Track settings for Daily Driving

[numbers201788]

Hi all,

I am wondering if its okay to keep track settings on a F80 with -2.5camber and Hawk DTC60 track pads?

I've heard the damage to tire and rotor wear is overblown. I live in Florida where it stays hot for most of the year. I go to track 3-4 times a year but I only daily drive it 1-2 a week.

Any major concerns with just leaving it in track settings all year long? My situation makes it tough to continue to swap pads and realign car at a shop.

[D_SheerDrivingPleasure]

Originally Posted by numbers201788

Hi all,

I am wondering if its okay to keep track settings on a F80 with -2.5camber and Hawk DTC60 track pads?

I've heard the damage to tire and rotor wear is overblown. I live in Florida where it stays hot for most of the year. I go to track 3-4 times a year but I only daily drive it 1-2 a week.

Any major concerns with just leaving it in track settings all year long? My situation makes it tough to continue to swap pads and realign car at a shop.

-2.5 is a good street/track compromise if your not willing to get the special alignment that allows you to adjust back and forth between settings. It only takes 5 minutes and a cheap 1.5t floor jack and allen wrench.

Toe is what eats tires. What's your setting?

Those pads will wear your rotors a little fast but just keep them on.. I leave my track pads in and rotors on from April to November.

[medphysdave]

-2.5 should be fine up front. Just keep an eye on the wear. Alignments are relatively inexpensive when compared to tires. I ran -3.4 for a while because I was lazy about getting an alignment done. I hated it on the street.

[M3SQRD]

The use of race pads on the street is not “overblown” if you understand the engineering behind how a braking system works. There are two types of braking - ablative and abrasive. Ablative is when pad material is properly transferred to the rotor surface during a bedding-in process. When you apply the brakes the pads wear away the pad transfer layer on the rotor, not the rotor itself. Abrasive braking is when the pad material is nowhere near its sustained operating temp range and, therefore, the pad acts like a brake lathe when the brakes are applied. Rotor material is removed every time you apply the brakes. You cannot get race pad compounds up to their sustained operating temps on the street. It’s simple physics.

[D_SheerDrivingPleasure]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

The use of race pads on the street is not “overblown” if you understand the engineering behind how a braking system works. There are two types of braking - ablative and abrasive. Ablative is when pad material is properly transferred to the rotor surface during a bedding-in process. When you apply the brakes the pads wear away the pad transfer layer on the rotor, not the rotor itself. Abrasive braking is when the pad material is nowhere near its sustained operating temp range and, therefore, the pad acts like a brake lathe when the brakes are applied. Rotor material is removed every time you apply the brakes. You cannot get race pad compounds up to their sustained operating temps on the street. It’s simple physics.

I recommended that OP just leave them in because of his stated use case (limited street driving, reliance on a shop and climate).

I'm adding Albasive to my brake vocab.

[Ilvez]

In normal daily driving there is no such thing as "getting brakes to operating temperature". They are whirring along max 20-30 Celsius above ambient temps with occasional mild stops and that's all.

Bigger worry for me would be hard cold stop abilities with race pads on street e.g. emergency situations.

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

The use of race pads on the street is not “overblown” if you understand the engineering behind how a braking system works. There are two types of braking - ablative and abrasive. Ablative is when pad material is properly transferred to the rotor surface during a bedding-in process. When you apply the brakes the pads wear away the pad transfer layer on the rotor, not the rotor itself. Abrasive braking is when the pad material is nowhere near its sustained operating temp range and, therefore, the pad acts like a brake lathe when the brakes are applied. Rotor material is removed every time you apply the brakes. You cannot get race pad compounds up to their sustained operating temps on the street. It’s simple physics.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by Ilvez

In normal daily driving there is no such thing as "getting brakes to operating temperature". They are whirring along max 20-30 Celsius above ambient temps with occasional mild stops and that's all.

Bigger worry for me would be hard cold stop abilities with race pads on street e.g. emergency situations.

Ok…that’s exactly what I said . You can get them hotter than 20-30 C (68-86 F) above ambient temp. You can get race pads up to 180-200 F on the street. You cannot achieve sustain temps in the 600-800+ F range on the street.

Having driven to the track with race pads for 30+ years, I’ve never had an issue with hard braking on cold race pads. Harder stops result in higher rotor wear. I do not recommend running race pads on the street.

[RElias21]

I just installed Millway Street Camber Plates and will need an alignment.
I will search, but what are the recommended alignment settings for primarily spirited street driving with some track days.

The only additional adjustment I’ve added so far are the camber plates.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by RElias21

I just installed Millway Street Camber Plates and will need an alignment.
I will search, but what are the recommended alignment settings for primarily spirited street driving with some track days.

The only additional adjustment I’ve added so far are the camber plates.

I’d recommend for a dual-purpose car:

Front:
Camber -2.5 deg
Toe-out 1/16” total (or 0” total if you want to minimize toe-out wandering)
Caster as much as you can get if the Millway camber plates have caster adjustment.

Rear:
Camber -1.9 deg
Toe-in 1/8” total

[RElias21]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

I’d recommend for a dual-purpose car:

Front:
Camber -2.5 deg
Toe-out 1/16” total (or 0” total if you want to minimize toe-out wandering)
Caster as much as you can get if the Millway camber plates have caster adjustment.

Rear:
Camber -1.9 deg
Toe-in 1/8” total

Thank you.

What is “toe-out wandering”
What is the benefit of the toe-out setting.
How much will it reduce tire life you think?

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by RElias21

Thank you.

What is “toe-out wandering”
What is the benefit of the toe-out setting.
How much will it reduce tire life you think?

Toe-out effectively adds instability to the front end and, therefore, the front end wants to turn in more sharply with steering input - helps to eliminate understeer at turn-in. However, on the street, it causes the front end to “search” for any road irregularities, such as the crown in the road, so the front end is always wandering. I’ve been running toe-out on the front for 30+ years so I’m used to it. Zero toe-out is a good compromise for a dual-purpose car - still get better initial turn-in with minimal to no wandering.