Brake Pads - ZR-1 Net Registry Forums

Patton · 11-07-2005

I need knew ones,... any comments, suggestions, pointers would be welcomed.

Thanks.

tomtom72 · 11-08-2005

I was told that unless the car is used for Auto-X'ing or if you do road course sessions that the stock pads are enough for even some street twisties. I only have 15,000 on my car and I do a lot of "cruises" with the CF/NE crew on the weekends & I think the stock pads work fine. We do our driving on all types of roads and most of us are not racing each other. The one thing I like about the OE pads besides that they work for me is they don't seem to "dust" a lot.

I may not be very qualified to give any more of an evaluation because the type of driving I do is purely street driving. I've never had to throw the anchor out at much over 100 mph. I've never had to use the anti-lock feature so I guess I don't use them that hard. Even when we go to the higher hills in upstate NY & have some fun I have never wished I had better brakes. The stock stuff seems to be fine but then I'm probably not pushing the car. I don't feel like part of the car yet and my skills, if any, are rusty from being away along time. I do know one thing, when I've felt that I was about to overcook a corner the OE stuff has bailed me out in that I can slow the car before I ask it to make the entry point. Sometimes I have not left the car much straight road to work with either & it always makes up for my mistakes. Sorry I'm not better able to give a more scientific evaluation, Mr. F!

Tom

A1990 · 11-08-2005

Not sure what kind of driving you do or plan to do. If I didn't just use OEM replacements, I would be looking for something with less dust.

I would look at the Akebono ProAct or the Hawk Performance. They are both ceramic. I found them on tirerack's site

If you read: Better braking = more dust...fact of life I guess....

Patton · 11-08-2005

Tom, and A1990 (Iâ€™m sorry I donâ€™t know your name yet!)

Thanks very much for the information guys! Iâ€™m not really sure how different brake materials/compounds effect braking yet... The stock stuff is really great and has only let me down once but it was a totally insane extreme that I probably wont be in a position to do very often,...
In my military days, I would drive from Sacramento to San Diego all the time, (in an '89 5.0 IROC) towards the end of my tour I made the run in the ZR1 several times. One of these times I just happened upon an SL500 AMG, I actually posted about it on here a LONG time ago,... Anyway, a couple of acknowledgement nods later we were both at WOT and the bastard hung in there, no more than 1 1/2 car lengths behind and actually felt like he was gaining in the beginning but I guess his legs werenâ€™t long enough because at around 160mph he began falling back more and more,... I continued to the high 170's when I saw traffic up ahead, at those speed your adrenals are pumping soooo much and you are listening to EVERY little sound coming from every corner of the car... So traffic WAY up ahead feels very close, I applied the brakes and just gave it a slow constant pressure to tackle her down from warp 9. As soon as we shot the gaps in the traffic there was a about a mile gap until the next traffic gaggle, we went WOT and hit the brakes hard for the next group and again shot the gaps. Now a HUGE horizon reaching straight-away appeared and we were off once more yet this time in the mid 170's (car takes awhile from 170-180) I got the spine tingling bi-tone bleep of KA radar detection. I got on the brakes vigorously, from 175 or so to 150 was a breeze, but to my utter horror they just melted into absolute jelly and the pedal just mushed effortlessly into the floor, It shocked me so I let up and then applied them again and they gripped for half a second and went to jelly again,... the KA signal strength was growing and the next batch of minivans and 18 wheelers that was on the horizon moments ago was getting closer... I had to tap and release the brakes over and over to very slowly bring me down from 150... That scared my testicles into the nether regions of my abdomen let me tell ya. The KA was coming from a highway patrol on the side of the road ticketing an SRT-4 and I thought, what if the cop wasn't there and forced me to slow down early?? I would have waited to brake later than last traffic pack because my confidence had grown from the last 2 passes... would have been E-brake time at around 130mph, man oh man.

I think that was a rotor issue, not being able to radiate heat fast enough, becoming so hot that any contact by the brake pad is like a molten knife trying to find friction against melted butter. When we pulled off the road for gas/fluids and to just breathe the guy said he could see my rotors glowing. And that his brakes went mushy too. I was really worried my rotors were going to be warped after such a beating but the have never shown any problems. It was that day that I resolved to get more stop before I get ANY more go.

WB9MCW · 11-08-2005

HAH I REMEMBER THAT STORY....only i dont remember all the detail on the brakes...lol..it was when u told me i was scared to go wot in my z...and u know ur right i have never gone wot..only 130 myself althoug my mech/best friend took it to 145 to show his parts supplier what a zr-1 was all about. the lee auto parts mgr now knows what the koth is indeed!!! LOLOL see Patton i can write in lower case after all!!!!!

Patton · 11-09-2005

LOL, YUP BRYAN I REMEMBER OUR LITTLE CONVO ON THAT THREAD. I REMEMBER NOT MENTIONING THE BRAKES... DONT KNOW WHY I DIDNT, I WAS SO IMPRESSED THAT I HUNG WITH AND BEAT AN AT THE TIME BRAND NEW SL55 AMG THAT PUT OUT 469HP. IT WILL BE A VIVID MEMORY FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. JUST WISH I COULD HAVE SEEN THOSE ROTORS GLOWING FOR MYSELF. I DONT BLAME YOU ABOUT WOT IN THE Z THOUGH, SHE CAN BE A REAL HANDFUL AT TIMES IN THE LOWER GEARS. HOWEVER I SERIOUSLY RECOMMEND YOU FIND YOURSELF A NICE DESOLATE STRETCH OF STRAIGHT ROAD, JUST FVCKING NAIL THE THROTTLE AND MOVER HER COMPLETELY THROUGH THE FIRST 3 GEARS AT WOT. YOU'LL FREAKIN LOVE IT, BUT BECAREFUL BECAUSE IF YOU ARE ANYTHING LIKE ME, ONCE YOU FEEL THAT RUSH YOU'LL BE ADDICTED!

The caps was all for you old buddy.

Hey, you know what else I remember about that post? I remember at first I remembered wrong and called the car a SL500 AMG when there wasnâ€™t any such thing and you corrected me ever so eloquently

it was an SL55 AMG and after all this time I called it an SL500 AMG in my recounting AGAIN... weird how the brain works. lol. Iâ€™m surprised you didnâ€™t rub my face in it again! LOL

But seriously, you arenâ€™t an actual human being until you've wot'ed through the first 2 gears at least! Give it a shot, its a rush and very therapeutic after a shitty day at the office.

The high speed thing gets a little scary and unnerving on public roads, but the quick 1/4 mile type runs are relatively safe and fun as crap.

tomtom72 · 11-09-2005

I'm glad I'm sooo chicken after reading about your experience Francisco! Holy cr@p! Seems like the system does not disapate rotor heat quickly enough??? Would the answer be bigger, drilled & slotted rotors with calipers that have more pistons?? Oh well I'm glad nothing bad happened!

Tom · 11-09-2005

Since your description said the pedal went to the floor you probably boiled the brake fluid from the heat generated from your high speed brake applications. The brake fluid needs to be flushed regularly to keep the moisture content down since the boiling temperature of the fluid is greatly reduced when there is moisture in the fluid. Some track days require a brake fluid flush within a certain time period before the event in order to try to prevent this exact problem.

Patton · 11-09-2005

Aha! Thanks very much Tom#2

That is very good information to know. I have flushed it since, but not because I knew exactly that, just as preventative maintenance.
Now that I think of it, physics wise that makes sense. If the fluid is extremely hot, one would think the PSI would increase and you might get better braking however one must not forget what the heat is doing to the vessels which house the fluid,... EXPAND. Thus increasing the volume that the fluid must displace, for every inch of tubing. Which explains the brake going to the floor. However, the brakes got very loose just before the pedal went to the floor. I wonder if it was overheating all around?

Good stuff

11-09-2005

Go with a high quality fluid. Motul 600 or even Ford Blue fluid. That will help solve the problem of the soft pedal as mentioned before.

As for pads take a look at the Hawk HPS pads, they will do well for street use (don't require to much heat to function) and they will also serve as a good auto X or a couple of track days.

11-07-2005	#1
Patton Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 224	Brake Pads I need knew ones,... any comments, suggestions, pointers would be welcomed. Thanks. __________________ "Mr. President, we must not allowwww... a mine shaft gap!!" -General Buck Turgidson 1994 ZR1 - White on Black

11-08-2005	#3
A1990 Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Grand Island NE Posts: 1,511	Re: Brake Pads Not sure what kind of driving you do or plan to do. If I didn't just use OEM replacements, I would be looking for something with less dust. I would look at the Akebono ProAct or the Hawk Performance. They are both ceramic. I found them on tirerack's site If you read: Better braking = more dust...fact of life I guess.... __________________ Dennis Fierstein 90 ZR-1 #2562 Atomic-Z ZR-1 Net Registry Chairman of the Board ZR-1 Net Registry Treasurer Last edited by A1990; 11-09-2005 at 12:34 PM.

11-08-2005	#4
Patton Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 224	Re: Brake Pads Tom, and A1990 (Iâ€™m sorry I donâ€™t know your name yet!) Thanks very much for the information guys! Iâ€™m not really sure how different brake materials/compounds effect braking yet... The stock stuff is really great and has only let me down once but it was a totally insane extreme that I probably wont be in a position to do very often,... In my military days, I would drive from Sacramento to San Diego all the time, (in an '89 5.0 IROC) towards the end of my tour I made the run in the ZR1 several times. One of these times I just happened upon an SL500 AMG, I actually posted about it on here a LONG time ago,... Anyway, a couple of acknowledgement nods later we were both at WOT and the bastard hung in there, no more than 1 1/2 car lengths behind and actually felt like he was gaining in the beginning but I guess his legs werenâ€™t long enough because at around 160mph he began falling back more and more,... I continued to the high 170's when I saw traffic up ahead, at those speed your adrenals are pumping soooo much and you are listening to EVERY little sound coming from every corner of the car... So traffic WAY up ahead feels very close, I applied the brakes and just gave it a slow constant pressure to tackle her down from warp 9. As soon as we shot the gaps in the traffic there was a about a mile gap until the next traffic gaggle, we went WOT and hit the brakes hard for the next group and again shot the gaps. Now a HUGE horizon reaching straight-away appeared and we were off once more yet this time in the mid 170's (car takes awhile from 170-180) I got the spine tingling bi-tone bleep of KA radar detection. I got on the brakes vigorously, from 175 or so to 150 was a breeze, but to my utter horror they just melted into absolute jelly and the pedal just mushed effortlessly into the floor, It shocked me so I let up and then applied them again and they gripped for half a second and went to jelly again,... the KA signal strength was growing and the next batch of minivans and 18 wheelers that was on the horizon moments ago was getting closer... I had to tap and release the brakes over and over to very slowly bring me down from 150... That scared my testicles into the nether regions of my abdomen let me tell ya. The KA was coming from a highway patrol on the side of the road ticketing an SRT-4 and I thought, what if the cop wasn't there and forced me to slow down early?? I would have waited to brake later than last traffic pack because my confidence had grown from the last 2 passes... would have been E-brake time at around 130mph, man oh man. I think that was a rotor issue, not being able to radiate heat fast enough, becoming so hot that any contact by the brake pad is like a molten knife trying to find friction against melted butter. When we pulled off the road for gas/fluids and to just breathe the guy said he could see my rotors glowing. And that his brakes went mushy too. I was really worried my rotors were going to be warped after such a beating but the have never shown any problems. It was that day that I resolved to get more stop before I get ANY more go. __________________ "Mr. President, we must not allowwww... a mine shaft gap!!" -General Buck Turgidson 1994 ZR1 - White on Black

11-08-2005	#5
WB9MCW Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: McHenry, Il. Posts: 6,607	Re: Brake Pads HAH I REMEMBER THAT STORY....only i dont remember all the detail on the brakes...lol..it was when u told me i was scared to go wot in my z...and u know ur right i have never gone wot..only 130 myself althoug my mech/best friend took it to 145 to show his parts supplier what a zr-1 was all about. the lee auto parts mgr now knows what the koth is indeed!!! LOLOL see Patton i can write in lower case after all!!!!! __________________ http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...9mcw/SIG-2.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o128/wb9mcw/vcm.gif "The Budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome will become bankrupt. People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance." - Cicero, 55 BC " We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." - Abraham Lincoln

11-09-2005	#6
Patton Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 224	Re: Brake Pads LOL, YUP BRYAN I REMEMBER OUR LITTLE CONVO ON THAT THREAD. I REMEMBER NOT MENTIONING THE BRAKES... DONT KNOW WHY I DIDNT, I WAS SO IMPRESSED THAT I HUNG WITH AND BEAT AN AT THE TIME BRAND NEW SL55 AMG THAT PUT OUT 469HP. IT WILL BE A VIVID MEMORY FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. JUST WISH I COULD HAVE SEEN THOSE ROTORS GLOWING FOR MYSELF. I DONT BLAME YOU ABOUT WOT IN THE Z THOUGH, SHE CAN BE A REAL HANDFUL AT TIMES IN THE LOWER GEARS. HOWEVER I SERIOUSLY RECOMMEND YOU FIND YOURSELF A NICE DESOLATE STRETCH OF STRAIGHT ROAD, JUST FVCKING NAIL THE THROTTLE AND MOVER HER COMPLETELY THROUGH THE FIRST 3 GEARS AT WOT. YOU'LL FREAKIN LOVE IT, BUT BECAREFUL BECAUSE IF YOU ARE ANYTHING LIKE ME, ONCE YOU FEEL THAT RUSH YOU'LL BE ADDICTED! The caps was all for you old buddy. Hey, you know what else I remember about that post? I remember at first I remembered wrong and called the car a SL500 AMG when there wasnâ€™t any such thing and you corrected me ever so eloquently it was an SL55 AMG and after all this time I called it an SL500 AMG in my recounting AGAIN... weird how the brain works. lol. Iâ€™m surprised you didnâ€™t rub my face in it again! LOL But seriously, you arenâ€™t an actual human being until you've wot'ed through the first 2 gears at least! Give it a shot, its a rush and very therapeutic after a shitty day at the office. The high speed thing gets a little scary and unnerving on public roads, but the quick 1/4 mile type runs are relatively safe and fun as crap. __________________ "Mr. President, we must not allowwww... a mine shaft gap!!" -General Buck Turgidson 1994 ZR1 - White on Black

11-08-2005	#2
tomtom72 Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Jacksonville, FL USA Posts: 4,645	Re: Brake Pads I was told that unless the car is used for Auto-X'ing or if you do road course sessions that the stock pads are enough for even some street twisties. I only have 15,000 on my car and I do a lot of "cruises" with the CF/NE crew on the weekends & I think the stock pads work fine. We do our driving on all types of roads and most of us are not racing each other. The one thing I like about the OE pads besides that they work for me is they don't seem to "dust" a lot. I may not be very qualified to give any more of an evaluation because the type of driving I do is purely street driving. I've never had to throw the anchor out at much over 100 mph. I've never had to use the anti-lock feature so I guess I don't use them that hard. Even when we go to the higher hills in upstate NY & have some fun I have never wished I had better brakes. The stock stuff seems to be fine but then I'm probably not pushing the car. I don't feel like part of the car yet and my skills, if any, are rusty from being away along time. I do know one thing, when I've felt that I was about to overcook a corner the OE stuff has bailed me out in that I can slow the car before I ask it to make the entry point. Sometimes I have not left the car much straight road to work with either & it always makes up for my mistakes. Sorry I'm not better able to give a more scientific evaluation, Mr. F! Tom __________________ 1990 ZR-1, Black/grey, #2233, stock. ZR-1 Net Reg Founding Member #316 & NCM member

11-09-2005	#7
tomtom72 Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Jacksonville, FL USA Posts: 4,645	Re: Brake Pads I'm glad I'm sooo chicken after reading about your experience Francisco! Holy cr@p! Seems like the system does not disapate rotor heat quickly enough??? Would the answer be bigger, drilled & slotted rotors with calipers that have more pistons?? Oh well I'm glad nothing bad happened! __________________ 1990 ZR-1, Black/grey, #2233, stock. ZR-1 Net Reg Founding Member #316 & NCM member

11-09-2005	#8
Tom Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Southern CA Posts: 108	Re: Brake Pads Since your description said the pedal went to the floor you probably boiled the brake fluid from the heat generated from your high speed brake applications. The brake fluid needs to be flushed regularly to keep the moisture content down since the boiling temperature of the fluid is greatly reduced when there is moisture in the fluid. Some track days require a brake fluid flush within a certain time period before the event in order to try to prevent this exact problem.

11-09-2005	#9
Patton Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 224	Re: Brake Pads Aha! Thanks very much Tom#2 That is very good information to know. I have flushed it since, but not because I knew exactly that, just as preventative maintenance. Now that I think of it, physics wise that makes sense. If the fluid is extremely hot, one would think the PSI would increase and you might get better braking however one must not forget what the heat is doing to the vessels which house the fluid,... EXPAND. Thus increasing the volume that the fluid must displace, for every inch of tubing. Which explains the brake going to the floor. However, the brakes got very loose just before the pedal went to the floor. I wonder if it was overheating all around? Good stuff __________________ "Mr. President, we must not allowwww... a mine shaft gap!!" -General Buck Turgidson 1994 ZR1 - White on Black

11-09-2005	#10
Jeffvette Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Brake Pads Go with a high quality fluid. Motul 600 or even Ford Blue fluid. That will help solve the problem of the soft pedal as mentioned before. As for pads take a look at the Hawk HPS pads, they will do well for street use (don't require to much heat to function) and they will also serve as a good auto X or a couple of track days.