mxpop

Now I can finally let the cat out of the bag!

We have been descretely using some incredible new brake pads for the past year with excellent success. These pads are made in France by Carbon Lorraine (CL Brakes) and are imported by Essex Parts. I am now free to let everyone know what they are and talk about their excellent behavior.

After several years of tolerating mediocre (at best...) brake pads, it is amazing to finally have brakes that I can stand on as hard as I want without worry of fade, pulsing, unpredictability, or failure. Paired with our excellent StopTech STR BBK kit, we were able to run the same set of rotors all season and almost made the entire season on a single set of pads. By contrast, we had previously been eating through a set of pads in one day and replacing rotors every other weekend. Prior to switching to CL Brake pads, we fought brake issues every time we went to the track even though we tried out all of the usual well known pads. Since switching to CL Brakes' sintered pads, we haven't had a single brake issue.

During our initial testing, we sampled several different compounds until we found the right bite, balance, and desired feel. Amazingly, throughout our testing of several different pads/compounds, these pads all worked great from the first application and without the need for any special bed-in process. I know that bedding pads properly is usually recommended but we found it to be unnecessary with these pads. Our testing was done with our ABS turned off in order to get the best un-assisted balance. Now we run the stock ABS turned on along with the stock master cylinder, nothing special there.

Throughout the season, we continued to realize that we could lean on these brakes harder than ever imagined. With our relatively heavy 4-door sedan (3050lbs with driver), we were consistently able to achieve over 1.3G's of steady state braking (not just "spiking" which is always much higher) on street legal "R" compound tires. This was attainable lap after lap throughout our entire sessions. The pedal remained firm and consistent all year and under all conditions, even after the extended (by Time Attack standards) wheel-to-wheel Supersessions introduced last year. The feel is light and sensitive without ever feeling touchy or nervous. As for maintenance, we have always flushed our brake fluid after every event and replaced lines and seals several times during the season. Now, we flush the fluid after every event (just out of habit as the fluid now comes out as clear as it goes in) and that's it. No more line or seal replacing and no sign of discoloring from heat etc.

For the record, we won 9 out of 11 Mod/Ltd races entered in 2009 (Redline, Superlap, NASA, Subiefest) and lapped under the track record at every track. We will also be using CL Brakes on our record setting Time Attack Honda S2000 as well as on our developing Hyundai Genesis program. We plan to put CL Brakes on every car we track as well as recommend them to everyone who wants the best pads on their car.

BTW, I would love to keep quiet about these pads as my own secret "unfair advantage" but that wouldn't be fair to CL Brakes ;-)

JC Meynet

http://www.essexparts.com/brake-pads/cl-brakes