Streetable track pads...do they exist?

[chillindrdude]

Just wondering...

I ran Hawk HPS 5.0 pads on the B8 S4 for street and 4-6 DE days a year to good effect.

Minimal squealing and acceptable hi-temp resistance for my Level 1 ability.

Pagid RS29s seem to be the goto track pads. If wondering if there is an intermediate pad offering that would allow me to be lazy and forgo swapping in/out.

Or is the OEM pad acceptable with hi-temp brake fluid?

[gthal]

If you REALLY don't want to swap, I would stick with OEM. Nothing I am aware of yet that would be a better dual purpose.

You will, however, be giving up a lot of performance relative to swapping pads IMO.

[FTS]

I don't know if they make the RS19s in proper size for our cars, but they squeel a little less than RS29s. I used the 29s year around without swapping on my previous cars, and besides my son, no one complained

Also my experience with RFC08s was that they were less noisy.

[oldmanstyle]

No. Track pads have a higher operating temperature which can't be maintained on the street. Street pads that provide good cold stopping power will fall apart with the high heat of track driving. Play it safe and use track pads imo.

[JNoSol]

The guys in my BMW club all uses PFC pads for street and track. Most don't swap them. They do squeal, but tolerable.

Too bad no one carries PFC for the F8x yet. Maybe it's a special order item.

[MaX PL]

Anyone think its a good idea to swap to RS29s for track, and then back to stock pads for the street?

If I only track once every few months, this would be preferable but is there issue with swapping and the effect on the rotors?

[gthal]

Originally Posted by MaX PL

Anyone think its a good idea to swap to RS29s for track, and then back to stock pads for the street?

If I only track once every few months, this would be preferable but is there issue with swapping and the effect on the rotors?

It's fine... drive home from the track with the RS29's on and they will self clean the rotors. No issue at all.

[Racer20]

I used Carbotech's on my Mini, XP10 in front and XP8 in the rear. One year I left them on all summer and into fall, down to ~45-50degrees. They stopped fine at all temps and in the rain. They produced quite a bit of dust and has some minor squeal, but not too bad.

Once I stepped up to XP12 fronts, I found that they were too aggressive on the rotors and if driven when cold they would remove the pad material layer that you want to have on the face of the rotor. I would not drive XP12's on the street.

[chillindrdude]

anyone pair up Pagi RS29 in the front and OEM pads in rear? or is that difference/brake bias too great?

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by chillindrdude

anyone pair up Pagi RS29 in the front and OEM pads in rear? or is that difference/brake bias too great?

The bias may be too much and you will have inconsistency in braking.

As an alternative, Ferodo has their DS2500 compound, which is suitable for street and light track day, for the F8x M3 M4 now.

[smh_amg_m4gts]

Originally Posted by HP Autosport

The bias may be too much and you will have inconsistency in braking.

As an alternative, Ferodo has their DS2500 compound, which is suitable for street and light track day, for the F8x M3 M4 now.

I'm going to run Ferodo's at THill this weekend and leave them on after. Reviews to follow.

[stranger]

I've been using oem pads for street and rs29 for track

[CanAutM3]

I ran the RS29 on the street for most of the summer without issues. They are not that noisy, only occasional peeps and the slap from forward to reverse transition. I did not suffer any garbage truck squeal like I had experienced with other track pads.

I only put the OEM pads back on when we took our 3 week vacation road trip.

I would definitely not recommend OEM pads for track use. While they perform "well enough" at the track with a lot of management, they just melt away with any serious track use. And you are likely to get uneven deposits which results in annoying brake shudder.

[larryn]

I had RS19s in my e92 M3, that occasionally I would be too lazy to swap out between events, and they made my car sound like a 50 year old Sanford & Son dump truck on the street.

I've tried intermediate pads, like Hawk HPS, and since I am an advanced driver, they melted on fast/hard braking tracks like Watkins Glen, just like factory pads do for me. They leave lots of deposits on the pads and forced me to find different braking points (which isn't fun). Which brings me to a point...

We have not talked about the driver's ability yet. If the driver is in a novice or even intermediate (for some/most clubs), changing the fluid might be enough. For fast intermediate and advanced run groups, get real pads suited for the track. I recommend the same for street vs. r-comp tires.

Lastly, these calipers make it sooo easy to swap pads, it's as easy as swapping tires. Don't be lazy and sacrfrice safety.

[chillindrdude]

i ran rs29 front and oem rear for 2 track weekends (4days), one weekend at VIR and one weekend at Summit Main. Running motul 600 fluid

i'm an intermediate group driver.

brake bias was likely affected but i did not have a baseline for comparison. i did notice the rear end get alittle light on hard threshhold braking going from a 135 mph front straight to a 40-50mph decreasing radius corner. of course, i was braking hard in a straightline, so no harm. but i'm sure if there was moderate steering input, there would have been squirrely-ness or perhaps oversteer.

however, not sure if the rear end squirrely-ness was necessarily related to the brake bias, as i've read a few track rat reports of the F8X doing this even with equal pad type front and rear.

maybe this means this car needs more rear downforce? or firmer front springs/compression damping? or more aggressive pads rear compared to front?

[Brosef]

Originally Posted by chillindrdude

i ran rs29 front and oem rear for 2 track weekends (4days), one weekend at VIR and one weekend at Summit Main. Running motul 600 fluid

i'm an intermediate group driver.

brake bias was likely affected but i did not have a baseline for comparison. i did notice the rear end get alittle light on hard threshhold braking going from a 135 mph front straight to a 40-50mph decreasing radius corner. of course, i was braking hard in a straightline, so no harm. but i'm sure if there was moderate steering input, there would have been squirrely-ness or perhaps oversteer.

however, not sure if the rear end squirrely-ness was necessarily related to the brake bias, as i've read a few track rat reports of the F8X doing this even with equal pad type front and rear.

maybe this means this car needs more rear downforce? or firmer front springs/compression damping? or more aggressive pads rear compared to front?

In my experience, that's something all cars do when you threshold brake in anything but a perfectly straight line on a perfectly level track. And you ain't seen nothing til you've experienced braking induced oversteer on a 911.

But my guess is the weaker rear pads contributed to this.