Soloontario

Interested in suggestions re track pads for my 04 Z06. I am used to a 2002 Camaro with cooling ducts and changing rotors and pads at the track. Axle hop in F body cars is a huge issue and I generally stick to stock type pads at the rear. I have used Carbotech XP12s and 10s at the front, Raybestos, Hawk HT-10s and Blues in the past. Carbotechs are my clear favorite for many reasons.

Now I have a car that can actually use the rear brakes. Looking for any suggestions on front/ rear combos you have used. I will be installing some cooling ducts.

sebdavid

Seems like XP10f-XP8r and XP12f-XP10r are popular combos for HPDE. They should do the job for non-slicks pretty well. Although even on street tires on heavy braking tracks I wasn't too happy with the pedal getting low so I'm going with a caliper kit, but for most tracks the above combos should be good.

Greywolfe

Carbotech XP10/XP8 (front/rear) is about the most you wanna go with street tires.

Joy of 6

Been using this combo for years

Gray Ghost GS

+1

ssdeuce

Hawk HT10 front and rear. Also used HT10 front and DTC30's rear on Toyo 888's

Adam@Amp'dAutosport.com

What tires will you use for tracking?

jaa1992

Be careful with the Hawk racing pads. Several of the SpecC5z06 (TTA corvettes btw) were cracking multiple rotors every weekend.

I'm pretty sure most have switched to the Carbotech.
I started out using carbotech at autocrosses, then moved to XP10/8 combo. Used that with street tires and R comps. Now using XP12/10 combo on R comps mostly.

sothpaw2

I highly recommend Wilwood H pads front& rear. These are an endurance pad so they last a long time. The initial bite is not insane so they are very easy to modulate. I run these with Nitto R-II and I catch just about everybody in the braking zones. I can't remember anyone out braking me.

DarkMastyr

XP12/XP10 here for me. No fade, good bite, and good modulation. Pad wear is a bit on the high side though (I finished a front set of XP12s that started out at 75% with one day at THill). Quantum ducts up front.

Soloontario

I'm used to running my Camaro in the Ontario Mobil 1 Time-Attack series. Multiple sessions but rarely more than 15-20 min on the track at any one time and less during competition runs. Usually on R comps, most recently RA-1s.

This C5Z is clearly a different animal and I may just use Kumho XS or Hankook RS3s this year. (From what I gather RS3s are almost R comps anyway but they don't come in great sizes unless I splurge for some 19" rims )

Gray Ghost GS

If you plan to do HPDE and other road course events with your Corvette, then you DO NOT want to go to larger/heavier 19" wheels since all you're doing is adding unsprung and rotational weight to your car. Keep the 18" wheels.

Adam@Amp'dAutosport.com

RP2 front and XP10 rear for mutiple sessions is what I would use.

The RP2™ compound was engineered for endurance racing based on our highly successful XP™ Series formulations. RP2™ is our longest lasting compound that we offer. RP2™ has strong initial bite, a little less modulation than our XP12, but still maintains the rotor friendliness of our XP™ series compounds. With a good initial bite and one of the most consistent torque curves in the market the RP2™ compound is easy to keep a consistent bite and torque throughout the braking zone. Great fade resistance with a temperature range of 250°F to 1650°F+ (121°C to 898°C). RP2™ is as rotor friendly as our XP™ series compounds. Carbotech™ RP2™ is NOT recommended for use as a daily driven street pad due to possible elevated levels of dust and noise.


When Carbotech™ unleashed the XP10™ to the general public it was an instant success. XP10™ immediately gathered multiple regional, divisional, and national championships. The XP10™ has a very strong initial bite friction material with a coefficient of friction and rotor friendliness unmatched in the industry. Fade resistance is in excess of 1650°F (898°C). Due to the high level of friction and bite, this material is recommended for cars weighing around 2,900lbs or less. XP10™ still maintains the highly praised release, excellent modulation and rotor friendliness that have made all Carbotech™ compounds so successful. Carbotech™ XP10™ is not recommended as a daily-driven street pad due to possible elevated levels of dust and noise.

Rp2 $244 Xp10 $177 less 7% forum pricing. please contact me at 216-780-8825 to place an order.

Soloontario

I would normally agree totally but to get to a 305 RS3 Hankook, you need a 19" rim. I would hope to be back on R comps for the next year and back to 18" rims all round.

Gray Ghost GS

Recommend looking at the Yokohama ADVAN Sport for the 18" wheels. Excellent street and track tire. 295/35ZR18 vs. the 305 is negligible in width. Save your $$$. Just a thought.

Scooter70

Were they racing on brand new rotors? If so, that's probably why they cracked. I've been using Hawk pads for years and only ever cracked one rotor. That was on my old 2005 LS2 GTO (~3800lbs with me in it), no brake cooling, and running hard to try to keep up with C5s on DTC-60s. That rotor was installed the week before the track event and only had the miles driving to the track on it.

For me, the key to rotor life is running them on the street for a while to get some heat/seasoning into them before hitting the track. Running with fresh/cold rotors is a recipe for early rotor failure.

I tried Carbotech pads and didn't like the pedal feel or the life. Going through a set of $300 pads per weekend isn't in my budget. I've had good luck with Hawk pads and will continue to use them.

waddisme

+1 for the XP12/10 or XP10/08s. If you are not using slicks or R compounds the 10/08s should be enough. Either one is pretty rotor friendly and the dust does not hurt car or wheels.

MR Turco

Not to thread jack, but i am running the 555RIIs, lots of autox and will be doing some HPDE. Any recommendations? Sounds like the XP12/10 are a good setup. Anyone use EBCs? I have been hearing a lot of good recommendations for their Red or Blue stuff pads.

JeremyGSU

I ran this setup for my first event with the Vette and I thought it worked well.

Nitto 555RII extreme's
XP 12 / XP 10
DBA 4000 front
Motul 600
Doug Rippie ducting

This is what Adam recommended when I called him. I am running stock rims with 275/40/17's 305/35/18's. I could have pushed the pads more than I did.

I'm going to try the setup Adam mentioned above soon for longevity. RP2's F, XP10's rear.

sothpaw2

This is something that should be emphasized. I had read about it on here and therefore have always used seasoned rotors. However, last season, I ran out of those for the last event I had new rotors on the LF and LR and still used ones on the RR and RF.

Thinking (and with some support from folks at the track) that the "seasoning" might be a placebo, I ran this combo only to crack thru the new LR rotor after just 2 days. It cracked on the drive home. The old, thoroughly heat checked RR rotor lasted another full day(did not crack due to whatever lack-of-cool-down that the LR was exposed to) and also cracked on the way home, for 8 days total. There was no heat checking on the new LR rotor at all, just 1 big deep crack all the way thru; I never saw a check in the paddock and I was looking.

I was very careful with my cool down laps etc but with this club, there were times when the whole group was black flagged and then sat on grid; you can't always get a great cool down; you need a certain robustness in your equipment.

So as wierd as this sounds, I'm going to end up driving rotors on the street for 3-4 months and the changing just so that I have more than one "seasoned" set. I'm going to move to DBA 4000 to see if better than the Centric premium.

Andy