ZL1 / ZL1 1LE pads?
 

Has anyone thought about running ZL1 / ZL1 1LE pads on CCB rotors? My rotors are end of life - they feel gassed out so was tempted to try a cheaper pad alternative while I decide what I want to do for a longer term brake solution. Welcome thoughts : )

NO, wrong pad material. I think they are missing the notch in the pad for pad wear indicator light. I saw a set of Rotors on ebay pretty cheap. I think it's old stock from the plant.

Please dont run cast iron rotor pads on your carbon rotors, its like running trans oil in your engine.

Thanks guys. Got a used set of OEs cheap. Switching to a steel disc setup after this pad set.

Just out of curiosity, how many track days have you used your rotors for before they became "end of life"?

Yeah, I am interested in hearing this as well, CCB rotors can take a ton of abuse, tens of thousands of track miles before needing to be replaced generally.

Tens of thousand is way overrated. Ask any Vette or Camaro owner who runs it hard. It's all about how much heat you put into them. They will live forever under street use but there's a reason why almost every tracked car that offers CCB rotors has steel conversion options aftermarket. Longevity vs cost.

Yup - I think I'm firmly in the "I'm not paying for CCBs" camp. I'm at 18 hours on track or roughly 14 track days, 3 auto x and 6 circuit cross events (equivalent of 2 - 3 laps each - so maybe a track day if you're really generous). I did buy my car used but I went back to the pictures I took of the pads and brakes and they were pristine.

In short, I found no evidence to suggest CCBs last longer than a steel setup. Cost of race pads vs OE CCB pads is similar - I've heard the ST43s fit and they seems to have great track life. Also some steel setups offer the ability to only replace the outer rings if you go with a floating rotor setup. I'm doing my homework now and will post what I land on with pics and lap comparison to see what the wear, versus speed, versus feel and cost curves are :)

They will not take ten thousands of miles, not even thousands of miles.

I figure I will need to replace my rotors every 2 years and 2 sets of pads per year.
I do about 10 weekends or 20 track days. 5 x 20 min sessions per day. That comes out to about 33 hours. I would estimate about 2,000 miles at the tracks I run.

The CCB's are not cheaper... hell no... but they stop better. These cars are heavy and if your brave enough to really use these brakes they are incredible.

33 hours would be awesome. I'm wondering if a couple of my 45 minute sessions accelerated my wear. I've done some 30 min sessions at VIR and 45 min sessions at NCCAR... I think the high heat may have accelerated the gassing. I'm doing a full SRF fluid swap, replacing bleed screws and putting in pads with 8mm of life left to see if the "gased out" feeling I had at VIR goes away. There's no question that up to this point they've been the best "feeling" and maintenance free brakes I've ever had.

I've talked to a number of folks running steels on GT3s, Camaros and z06s and they all swear by the steel discs as being better then the CCBs for the cost vs wear curve. Noise is really the only downside I've found. Right now I'm looking at Giro Disc (front rings / pads ~1700 retail) and AP Racing Brake 25mm pad kit (retail ~4800; that's steel lines, pads, front discs) as my replacement. The fastest Z06 on Summit Point, VIR who is CRUSHING laptimes runs the APs. A Gen 5 SS 1LE owner that I saw set an amazing laptimes at NJMP was running Giro Discs so both seem to really do well, as well.

I've got lots of data so it'll be interesting to compare if one or the other is better.

I've also been doing the math on a Zl1 1LE brake conversion - pads / discs has that close to 1200.