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Originally Posted by aussieboxy
Ok so now I'm leaning towards more agressive pads rather than a brake upgrade as I don't track the car.
Which pads are best and do they make a difference to rotor wear?
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pads make a HUGE difference on the track. i cannot stress this enough. you will be truly amazed at the difference in feel & high temp torque. race pads are definitely tougher on your rotors, but it's a good trade off. racer_d is right that they'll squeak like hell. they also suck when it's cold.
for those reasons, i have a dedicated set of track pads. it's WAY cheaper in the long run, because race pads last long on the track, street pads last long on the street, and street pads are easier on your rotors.
i like pagid orange and hawk ht-10. i have the hawk right now. personally, i like them better than the pagid. next on my list to try is carbotech. i hear GREAT things about them. one positive of carbotech is this: most race pads are a ferrocarbon compound (carbon & iron). these mix with your rotors under heat to make a different crystilline metal out of your rotor surfaces (can't remember which one; austenite maybe?). anyway, carbotech are a carbon-carbon compound, so your rotors don't harden.
the hardening process is bad for the rotor for two reasons: first, it doesn't happen evenly, so you get high and low spots on the rotor leading to inconsistent pad contact. second, it has a lower friction coefficient (pad material doesn't stick as well to it, limiting adhesive friction forces).
i'm probably telling you WAY more than you needed to know about brakes, but here's more: there are two types of friction, basically, that brakes use. one is abrasive. this is where the pad material and rotor material actually experience broken chemical bonds from the process physically shearing away material. the other is adhesive friction. this is what race pads do. they actually stick a layer of pad material to the rotor. then, the pad is constantly forming and breaking bonds with this transfer layer. it's a chemical reaction that happens over and over at high temp. it's for this reason that race rotors are often thicker after a race than before it. i will shut up now.
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