Getting away with autozone brake pads on a roadcourse

Yellow73SB

Yellow73SB

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Mar 24, 2008
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I want to cut down on brake pad and rotor cost. If I start running some hpde's I'll have to get new pads frequently.

I'm thinking I'll get the wilwood calipers for the front, and the rear maybe later. That should solve the caliper fade. I could probably get some SRF also, seems like it's cheaper in the long run, and not as much as a hassle.

I have one 3" duct right now, and I want to put another on, but It will have to be a smaller one like white76 has.

I think I'll have to make the spindle mounts out of thin sheetmetal. I don't have the tools to weld aluminum, plus there won't be too much of a difference.

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On road courses,, braking is as important, sometimes more important than better acceleration. Improving your braking system allows you go deeper into corners before hitting the brakes , getting you through turns faster and safer.

:banghead: run a HPDE and then think this over.
 
redvetracr said:
your aware that both those cars are very fast and both have cast iron factory calipers aren`t you?
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Sheesh you'd think that real C3 racers would know that the factory calipers are for grandpa's, can't be bled with less than 10 gallons of brake fluid, and of course you can't really stop with factory calipers without hydroboost! :rolleyes:

- another factory caliper user

PS autozone pads will fade (calipers boil fluid, pads fade). If you want to conserve brake parts, brake earlier.
 
redvetracr said:
your aware that both those cars are very fast and both have cast iron factory calipers aren`t you?
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j56 pistons though, or maybe something more exotic. I don't think they would be running them unless they had to. I don't know If I will ever do an SVRA event so I'm not that concerned

It's just as cheap to get the wilwoods, and the wilwoods save a lot of weight

I also want to put manual brakes on
 
If the rules would permit them to use a modern big honking AP caliper or whatever they would swap it yesterday.

Also, that's not a stock brake setup in the last pic. The caliper is not leading but trailing (easier to cool it with brake ducts that way in a non open wheeler) and the casting looks different from a stock one. Wonder what it is, it does look like a cast iron BMW M3 caliper I once had (was a 4 pot too, will have to search for a pic to confirm)
 
The klutt car is on the back also, I just added them because they had brake ducts
 
Go ahead and get the wilwoods. There are a number of people who are dead set against caliper upgrades and i am at a total loss to explain it. Its like they're spitting venom. I'm in a fight with some prick on CF right now about it. Why would anybody have such a problem with someone spending money on their car. You don't see people running down spending on expensive wheels, chrome, seats, paint, high flow heads, mech cams that are totally mismatched.

What the hell is more important than braking?

At least upgrade the front so you have 60% left when you get them hot.
 
69autoXr said:
redvetracr said:
your aware that both those cars are very fast and both have cast iron factory calipers aren`t you?
Click to expand...

Sheesh you'd think that real C3 racers would know that the factory calipers are for grandpa's, can't be bled with less than 10 gallons of brake fluid, and of course you can't really stop with factory calipers without hydroboost! :rolleyes:

- another factory caliper user

PS autozone pads will fade (calipers boil fluid, pads fade). If you want to conserve brake parts, brake earlier.
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I never have brake bleed problems and at $70 a litre for SRF I thank God I never did...
 
Yellow73SB said:
The klutt car is on the back also, I just added them because they had brake ducts
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my front calipers have been mounted to the rear of the spindle since day one...which (for me) was 1994......J-56 pistons?...If you can`t afford race pads you certainly can`t afford J-56 pistons.....although (personally) I wouldn`t race a vintage Corvette without them, SRF, race pads or a two piece rotor and oh yea a split caliper (thanks to Guldstrand and whatever GM engineer designed them)...ever hear that line "speed costs money how fast do you want to go"? the brake pad line is much shorter..."do you want to stop"?....I understand your situation but brakes isn`t a place to skrimp and save.
 
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redvetracr said:
Yellow73SB said:
The klutt car is on the back also, I just added them because they had brake ducts
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my front calipers have been mounted to the rear of the spindle since day one...which (for me) was 1994......J-56 pistons?...If you can`t afford race pads you certainly can`t afford J-56 pistons.....although (personally) I wouldn`t race a vintage Corvette without them, SRF, race pads or a two piece rotor and oh yea a split caliper (thanks to Guldstrand and whatever GM engineer designed them)...ever hear that line "speed costs money how fast do you want to go"? the brake pad line is much shorter..."do you want to stop"?....I understand your situation but brakes isn`t a place to skrimp and save.
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I can afford the race pads I just want something a little easier on rotors. I have another set of hawk blues, but I just want to put something milder on for awhile. I'm doing mainly auto-x

I may do a shorter track hpde also, then maybe sebring
 
racervette69 said:
This is the compound I use for hillclimbs,, don't get the blues to proper operating temps. These are Cold stoppers

http://www.stockcarproducts.com/brakes12.htm
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I can't find a "D" compound on the Wilwood site. I use "H" in my super light calipers.

When I first use after starting up the brakes it will pull right or left. But once up to some temp they are great. quiet, but very filthy with gray/brown dust every where

Yellow74 sb you need to remove your dust covers and let as much air in as possible
 
Hawk HP+ have nice cold bite for autocross and aren't very expensive. They're not too hard on rotors either, I autocross a lot and haven't needed to replace my rotors in a few years now, with some track events thrown in there too.
 
You can get some PFC carbon metallic pads from Autozone for $65. They have a two year warranty so when you wear them out in a couple weekends of HPDE you can take them back and get some free ones. Don't know how they will perform under hard use but that is what I run on mine but only drive on the street for now.
 
69autoXr said:
Hawk HP+ have nice cold bite for autocross and aren't very expensive. They're not too hard on rotors either, I autocross a lot and haven't needed to replace my rotors in a few years now, with some track events thrown in there too.
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I've gone through two sets of rotors already, and I haven't really even auto-xed much

I think part of the reason is the hydraboost
 
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