Re: Autozone racing pads! Duralast GT

Bayley wrote:

Back in 2013 at Road America, the guy who finished the first day in P1 had NAPA Ceramic pads.

ROAD FRICKING AMERICA FOLKS!!!

Go ahead and tell him that he was running the wrong brake pads on. I'll wait right here.

Meanwhile, I had the pleasure of driving a consistently overall winning A class car this summer that had some very fancy and expensive brake pad compounds. The brake feel was similar to jamming a two-by-four against the plastic wheel of an old Radio Flyer wagon while screaming down Deadman's Hill.   

In summary; not all "street pads" are going to implode after a day or two of racing, and not all "racing pads" are going to do what you want them to.

I attended the second RA race as crew for a very fast Class B Festiva. We were in P2 at the end of day #1.This car had very "oversize" front brakes and we were using the old fronts on the rear!  In prepping the car for Day 2 (Sun.) I found that the front brake pads were nearly down to metal.  I asked for the "spare set" and was told there were none! Why not  I asked! I was told that they pads on the front of the car had been on there for the past 6 race days!
That's what racing pads and "big brakes" will do on a light car. That said we ended up getting the "best" pads we could buy for the car for Sundays race, which were of course street pads.  We still ended up winning class B by 10 seconds! This included setting fastest laps of the race for the car in the last 1/2 hour of the race.

One comment I will give about RA is that while it is fast the turns are far apart which gives the brakes time to cool and if your car handles well you don't even have to slow the car much or at all for some turns.

Re: Autozone racing pads! Duralast GT

First race ever, we had no clue, started with a $65 "premium ceramic" set on front, 2 hrs later, gone, backup set was $12 semi metallic...
Lasted the remaining 12 hrs, barely.

Homestead Chump 5th-Sebring 6th-PBIR Lemons 9th - Charlotte Chump  CrashnBurn 9th
Sebring 6th again -NOLA Chump 1st -PBIR Chump Trans Fail 16th
Daytona 11th - Sebring 6th - Atlanta Motor Speedway 2nd - Road Atlanta Trans Fail 61st-Road Atlanta 5th
Daytona 13th - Charlotte 9th - Sebring 2nd-Charlotte 25th broken brakes - Road Atlanta 14 10th-Daytona 14  58th- Humid TT 19th Judges' Choice!

28 (edited by SpaceFrank 2018-12-19 07:54 PM)

Re: Autozone racing pads! Duralast GT

I definitely agree with "drive the car you have." As in don't over-drive the car you have. If you're a team of terrified newbies who are going to be tiptoeing around the track (and there's nothing wrong with that!), or a team of veteran Lemoneers who know how to properly handle a terrifying IoE contender, then slap on those parts store pads and go with God. If your goal is to set the fastest lap times you can in whatever car you bring (and there's nothing wrong with that either!), then maybe get some real racing pads.

On a side note... I love seeing folks like Spank and NSF bring a glorious new Phil-pleasing hooptie to every other race; I don't know how they find the time. Something tells me they'd be less inclined to do it so often if they were expected to go Class-A on brakes, ball joints, and other quasi-safety equipment every time, for the sake of "not endangering everyone on track."

Re: Autozone racing pads! Duralast GT

Why are people talking about DOT 3 fluid? DOT 4 and 5.1 are chemically compatible (so getting every last breath of DOT 3 out isn't a problem) and don't cost that much in the grand scheme of things.

You're probably not running fancy calipers with integrated cooling fins, or aftermarket rims designed for airflow, or ducted airflow to the brakes, so any extra headroom available in brake temps will keep you on track, or at least out of the wall, for a few laps longer. At least when a pad overheats, you get disappointing performance, but still some. When brake fluid boils, your uncompressible fluid becomes compressible gas, and your foot hits the floor.

Re: Autozone racing pads! Duralast GT

We've run multiple races on $6 Rock Auto pads in a very heavy car, finishing as high as 2nd and 3rd (had a 45-minute lead at CMP, but the driveshaft coupler broke), and no brake problems so far. In Class C it can be done, you just have to not use them too much. Lift early, engine brake into corners, and reserve the brakes for emergency use. Don't use them any more than you would driving around town. I practice turning laps with no brakes at all in sim racing to prepare for races.

I'll caveat that; if you do push it too hard and they start to fade, then you need to stop and fix them until they work. It's fine to drive the car in a way that doesn't put too much heat into your brakes, but it's not safe to drive a car that doesn't have functioning brakes.

Everybody grab your brooms, it's shenanigans!

Re: Autozone racing pads! Duralast GT

TeamLemon-aid wrote:

FACT!!!!!!!

More facts.  Improper pairing of race pads front to rear can cause issues worse than non-race pads.  A poorly functioning bias valve can cause issues more important than brake pads. 

Having said this... we ran through a set of Carbotech XP10’s and XP8’s back in the day during a race at Gingerman on Easter weekend.  NOTHING was open.  We got the best Duralast pads we could get for our E30.  They lasted 90 mins. 

If you are building a light class C car with inexperienced (slower) drivers, it’s fine to try some non-race pads.  Just monitor pad wear and have backups.

If you have a class A car, drivers who think fast is hammering down on the brakes at every turn, a heavier and high HO car, then get your brakes sorted.  Don’t cut corners.  Get good pads.


We've run 3 full races (and one test-n-tune) in our E30 with Autozone 'standard' pads...no problems and not even 1/2 way worn through.  We do run good fluid, tho...

Re: Autozone racing pads! Duralast GT

As the guy who chewed through a set of pads on the "good" fluid in the Hyundai Spank mentioned, feel has a lot to do with it. I couldn't tell I was eating the pads, because I got no feedback from the system.

My car is the diesel porsche (which has significantly warped my racing experience) and I was used to momentum with horrible feel. I stomped on the Hyundai brakes and something happened. For what it's worth, Spank was faster in the dark than I was in the light until I learned the car (and he had sold "his")

The stints after I replaced the brakes (rotors and pads aren't that expensive, and are readily available at angleton parts stores) I significantly changed my driving style, got faster, and didn't kill the brakes.

It was still stopping metal on metal, but that's really a temporary state. Hard to hear the squeal on track with a shit ton of open exhaust BMWs, cameros, etc.

That guy

Re: Autozone racing pads! Duralast GT

You must have magic we don’t have.  I have no idea how you can achieve that.

txhandgunner wrote:
TeamLemon-aid wrote:

FACT!!!!!!!

More facts.  Improper pairing of race pads front to rear can cause issues worse than non-race pads.  A poorly functioning bias valve can cause issues more important than brake pads. 

Having said this... we ran through a set of Carbotech XP10’s and XP8’s back in the day during a race at Gingerman on Easter weekend.  NOTHING was open.  We got the best Duralast pads we could get for our E30.  They lasted 90 mins. 

If you are building a light class C car with inexperienced (slower) drivers, it’s fine to try some non-race pads.  Just monitor pad wear and have backups.

If you have a class A car, drivers who think fast is hammering down on the brakes at every turn, a heavier and high HO car, then get your brakes sorted.  Don’t cut corners.  Get good pads.


We've run 3 full races (and one test-n-tune) in our E30 with Autozone 'standard' pads...no problems and not even 1/2 way worn through.  We do run good fluid, tho...

LemonAid - Changing kids lives one lap at a time.

Re: Autozone racing pads! Duralast GT

Sexy jesus wrote:

Hello I picked up a set of duralast gt brake pads for my Thunderbird as a backup pair of front pads. ($27) It has some ceramic  Bosch junk on it now that have lived through 2 races and a track day. (They dont bite enough to wear out) thinking about trying these cheap autozone pads.

I'm assuming they will melt. But the Bosch didn't. So they might work.. also. Lifetime warranty against wear.

So is anyone running them?

you get what you pay for. Don't skimp on brake pads. Get a set of raybestous ST43's and be done with it. Unless you like changing hot ash rotors and pads in the pits.

"get up and get your grandma outta here"

Re: Autozone racing pads! Duralast GT

Planet Express weighs 3500 with me in the drivers' seat. However, we also only put down 85whp. Engine is HP in, brakes are HP out. We bought the uprated parts store compounds and got 2-3 races per front set, never letting them get below 3/16" pad thickness as to not accidentally kill rotors.

The only brake issue we had was our first race on old nasty DOT3. We parked the car with an ice bag on the master when we realized the brakes woulnd't hold the car stopped in drive.

Planet Express
"IOE" "C Win" 4834.701 Race Miles and counting
Toyocedes
"Least Southern Pickup Truck" "IOE" "C win" "C win (again?)"

Re: Autozone racing pads! Duralast GT

FPRbuzz wrote:

Planet Express weighs 3500 with me in the drivers' seat. However, we also only put down 85whp. Engine is HP in, brakes are HP out. We bought the uprated parts store compounds and got 2-3 races per front set, never letting them get below 3/16" pad thickness as to not accidentally kill rotors.

The only brake issue we had was our first race on old nasty DOT3. We parked the car with an ice bag on the master when we realized the brakes woulnd't hold the car stopped in drive.

Do you run a om617? How many gallons per hr are you guys using?

Owner/Captain of The 27 Club E46. Phoenix, AZ
and now the #95 Thunderbird

Re: Autozone racing pads! Duralast GT

Ok just an update. We ran the GT pads in the front and autozone semimatalic gold pads in the rear (never use ceramic pads if you want to stop) we made it both days at AZ and still have well over 60% in the front and 80% in the rear. Brakes were much better then the Bosch pads that were on it. I do wish it had ABS as someone did flat spot a right front tire. Fast lap was a 2.20

Moral if you can give up that last 1/10 in the brake zone the autozone pads should work.

Owner/Captain of The 27 Club E46. Phoenix, AZ
and now the #95 Thunderbird