I need help deciding what to do with my brakes. I currently have stock brakes on my 05 WRX. I plan on doing a 2 or 3 of track days this summer and a possible auto cross session, other than that I use my car as a daily driver. Is it true that my stock pads and rotors will be pretty much done after a single track day, is this because it's stock or do most setups have this problem?

Do aftermarket rotors and pads usually last 1 or 2 track days or do they last longer? I really don't want to spend $1400 for a front BBK, unless the pads and rotors last for a long time. Does the rotor and pads in the Stoptech Stage 2 kit for $650 (Not the BBK) do a pretty good job of holding up. I really don't want to have to change out my brake components that frequently. Any ideas or suggestions would greatly be appreciated. Thanks

 

It really depends on how hard you drive the car. I think these brake kits will last you a lot longer than 1-2 events. I think a lot of drivers change their stuff that frequently because they want to maximize their performance. If you are conservative you can make your BBK last about a year before changing your pads. There are several different pad compounds you can choose from that may last longer or shorter. However, with a BBK these applications are limited.

I think the first thing that will fail will be your brake fluid. Considers upgrading you fluid while you do the kit. Your lines will boil long before you brakes fade (pads). This will make it spongy and drive like crap. I recomend Super Blue. Talk with your vendors about which set up they all prefer. Personally, I run a medium slotted rotor with axxis kevlar/ceramic pads on the rally/hillclimb car. I could go much larger but I rather put my money in other places. This set up will last about a year. However, I will change them more frequently in order to enhance my performance.


Mitch
www.cp-racing.com
303-296-3030

 

sipost,

I highly recommend changing the fluid, lines and pads. At least the front pads since that is where most of the braking is occuring. My personal suggestion is the StopTech stage 1 or 2 setup. This will greatly increase your street braking and also your 2 or 3 track and auto-x days. I believe stage 2 adds rotors.

If you stick with your stock setup for the track you will get brake fade at leaset by the end of the day. My 1st track day I had stock everything. By the last session of the day I could tell my brakes were pretty much toast (pads low and fluid boiled). What was even more telling was that after packing up the car and starting to head home I hit the brakes and prett much had none. Pedal pretty much went right to the floor and no real signs of stopping. They did come back, but not the same as pre-track day. So needless to say, stage1 setup was installed.

The stage 1 was pretty good, but since I was starting to do more track days I eventually jumped up to the the StopTech BBK and race pads for track and Axxis Ultimate for street, and have never had any fade since.

It's pretty easy to swap out brake pads, even on the stock setup. It's just best to re-bed them after you do the change out. They will re-bed just from normal driving if going from race pad back to stock, but if going from stock to race it's highly recommended to bed them in before the track day.

 

you'll ruin your pads and boil your fluid at a track day - and it's unnecessary

Flush and bleed your fluid - Castrol is ok when fresh - it loses temp range after it becomes 'wet'

HP+ and Panther Plus are good entry level track pads that don't require too much warm up and can likely take a track day - but they might drive you nuts on the street. I have 2 track weekends and about 10k miles on mine (HP+) - they are about 1/2 to 2/3 done

EBC are JUNK - period - don't waste your money