Yellow73SB

I made some backing plates for my brake pads that will hopefully help dissipate some heat. I already have insulated pistons.

So will ceramic coating work as a thermal barrier between my pistons and brake pad?

-Chris

briannutter

Definitely yes, but it's hard to quantify. We use a ceramic heat barrier on many of our pistons. The difference in rockwell hardness from lean conditions after running is dramatic between coated and uncoated. -Brian Nutter-Wiseco

davidfarmer

You need to be carefull... a full insulation barrier will trap heat in the pad, causing it to overheat. However, no insulation has let to melted pistons more than once in my experience.

I think a stainless/Ti/Ceramic insert to protect the lip of the pistons is the best solution, but leave the bulk of the pad exposed for heat convection.

Yellow73SB

Right now the pistons have these insulators



This is a C3. I'll also be adding 3" brake ducts
The draw backs seem to out weight the benefits on this idea. But I"ll probably be fine with the current set up, but this was just an extra measure of protection.

eogel

What about the .062" thick mica brake pad heat shields from Howe Racing for GM? It covers the entire pad.

Yellow73SB

Mine cover about 75% of the pad

Solofast

What you want is to conduct some heat from the pads, to the point where you don't damage the pistons, overheat and spread the calipers, or boil the fluid. With as much power as these cars have you have plenty of energy available to do damage to the brakes.

Directing air over the caliper is a really good thing. It prevents the caliper from creeping apart, and the fluid from boiling. Also adding some resistance to heat transfer to the piston is a good thing too, prevents it from going soft from heat transferred from the pad.

big time with David, stay away from things that cover the entire back side of the pad, the only thing you want to do is prevent too much heat from getting to the piston. If you have spindle ducts there is a good bit of air going up between the pistion and pad, and that too is a good thing. The more heat you can get out of the pad, the less is transferred to the piston and the lower pad temperatures are a good thing, so if you are doing something to insulate the piston, don't cover the whole back side of the pad.