Pads smoking on track

[bender128]

Hey everyone,

I did a track day last year in my 128i, completely stock brakes with rbf600 fluid. I didn't get brake fade but had a ton of smoke coming from the brakes.

Over the winter i upgraded to the f30 brembos with zimmerman rotors and akebono pads (stock) and did another track day, no fade again but still a little smoke.

I went with a bigger brake set up because I'm a bit turned off by switching lads every time i do a track day so wanted something that works for street and track. Years ago i ran hawk hps for both street and track on my g35 and had no issues (maybe because of lower skill).

Would like to get some opinions. Has anyone dealt with smoking pads? Is there a good performance pad that is good for street and track (no noise).

Swapping pads is pretty seamless on the brembos but I'd still rather just have 1 set of pads for street and track. Again fade is not an issue, just smoking.

[spidertri]

Yes, I've seen pads smoking after coming off the track. In my case, it's usually a pad that has had its heat range exceeded and is new.

I went the other way, got tired of swapping pads so I leave my track pads on the car all year and swap back to street for the winter.

Once you get faster there's really no good option for a street/track pad. You are asking them to be good at two very different things or compromise and be mediocre at both.

Plus, swapping pads is a good time to inspect the car and make sure everything looks good before you take it on track. If you don't have a shop doing your tech inspections then you should be taking that time to look everything over.