Brake Pads for road and track?

[Ant]

I have Wilwood Billet superlite calipers on 12" circuit use rotors, on the front of my small block Cobra, and the standard T/bird or lincoln rear cast brake calipers on the rear! This car is going to see some hard track time every now and again, but will be road driven, not commuter style driven but used.

My question is what pads are good for fast road and track?
I have 'Polmatrix D pads on the front!
Also the Ford standard rear, I dont see a listing for that type of pad from Wilwood, are competition pads available or necessary on the rear?

Ant

[Hal Copple]

We have Wilwoods on the front of our SPF, and run the Performance Friction PF 80 pads, about $40 a front set, they have many many laps on them, no fade, seeem gentle to the rotors, and work well even with our Race Hoosiers time and time again. But you need to run a top quality fresh brake fluid as you will put some heat in it. Use good stuff in the clutch too, it gets hot also.

These are a forgiving, progressive, not abrupt pad, you don't have to have finess with your braking. We run the stock Ford rears, they don't do much, and our car stops straight and true time after time.

Call Pegasus racing, ask for Robin, tell her Hal sent you. She has a picture of my SPF above her desk.

[terry lee]

Hal,
Phone number for Pegasus Racing? Don't you have the upgraded Wilwoods. Mine are stock , but I am looking for some heavier pads for the track for my first year, then I may upgrade.
Thanks,
TL

[Ant]

Hal:

Thanks for your post!

Do you use the FP 80 pads on the road as well, and can you get a performance pad for the Ford rear from these people?
Your statement of the Ford rears not doing much, is that for want of a better pad material or just choice?

I suppose a good race car has new fluid after every race, as it is very hydroscopic, Castrol make SRF, and Wilwood have good brake fluids.

Do Pegasus racing have a fax number etc, I am about to see if they are on the web!

Ant

[Hal Copple]

Pegasus racing has a ton of race stuff, very nice folks, i order lots of stuff from them, the little doo-dads that are hard to find. phone in WI is 800-688-6946, web site is:

www.pegasusautoracing.com

I just the Wilwood "tan" pads for the street, not too "dusty", and work well when cold. I dont' need nor can get a race pad for my Ford rears, and just don't need an upgraded pad for the rear, even with Hoosier slicks. I do use SRF brake fluid. I have boiled my master cylinder, and overheated my clutch master too with lesser fluids in the past. But then slicks put a tremendous amount of heat in the fluid, and Chris and I brake very hard on the race track. We are not "coasters".

Ask for Robin at Pegasus, tell her hi from Hal, the Cobra guy in sC.

You could run the PF 80's for the street, but they are much dustier, and are not necessary. You need a pad that works well from the cold on the street. I have the SPF Wilwoods Dynalites, i can't recall if II or what at the moment. But the 80 pads last for ever, i am still on my original set of rotors, with over 50K miles and about 500-600 race course laps. So the 80's are obviously very gentle to rotors.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

[Roscoe]

I've been using the Porterfield Carbon Kevlar R4S pads for road racing and street. Very nice pad, rotor friendly and low dust.

R-4 Carbon Kevlar
Ten years old and still an outstanding race pad, the original R-4 Carbon Kevlar has proven to be versatile and a superior performing product. We have added two new compounds to compliment the R-4.
R-4 S: Street High-performance & Limited Competition
The high performance street pad of choice. Very high friction level even at cold temperatures.
R-4 E: Endurance Racing Pads with Longer Life
This endurance pad, with special formulation for long races, runs cool and wears longer than our regular R-4. Great for extended time events.

http://www.porterfield-brakes.com/

Roscoe

[coyled]

Ant, it depends on how hard you torcher the brakes. I have eaten a set of pf80's, they did not work as well under severe use and the polymatrix from willwood pads faded as well. I went to the porterfield r-4s which are around 100.00 per set. They don't work well until they are hot, but work really well when hot. I am running the superlite willwoods 12.2 in front and pbr's in back. I have run the r4e's but thay tend to eat rotors. I also cooked the motil fluid and have gone to the castrol spf, which has been great. It depends on ultimately how hard you brake the car on the track, that will determine your choice of pads and fluid. Scott

[Ant]

Hal, Coyled, Roscoe:

Thanks guys, makes good sense what you have all posted, I have been out of the game for a few years, and its amazing how one has a database of what to use, on my first Cobra I actually cut down a large set of PF pads for the XJ6 rear calipers, as this car at 1250KGS didn't stop with ducting etc - yes I am hard on brakes!

Castrol SRF sounds good, I actually use Castrol RS10W-60 for engines so will stick to a good brand, even though its reasonably expensive!


Ant

[Ant]

Some of you guys might know where I can purchase some rubbers for the slide pins on the Ford rear calipers, I have just grease the pins with some HT grease and a rubber fell to bits!


Ant

[hodgey]

You can call the Trojan Factory direct at: 800-555-1212.

[Edley Rondinone]

Do ant Ford pads fit the Wilwood rear calipers? The Wilwood pads I have on the rear now leave a WHOLE lot of brake dust on the rear wheels, and those Compomotive wheels are hard to clean! Cant wait to get some Trigos!

[Ant]

Hodgey:

Do Trogan make the Ford rear calipers, its a bit hard to phone from New Zealand, as I have terrible luck with people understanding my accent on the phone and mostly end up with the wrong parts! Is there a Ford dealer I can just do it through their website? I suppose if I get the part number off the caliper as I havent any idea what year these calipersa are, probably between 89-97!

Edley:

I dont think Ford pads fit the wilwood rears you have, but for the street you should be able to get some less dusty pads that work okay!