So I took apart my front brakes today after last weekend's HPDE...
 

for a look at what went down on the track. I can say without any doubt that I will NOT be trying to live life on the track with the stockers. I wish I had taken pics, but I didn't so I'll do my best to describe what I found.

1) As I suspected in the Sunday sessions, I THOROUGHLY cooked these brakes. The shims just fell off. All shim grease had been vaporized by the extreme heat generated. My stock pads on the street never saw those temps and were in good shape when I swapped out for the EBCs. All paint on the pad backing plates had been turned to carbon. It looked like I had tossed the pads into a raging fire and left them over night. I really wish I had new shims and pad retainers. These are pretty much ruined, but I cleaned them as best I could.

2) The shim on the inside pad showed areas of wear that indicate the single piston may have been shifting around on contact. Sure enough, the contact patch on the piston actually shows some wear, a "shearing" if you will. Not too excited about that.

I wish any of you the best of luck in trying to make the stockers livable for track time. I guess it all depends on where you plan to spend most of your time and my "home" track will defintely take too much out of the stock brakes to justify unnecessary expenses that can go directly to a big brake upgrade. I may be living with the stock wheels for some time to come, but at least I'll have a killer suspension set-up and brakes that mean business.

BTW, thanks for all of your input on my other thread where I was trying to make the decision between fortifying the stock brakes or going with the upgrade.

Re: So I took apart my front brakes today after last weekend's HPDE...
 

i am confused, your stock pads or the EBCs got cooked??

Re: Re: So I took apart my front brakes today after last weekend's HPDE...
 

The EBCs. IMO, ANYTHING would have burned in my car. I've spent the last week analyzing my track time in my head. Both of the BIG braking zones are slightly downhill and 110 MPH to 40MPH turns. All the weight was shifting forward which explains why my rear pads and assemblies look great.

Re: Re: Re: So I took apart my front brakes today after last weekend's HPDE...
 

interesting, so the EBCs didn't hold up either? are there other options for pads out there??, maybe the "redstuff" EBCs for track use?? also looks like EBC offers aftermarket grooved rotors as well (don't know if they fit the Z though), or "powerslot rotors", or HAWK pads???

Pather XP's
 

Just came back from 2-day BMW school at Putnam Park near Indy. Used XP's on front and +'s on the rear. My front pads held up very well and did a great job in stopping the car. The rear pads also worked well but I wore them down to the rivets and they will need to be replaced. I'm going to put XP's on the rear next time out. Dusting was not an issue and the wear on the rotors at a minimum. Just a reminder that brakes, rotors and fluid do work together to stop the car, but it's the tires that will really make the difference in stopping your car.

I have vented my front rotors and installed Cusco sways. I'm running Firehawks, stock 17" wheels, 235/45 F and 275/40 rears all 4 at 37lbs cold psi. Had some concerns about the 275's on 8" rims but not a bit of problem.

Putman is a technical track, 1.766 miles with 10 turns and several elevation changes. Ron Fellows ran the track in a race prepared C5 doing 75 sec laps. Mine were not that fast but a respectable 88 to 92 secs.

Re: Re: Re: Re: So I took apart my front brakes today after last weekend's HPDE...
 

The pad material held up fine. They chunked a bit, but are still in working order. The EBC Green Stuffs ARE NOT for track days in a heavy car like the Z. I've acknowledged this previously in other threads.

What I am so concerned about is the HEAT generated in the front assembly. This is on my car on my track. I don't know how other member's pads and rotors look after track time, but mine where in bad shape. I'm NOT going to replace basically everything on the front brakes save for the calipers after every event. I don't want to waste the $500 getting the brakes prepped for another event when that can go right into a brake kit.

Capiche?

Sounds like what is needed is more cooling. Any chance of piping more air directly at the rotors/calipers? Obviously a big brake kit is going to solve the problem, but it's pricey. I know alot of the vette guys have had similar problems and have gone to increased ducting:
http://www.z06vette.com/forums/showt...threadid=35592
Living more up North I haven't had to go to it, but I may soon...

After my recent track day on a track that is hard on brakes, I cooked my front piston boots. Previously I put SS lines, Panter+ pads on the front, Bobcat pads on the rears, and Motul 600 fluid. My brakes were the only Touring/Performance brakes that held up over the weekend. (see VIR post in Racing) When I got back I checked my brakes and the fronts got so hot that the paint on part of the calipers burnt off and the dust boots on the pistons baked and were no longer functioning. I would have to rebuild these, but will get them replaced. For my next event I will get Panter XPs in the front, Panter+ in the rear, take off all the rotor guards, and do some duct work to cool them off. I would rather try this than spend 2k+ on a legitimate brake kit.

I was certainly hoping you'd chime in! ;) Thanks for backing up my claims of ridiculous heat. I was shocked yesterday when I got in there to look things over. Did you notice any weird wear on the piston itself?

I was seriously debating going the same route as you in fortifying the stockers, but I'm only going to get faster and then what? Raceboy made an excellent point in saying that race rubber would be even harder on the stock brakes once I reached that level. This is truly a "if you want to play, you have to pay" situation. I could cover the cost of a brake upgrade in only three more events if I have to rebuild every time.

Check your PM...

Which track and which event were you at?

At the April 12/13 Driver's Edge out at Motorsport Ranch in Cresson (West of Ft. Worth on Hwy 377). Day one was OK. I was pleased with how the brakes held up. Day two I got A LOT faster and was braking LATE.

If you're familiar with the track, you get well into fourth gear on the straight before "Little Bend" and the long straight that crosses the start/finish going into "Rattlesnake". Both of those braking zones are slightly downhill and hard on the brakes. I might make it to Hallet or TWS sometime in the future, but will consider MSR as my home track. I'm trying to get in three more events before the end of the year so I have to do something.