Brake Pads

[07SGT5111]

^{So i have decided i am going to run a few SCCA solo events this summer and need to start piecing together a few parts. Mainly curious about brakes. Anyone have suggestions about which brake pads i should use? Hawk or EBC maybe. I realize these will undoubtably thrash my stock rotors but need some solid advice. Not really looking to spend thousands at the moment on some Brembos either. Your kind inputs would be welcome. Thanks}

 

 

^{- Brandon}

[Frank S]

Your GT brakes will be fine for autocross competition, even with the OEM pads. Autocross is not like track days or racing. You won't need to use them as hard in a parking lot as on a road course.

 

My first Mustang autocross event was a practice at Qualcomm Stadium's West Lot. After about a dozen minute-long runs separated by five-minute waits for the next turn, my stock, standard brakes were fading significantly. This was a V6 Mustang with automatic transmission. Tiny brakes, no engine help on deceleration.

 

In half-a-dozen practice events since then, I have not experienced fading brakes on stock, standard GT brakes, GT500 brakes with stock pads or Hawk HPS pads, or stock Brembo brakes.

 

If you expect to run competition events only, four runs plus a couple-three "fun" runs will barely challenge your stock brakes and pads. Some upgraded street pads should take care of that. For practice events you might want to go with the HPS-type pads and not worry about what they will do to your disks, which isn't much, and they are cheap, anyway.

 

 

For a little more perspective on the brakes realities and resolutions, the S197forum is a marvel from front to back and up and down. I tried refer you to it by URL, not knowing the administrator of Team Shelby does not allow such links. Old sourpuss that he is. If you can find it, there is a pinned Brakes topic in the Corner Carvers forum.

 

See you at the stadium?

 

 

[jmn444]

Yep. A good 200 tw tire will be your friend though, as will caster camber plates IF your class allows them.

[avoeltz]

I put Baer decelarotors and pads on my 2008 SGT and added the front brake cooling duct kit and found I can't overdrive their performance. Works fine for me on driving school track days for under $1,000.

[LuLu]

Collapsing several years down to a few good words can be a challenge. With this in mind, the few times I have seen rotors trashed by pads occurred when the shade tree wrench mis-matched so many poorly fitted parts together, Hell, I would have quit him too.

 

You will do just fine with either of the brands you have mentioned, just don't wait until your rotors are so deeply gouged that you lose important pad-rotor contact. Regardless of size, it's about "swept area" and how much pad-rotor contact there is.

 

Improved lines and high temp fluids are key to any whoa system out there. The quicker your car builds power and speed, the better the brakes have to be. If you are just now considering new pads, they are not that expensive, experiment. And remember one rule; what someone says is the best out there, doesn't mean that will work well on your car, or, please you. Buy one set of front pads, drive 500 miles. Buy another set, drive another 500 miles (keeping old stock for emergencies). By then, you will know more about what choices are out there, and what makes you feel confident about the whoa. Always think of a loved one behind the wheel.

 

Y'all be safe.

[ledfoot73]

I'll give a plus 1 to what Frank S. and what jmn444 said. An autocross run should definitely not build that fade inducing heat in the brakes that laps on a road course would, so your priorities may be a bit different. Your probably not running dedicated track compound tires so your stock brakes should be fine for now with street tires during autocross runs. Since your brakes stopping power can only be as good as the grip of the tires, a softer compound street tire should not only give you better traction but hopefully better braking also. Imo, a good pad to consider that seems to fly under the radar, when your ready to replace the stock ones, would be the "performance friction metallic" pads. These are supposed to be the manufacturer of the upgraded pad used in the front of the 2008 Bullit Mustang. More aggressive than stock, work well at the track and may not be quite as harsh on the rotors as some other options.