Q: Dust Shields for my front disc brakes. Do I need them?

brake ducting is essential, and the bigger the ducts (and the closer you run them to the rotors -- you may need to run it around/through suspension parts) the better off you'll be.  this will often eliminate the need to upgrade your pads or fluid.

No, you don't need them, as said, unless they have air scoops which I doubt! I routinely remove them.

psh, what do you need brakes for? you need more powaaaaa!

*ignore everything i ever said everywhere it's universally bad advice*

Very good question and it's interesting that your first two responses are opposite of one another.

You need cooling if you are using your brakes hard. The best way around the race track is the smooth way, which generally means not overbraking or late braking, both of which will require you to maximize cooling.

Really, you're not going to win. So it's ok to coast into the turns, don't go full throttle or try to get to top speed only to have to jam on brakes, etc.

Since your car is not exactly light, you will want to use higher temp fluid, quality pads, and look to remove any shrouding that could limit the cheap airflow options. Take off the shrouds if you feel you need to to gain access for later repairs or whatever. Rocks can get trapped behind the shrouds almost as easily as the shrouds deflect rocks in offroad excursions.

Adding stuff is creating situations where stuff can break and fall off (which is what EvilGenius is saying)

Something else to consider: Often times if you leave the car crappy / close to stock, people will more often respect that it may have sensible limits. Mod the crap out of, like running ducting to the brakes (that you don't even know whether or not they work!) and people will drive the crap out of it thinking, "Hey, I've got cooling ducts-- I can late brake all day now!"

Good luck w/ the Wagners, I think those (or something like those) lasted about 30 minutes at G man w/ a monte carlo/lumina.  Rotors came off in pieces w/ pistons welded to them.  I think the guy driving was an ASA racer, so he may have been harder on the pads than you guys would be.

Get some race pads.

you're putting those fenders back on, right?

get the porterfields...save yourself a certain headache later.

what's more interesting is that only one of them is serious. 

  to be fair, i didn't say which of those was the serious post.

i'm very rarely serious on this board, with the notable exception of my belief that forced induction will never negatively affect reliability.

Actually ducting does help, remove the dust shields, use racing pads, good solid rotors (like Brembo's), DOT 4-5 fluid and you should be good.

Aaack!  No DOT 5!  Stay away!!!  Run away!!!

I should (and will) clarify.  Our car as it came from the P/O had been "converted" to DOT 5.  Supposedly he did everything the "right" way- took it all apart, cleaned every caliper and wheel cylinder and the master, and refilled with DOT 5.  The problem is, DOT 5 differs from DOT 4 in one very prominent way:  DOT 4 absorbs water, DOT treats it like salad dressing.  So, if you have a completely tight, impenetrable, water-proff brake system, that no moisture will ever ever ever get into, and you change brake fluid every day, then DOT 5 will probably work for you.  For the rest of us, DOT 4 is a much safer bet.

Why?  If water gets into your DOT 4 system, it will mix with the DOT 4 and lower the boiling point of the brake fluid.  How much it lowers the boiling point depends on how much water is in there- pure DOT 4 boils around 400F, water at 212, so if your system has 5% water in it the BP might drop down to 380-ish (not doing math, just guessing).  But if you have DOT 5, the BP of the DOT 5 will be 450F (ish) and ANY water that gets trapped inside will still boil at (yep) 212.  So, when the brake fluid hits 212F, it'll be fine, but that water will be all like "Man, I feel like becoming a gas now!"  Granted, if your brake system is under pressure, that temp will increase, but when you're not on the brakes, the internal pressure should be roughly atmospheric. So now, that water boils.  And what happens when water boils?  It EXPANDS.  When shi....stuff expands, it looks for the point of least resistance to expand to.  This might be (if you're lucky) out the top of the master cylinder.  Or, if you're not so lucky, it could be a brake flex hose or caliper seal. 

Use DOT 4.

Yup, my OCD self read every single tech thread here before I started modding the car.
This may be our first rodeo but we don't plan on being the clowns that get poked in the ass by the steer on our first go around here.

Here's our brake setup:
* PBR calipers up front / Tbird discs in back (stockers) + ABS
* SS lines from classic tube all the way around
* ATE Super Blue DOT4 fluid (>280C dry, >200C wet BP)
* Werner Severe Duty Fleet Pads for puttering around pre-race (plus backups)
* Considering Porterfield R4-e pads (carbon Kevlar compound recommended by Lemons veterans) for the race.
* Fender liners removed for more airflow from the front bumper holes

We'll go with the following suggestion:
* Dust shields removed
* NO ducting

Thanks again,
-g