[dcaron9999]

Bought my 2011 135i used back in June of 2013 with 48,000Kms. Im just starting my third season of lapping and HPDE events almost every week, with 71,000 Kms on the odo.

Im still on original pistons, seals, and disintegrated dust boots. Ive been using 0.5mm Ti heat shields from Hardbrake.com since the first season. This protects the caliper pistons and brake fluid from some of the heat, but also keeps more heat in the pad, potentially surpassing their operating heat range of the pad. Ive installed custom home-made cooling ducts attached to the center of my brake dust shields, pointed at the hub as much as possible.

With all of the above, Ive been getting faster on the track, increasing power on my N55 engine (FBO and custom tune), and increasing grip (wider tires and wheel in the front). This obviously demands more out of the brakes. I do not get consistent brake performance on certain tracks - I get brake fade about mid way through my 20 minutes stints. When this happens, I lift and use the brakes less.

My current pads are PFC08's, have about 3/16" of material left, and I may have outgrown them, as mentioned earlier. I have a set of Project Mu Club Racer RC09 pads sitting on my workbench right now, which I used for a few events, before trying the PFC08's. I recall that they tolerated heat better than the PFC08's (see specs below).

I will be installing the RC09's before hitting my full day event at LCMT (Le circuit Mont Tremblant) in about a week. At the time I used the RC09 pads, they were fade free, even without the cooling duct mod I did just recently. The only thing is that the RC09 are noisier than the PFC08's when used on the street.

Quick Reference for operating temperature of popular track pads
Performance Friction PFC08: 100*C-700*C
Carbotech XP10: Max of 800*C
Project Mu RC09: 300*C- 800*C
Hawk DTC-60: 205*C-871*C