Recommendations for brake pads

[C6 Twin Turbo]

I am looking for help to get recommendations for brake pads. I do run about 6-7 road track days a year. I would appreciate any recomendations for who and where to get pads that would be best for my application. Thanks

[gmk]

I have the same questions. I have tried the Hawk HP+ pads and have mixed reviews, they are just OK at the track but terrible on the street. There must be something available that works better. I had very good luck with the HP+ pads on my C5-Z but not so good with the C6-Z. I really don't want to do a complete brake upgrate if I don't have to, the C-6 brakes seem to be an upgrade from the C-5 but are they?

[sleeplessinseattle]

I have driven my 2007 Z06 on 2 track events, both at Pacific Raceways in Auburn, Washington. The first event was on the stock pads. They provided decent stopping power but wore out about 2/3's of the pads in front.

Based on the advice of many forum members I bought a set of RacingBrake ET700 pads. On the next track day the pads were terrible on the first 2 runs. Very poor grip. On the 3rd session they came in and worked much better than the stock pads. I had two drivers on this day and made a total of about eight 20 minute runs. Very little wear, maybe 10-15%. I attribute the poor initial performance to a difference in coating the stock pads leave on the rotors versus the new pads and it takes a bit to wear through and seat in.

I have driven the pads on the street with mixed results. They are OK in normal street driving but will grab unevenly if you try to do a hard stop when the pads are cold.

Another forum suggestion was to install the RB retainer bolts on the stock calipers. Getting the stock heck bolts out was tough. I tried to replace all of them with the new bolts for appearance reasons but I was unsuccessful. On about 5 bolts I striped the hex head and the bolt is still in the caliper. Fortunately only the center bolts need to come out to change the pads.

Hope this helps.

[American Power]

I went through a few different combos with the stock calipers.

I started stock, OK for starting out.

Then went to HP Plus and it was better, a little squeeky on the street but great initial bite. They did fade after a few laps on the track and warped the stock rotors.

Then...
RB slotted (not drilled) 2 piece rotors with Hawk DTC70's up front and DTC 60's in the rear.

They never fade. No warping. I have 2 HPDE's on the pads so far with very little wear. With hard breaking from 165 down to 80mph.

Once you do a few track days you will realize there is no single all purpose pad.

I switch back to OEM pads when driving around town. The squeeeeeeeeeeeeeek of the race pad is unbearable when not up to temps they hit on the track. It sounds like a bus stopping.

[z06jones]

I've not found a great dual use pad. Racing Brake ET800s are about as close as I found. About the same squeaking on the street as Hawk HP+ (maybe a little less) and better braking at high speeds than HP+.

As others have said ET700 are very quite on the street and slightly better than stock on the track. But as you gain experience and run harder they don't have high enough torque for slowing down from 160s and 170s

Currently I'm running ET900s on the track (similar to DTC70s) and stock pads on the street. You just can't beat high end track pads on the track.

[urslooow]

Forget the dual purpose pads. I use Hawk DTC 70's all around and leave them on for the street AND I use my z as a DD. I take off the calipers to chg pads. if you can't stand the noise (a) chg to stock or Hawk ceramics betw events or (b) let the car slow down on the gears more, and let off the gas a little sooner. Pretty soon all you'll care about is track driving, the street stuff is BORING so why push it?

[jswatek]

Who cares if they squeek? Its the sound of high performance. I want a safe street pad that won't put deposits on the rotors at low street temps but work well on the track. Squeeking and dust don't bother me,