So I recently got hooked on HPDEs with the 135i at VIR. First time I went out, I kept everything completely stock to get to know the car. Immediately noticed the limitations of the brakes and the horrible understeer, so this past weekend I went out with these upgrades:
- 4 Apex ARC-8 18in Square setup on 245/35R18 Kuhmo Ecsta XS extreme perf tires (much lighter)
- Stoptech ST-60 (6 piston) front BBK
- Vorshlag Camber plates with -1.7 camber up front (conservative for first time)
The first two days of the weekend I ran the performance friction 1038 pads that came with the Stoptech kit. Although these are better than the stock Brembo pads, I kept getting brake fade even during the beginning of the sessions. So the last day, I put in some Hawk HT-10s (rated up to 1300F) up front. The aftermath is shown below. Completely split the pad in half. Assuming its not a manufacture defect, a possible reason for overheating was the front brake bias, given that I kept stock pads in the rear.
Ken at KNS Brakes (highly recommend him to you guys) is going to get me some Carbotech XP12s for the front (2000+F) and put XP10s in the rear (1600+F). Hopefully this along with some bending of the splash shield will solve the heating problem, but many I have talk to blame our poorly designed cooling system. Those with the M-bumpers have brake ducts, but they don't direct air at the brakes, just the wheel well in general...
Any moderately serious weekend HPDE people should look into brake cooling. This was only my second school and although I was driving pretty fast, I am only at an intermediate level. Someone needs to step up to the plate and start making a legitimate brake duct system for our cars. Ken is going to look at the car and see what solution we can come up with.
If anyone has any suggestions/comments surrounding my experience or brake pad/rotor cooling in general, please share here so that those interested in driving their car any harder than beginner groups at HPDEs can have some resources.