get maybe 4 x 20 min races and quali and around 4 trackdays, whereas I used to get about 18 months when I had much less power.
This is an example of my driving style, its quite easy to see when I'm on and off the brakes from the SC whine.
https://youtu.be/7-EULFrCgFQ
Given I've retired it from racing for the time being the pads will probably last years now haha.
This is an example of my driving style, its quite easy to see when I'm on and off the brakes from the SC whine.
https://youtu.be/7-EULFrCgFQ
Given I've retired it from racing for the time being the pads will probably last years now haha.
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