Disappointed with brakes?

[RichCup]

Was on track yesterday and after about 10 minutes it felt like the brakes were dead! Didn't inspire confidence at all! Current setup is:

Carbon Lorraine RC5
Brembo HC
Braided lines
Castrol superdot 4 response

Thinking I may have boiled the fluid as I let the brakes cool inbetween sessions and they were still no better.

I've got ducts to fit for cooling, is there a better brake fluid I could try?

Also, I ran my 888's at 26psi all round and after about 10 mins they felt like they were losing traction round some of the quicker bends. I thought the car had more to give but the tyres were giving in if that makes sense! The tyres have been sitting in my garage for several months lol, could that of caused a drop in performance?

Cheers!

 

[Keith185]

Been using Castrol superdot 4 for over 2 1/2 yrs now on track without any fade issues. How old is the fluid? Did you have a 'soft and spongey' pedal or were they just not slowing you down as you'd expect?

 

[NWPerformance]

Was on track yesterday and after about 10 minutes it felt like the brakes were dead! Didn't inspire confidence at all! Current setup is:

Carbon Lorraine RC5
Brembo HC
Braided lines
Castrol superdot 4 response

Thinking I may have boiled the fluid as I let the brakes cool inbetween sessions and they were still no better.

I've got ducts to fit for cooling, is there a better brake fluid I could try?

Also, I ran my 888's at 26psi all round and after about 10 mins they felt like they were losing traction round some of the quicker bends. I thought the car had more to give but the tyres were giving in if that makes sense! The tyres have been sitting in my garage for several months lol, could that of caused a drop in performance?

Cheers!

Had the CL on our clio turbo and they suffer after 2 laps. Put the ds2500 pads on and they worked a treat. Dont last long but they work.

 

[172Ben]

I was the opposite on Wednesday, ds2500 just wernt strong enough, needed my carbon Lorraine back in really for extra bite.

I'm running 5.1 fluid as well and it was spot on all day

 

[RichCup]

Keith, changed the fluid about a year ago, not really done any track time since then. The bite point got lower and lower over about 2 laps and I was having to really stamp on them to get any sort of braking power.

The CL's have been immense for 'spirited' driving which was why I was a bit suprised at the poor track performance.

Will give em a bleed and see how it goes!

 

[NWPerformance]

Our car eats brakes as you can probability guess.

Check your vac hose for your brakes you might have melted it.

 

[RichCup]

Ben, you've got 4 pots though havnt you? I know others have had no issues at all with the CL's which is why I thought it could be the fluid.

 

[Fred@BTM]

I've used all sorts over the years

mintex 1144 and 1155's - fine on the road, crap on track
CL - i hate
Ferodo - great
PF - perfect
Pagid - spot on

 

[172Ben]

Yeh. Still wasn't overly impressed with the bite of ds2500, I like grabby brakes- hard to find pads for HiSpec

 

[Fred@BTM]

PF's then!

 

[NWPerformance]

I've used all sorts over the years

mintex 1144 and 1155's - fine on the road, crap on track
CL - i hate
Ferodo - great
PF - perfect
Pagid - spot on

Yet to try the last 2 on that list.

 

[Fred@BTM]

you won't wear out the PF's even with your turbo, you'll do 3 pairs of discs to one set of pads

 

[saltyhair81]

Yeh. Still wasn't overly impressed with the bite of ds2500, I like grabby brakes- hard to find pads for HiSpec

Truth. Where did you get your ds2500s from?

 

[172Ben]

Got them from sorrenson motorsport, carl sorted me out with the new discs as well as pads. Not sure they do pagids or PF for them :/

 

[NWPerformance]

you won't wear out the PF's even with your turbo, you'll do 3 pairs of discs to one set of pads

Will get a set for next time then, Had 8 sets of front pads and 6 sets of discs so far.

 

[Fred@BTM]

PF's are mega money, but worth it!

what calipers ben?

 

[172Ben]

Billet 4 I think there called

 

[Fred@BTM]

oh right same as me then, small regtanular pads with a hole in each top corner?

i've trailing a new compound at the moment

 

[172Ben]

Yeh that's the one , same design as Volvo 240 pads I believe. Tried

Sounds good

 

[Fred@BTM]

don't use mintex LOL they don't work!

i'll let you know how these ones go

 

[172Ben]

Hate mintex and EBC with a passion. Ferodo are good on road but I'm wanting something abit grabbier, for scrubbing off speed etc.

Yeh let me know, You have email anyway

 

[GodSpeed]

Ferodo DS3000 cheap and bites like hell.

 

[Jay Payne]

If you want grabby then go for PF97's. They are evil!

Ony did 2 sessions at combe and was slowly getting used to them as they bedded in.

 

[f0xy]

I was the opposite on Wednesday, ds2500 just wernt strong enough, needed my carbon Lorraine back in really for extra bite.

I'm running 5.1 fluid as well and it was spot on all day

Odd - Ive been using cheapy HC disks, DS2500 pads, cheapy fluid and braided lines....bled before every trackday, brakes were just as good if not better even after the ~12th trackday - still 1/3 of the pad left too... Never had any issues out on track, even after 30 min stints, just keep going and going.

Surely an additional 100kg of weight cant make that much difference

 

[maynard]

nice review f0xy, i'm hoping for the same results with that same setup.

 

[Gray]

if you want "grabby" get PF97's... the braking power from them in phenomenal!

Awesome braking power, hard wearing pads, you will go through 3 sets of discs to 1 set of pads though

 

[ForceIndia]

How many miles will discs last with the pf97's?

 

[Nik]

I'm another PF 97 fan from past years. If you want bite and generally insane stopping power then they are the ones for you.

As the others have said, say goodbye to your discs though lol:

 

[MarkCup]

...changed the fluid about a year ago...The bite point got lower and lower over about 2 laps and I was having to really stamp on them to get any sort of braking power.

So it wasn't the pads that were letting you down, you were failing to get any pressure onto them from the spongy fluid.

...bled before every trackday...

Do this then you can really determine how pads feel/behave, if your fluid's sh*te it doesn't really matter what pad you run as you can never press them against the disc hard enough.

 

[marinemackay2003]

What are the pf's like for dust? Similar to CL's?

 

[Fred@BTM]

worse, you have to clean your paintwork with wonderwheels which is no good for the shirtlifters on here

real man's pads!

Nik - sparks = not hot enough!

 

[Pete@Auto-Nation]

I've never had a problem with Mintex 1144's on the road. Had some fade on track. Never had a problem with 1155s in any situation.
Maybe i'm easier on the brakes than some of you animals!
DS2500 seem to be pretty good for the money, but to be honest, I can't feel any benefit over the 1155s.

 

[Fred@BTM]

they don't last long the mintex Pete, i'm not a heavy braker at all and i destroyed 1144's (brake fade twice @ 130mph!) and my other car got 70% through 1166's from 1 track day!

i'm not using nor recomending any of the 11** range of pads ever again!

Ferodo are miles better

 

[rich-6]

worse, you have to clean your paintwork with wonderwheels which is no good for the shirtlifters on here

:lolup:

 

[Kam.]

Was on track yesterday and after about 10 minutes it felt like the brakes were dead! Didn't inspire confidence at all! Current setup is:

Carbon Lorraine RC5
Brembo HC
Braided lines
Castrol superdot 4 response

Thinking I may have boiled the fluid as I let the brakes cool inbetween sessions and they were still no better.

I've got ducts to fit for cooling, is there a better brake fluid I could try?

Also, I ran my 888's at 26psi all round and after about 10 mins they felt like they were losing traction round some of the quicker bends. I thought the car had more to give but the tyres were giving in if that makes sense! The tyres have been sitting in my garage for several months lol, could that of caused a drop in performance?

Cheers!

Realistically to cook the brake pads you would need to get them to around 1000ºC, if you were near this the brake fluid would have boiled long before.. Dot 4 absorbs water over time making it less effective - with a year of use this could be the case. With the superdot 4 response this takes it from a dry boiling point of 280ºC down to 186ºC. Boiling the brake fluid will create air bubbles which you would need to bleed out as the air would compress under braking before allowing the brake system to take effect

As you mention feeling the tyres were loosing grip in the corners you could potentially have got the tyres too hot which could give visible signs of beading. If the tyres did go off you would lose braking efficiency

 

[caister]

What do others think of yellowstuff pads. I used them on the track and they were pretty good. They are eating there way through a second set of disks though.

I know they may not be up to the standard of the more expensive pads but they seem fine for fast road and the occasional trackday.

 

[.Kev.]

Are you based near Plymouth Ben? Carl at Sorrenson knows his s**t. Top bloke.

 

[marinemackay2003]

worse, you have to clean your paintwork with wonderwheels which is no good for the shirtlifters on here

real man's pads!



lol i wonder wheeled my whole car the other day, removed the ''lorraine stain'' quite well

detailers > :dead::dead::dead: