Track pad discussion. Options

[njccmd2002]

For those of you that track your car. What pads are u using. I was recommended ebc yellow stuff. But apparently they dont make any for the rears. They only make few toyota rears. Nothing that i think is compatible with the celica.

Planning on using yellow in the front and red in the back. Since the front is the one that makes more difference. Wanted to see what other guys are doing. Even with other cars.

Tried to start a decent conversation in the other place. Lol, i would have been better to talk about something else...

[slavie]

The bigger issue is lack of brake cooling - I'd say it's a must if you intend to get serious about track days. I'm looking at adding porsche style brake cooling scoops rather than the more typical ductwork direct to rotor.

Here's my experience with my 99 5SFE Camry on track, so keep in mind that the car is few hundred lbs heavier. Avalon dual-piston caliper up front, 275mm disk.

Hawk HPS front: tons of dust, overheated and faded with high perf summer tires
No-name rears: overheated and disintegrated in one track weekend
EBC Yellow front: overheats and starts wearing quickly, but maintains performance with minimal fade. I killed a set in a weekend and they had the "sugar glazing" that's typical for overheated pads. Again, this is by my 6th and 7th track weekend, so I'm faster than I was at the beginning with above.
EBC Yellow rears (I have alalon rear calipers, 289 or 291mm rotor, the thinner 8 or 9mm one vs 10mm x 269 for stock Camry/Celica rear rotor): hold up well, wear well, will be keeping these. 3 or 4 track weekends, and less than a quarter of pad used up. They are hard on the rotor though - my rear rotors are kinda purple now. Regardless, these are my track rotors (I swap pads and rotors before track weekend)

I've heard that EBC yellows don't like heavier cars, so maybe they'll work better for Celica, but I'm skeptical. Apparently they work pretty well for Miatas, but that's 2000lbs vs ~2600lbs for Celi and ~3200lbs for Camry.

Of the racing pads that are available, only carbotech offers celica/avalon/camry pads (all same front). I'm looking into getting XP10 or XP8 to replace EBC yellows for front. Keeping yellows for rear though. Pagid, PFC, Fedoro don't offer anything, HAWK has nothing above HPS. I doubt StopTech Sports will last you beyond your initial few track days, though my understanding is they're much better than Hawk HPS. Maybe if you have brake cooling and don't go too crazy.

I use fresh valvoline dot3/4 fluid and have had no issues there or with the calipers. Had tried Wilwood DOT3, but found no benefit. Most important here is that the fluid is changed and bled properly before the event. Old fluid is #1 reason for boiling.

Hope this helps. Let us know what your experience is like.

This post has been edited by slavie: Apr 11, 2017 - 12:56 PM