Best track brake pad for 1LE

[X25]

I have tried so many different pads in time.

• Carbotech pads are recommended for many different cars, and people love their modulation. That said, I always found them too soft for my taste, not to mention the fact that they wear down so fast, you better check in between sessions if you're overpowering them.
• I tried Cobalt XR1/XR2 combo after much recommendation in this forum, and had the worst brake fade I've ever had in any of my cars. Funny enough, one of the other Forum members also had a very similar experience, which convinced him to also switch to CTS-V brakes. I do not recommend using them up front. I currently still have XR2s at the rear since they are quiet, and rears are really not used much by our cars anyway.
• I am a long time fan of Raybestos ST43s. I used them on many cars, and I've absolutely fallen in love with them on my Corvettes and EvoX. However, my experience with them on my 1LE left me for wanting more bite. They work just fine, and are adequate for any track, but I will be using ST47s this season. Our cars are very heavy, and can use more bite in my opinion. I have to say, though, ST43s never fade, are always consistent, and they provide the bite even when cold, making it very safe to use at the streets, too. Their dust is also non-corrosive as far as I know.
• One important note: Brembo rears, which are also used on many other cars from various brands, can get very loud with hard compound pads. Unfortunately this was the case with ST43s at the rear, too. For this reason, I kept the XR2s at the rear and used ST43 at the front, making the car very quiet so I would not have to keep changing the pads back and forth for street use. ST45s are the recommended rear compound for the ST47 fronts, so I will also try them next time (or when XR2s are finally done).

In short, I would also recommend ST47/ST45. Raybestos pads never let me down, and are also the longest lasting pads I've ever used.

[X25]

Originally Posted by tw78911sc

I have Raybesto's ST47 on front ZL1 brakes, ST45 on rear. They are AWESOME. I have more than 5 track days on mine, was too lazy to take them out between events, almost no wear, rotors look great, was able to brake even with a C7 Z06 with carbon brake package this past weekend from 120 down to 35mph. I have experienced the brakes overpowering the tires one time in 10 track days or so (overtook a car late in the braking zone and really laid into them to insure I didn't blow the entrance with a car on my door), the ABS goes into like an ice mode where it lets the rotor roll more than it brakes. I use ABS on most all big braking zones.

I'll buy them from now on without hesitation, no issues with dust etching into wheels either.

You should not rely on ABS for your braking at the track. Actually, we do not have race ABS, and what we have will severely limit our rate of deceleration when activated. It is, as you also mentioned, called ICE mode since ABS thinks we are on a surface with little to no traction when all 4 tires consistently lock up (due to race pads), reducing the target rate of deceleration to supposedly improve the braking performance. I believe it is usually -0.6G or so; much worse than what your brakes can actually provide. You should instead figure out the thresholds where ABS activates, and ride on them, never exceeding the thresholds for best performance.

On a related note, locking up tires is not a good measure of pad or brake system performance. Actually, someone might interpret having to activate ABS as brakes providing no modulation, either no holding, or biting way too hard, locking up brakes unintentionally.

An another related note, pretty much any pad you can use on this car should be able to easily over-power the tires, and this should not be a measure of performance, either. The key is in pads being able to 'keep' that performance.

[gmorcos37]

Awesome info guys! I will probably give the Raybestos a shot.

X25, you got a good source on where to buy them from? I'm having trouble finding them online.

[X25]

Originally Posted by gmorcos37

Awesome info guys! I will probably give the Raybestos a shot.

X25, you got a good source on where to buy them from? I'm having trouble finding them online.

I have these jotted down in my notes. For ZL1 front calipers, I think you need to contact them, and they get it custom-made (with no extra charge).

Camaro SS front:
http://porterfield-brakes.com/produc...productID=4117

Camaro SS/ZL1 rear:
http://porterfield-brakes.com/produc...productID=4224

Camaro StopTech BBK front:
http://porterfield-brakes.com/produc...roductID=14269

[gmorcos37]

Originally Posted by X25

I have these jotted down in my notes. For ZL1 front calipers, I think you need to contact them, and they get it custom-made (with no extra charge).

Camaro SS front:
http://porterfield-brakes.com/produc...productID=4117

Camaro SS/ZL1 rear:
http://porterfield-brakes.com/produc...productID=4224

Camaro StopTech BBK front:
http://porterfield-brakes.com/produc...roductID=14269

Awesome, thanks man! I appreciate it

[X25]

Originally Posted by gmorcos37

Awesome, thanks man! I appreciate it

You're welcome; enjoy your improved brakes : )

[RB185AFM]

I know this is an old tread but it seems appropriate for my question. If I run the Raybestos 43 or 47 in my stock front caliper can I leave the stock pads in the rear? Or do I have to match the rear to a lower number Raybestos? If so what would be the rear match for a 43 up front?

[White_SS/RS]

Originally Posted by RB185AFM

I know this is an old tread but it seems appropriate for my question. If I run the Raybestos 43 or 47 in my stock front caliper can I leave the stock pads in the rear? Or do I have to match the rear to a lower number Raybestos? If so what would be the rear match for a 43 up front?

You can run 43 on all 4 corners since it's not a super aggressive pad and it will do great it's usually what I run depending on the track, however I do run 6 piston fronts. What are you running for fronts?

You probably could run the stock rears but it may be too great of a split with a race pads up front. Try it, Biggest issue with that setup is you'll be making the fronts do all the work.

Personally with the weight of the car I like to have the rear share as much braking as possible without locking before the fronts... Which would be bad but I haven't had that issue with 43's. Nice thing about the CTSV setup is the fronts are so much bigger that you don't really need the split pad setup like 4/4 OEM piston setup.

[silverbullet415]

I also run carbotech xp12/10 on my car and just did a track day in 104 temps and had no issues

[RB185AFM]

I'm running the stock brakes with quantum ducts. I have only run on the stock pads so far. As the stock rotors are so cheap, I'm going to see what kind of life I get out of dedicated track set and some good pads.

[Thor142]

I used the Powerstop Track day pads. They wore out in 3 days (4 sessions per day) and were very loud. However they were perfectly consistent from the first day to the last. Provided better initial bite and stopping power than the Brembro pads and even with no ducts on an 86 degree day I got no fade at all. Stock rotors seem to have held up fine.

[RyanR3KC]

Bump because I'm in the market for brake pads

[Crash76]

Carbotech xp24/xp12 for track, 1521 compound for street

[RyanR3KC]

This thread needs to be stickied IMHO.

I was recommended these:
http://marylandspeed.com/hawk-hps-fr...v8-p-3099.html