[Tiss'er]

I have completed my first HPDE and I am hooked. Being my first event I ran the car completely stock, I now have the dreaded pad deposits on the rotors. As I see it I have a few options:

1. Buy a brake rotor hone and hone the rotors to remove the deposits and glazing. I have a buddy that can mount the hone and rotors on the CNC to get them perfect. he said it would take about 20 minutes to write the program. Or I could do it manually like everyone else.

2. Buy a set of race pads and run those for a few weeks to clean off the rotors.

3. Buy a new set of rotors and pads and put them on the car for my street set, hone the existing rotors and buy track pads having a dedicated rotor/pad track setup.

I like to do some lengthy spirited drives and plan on 4-5 HPDEs a year.

The first option would be the most cost effective, but I would still need to buy new street pads. I could go stock, Porterfield R4S, Ferodo DS2500, or something else. Hawk pads seem to be 50/50 with folks on the site.

If I go with the second option, I would likely buy Ferodo 1.11s and DS2500s so I don't have to rebed.

The third option sounds great too. Bring the car back to factory new brakes for my daily and canyon drives, have a spare brake set to bash on the track.

What would you recommend? What pads would you choose? Thanks for any assistance.

[jritt@essex]

Below are some considerations for you. These recommendations are based on our previous discussions with about 17,000 other people who have been in your precise situation before.

Having separate track and road pads and discs is absolutely the 'cleanest' solution. We have some clients who swap discs between street and track, but the number is relatively low. The main reason is that's it's a bit of a hassle to frequently remove your calipers and discs. Extra discs also cost money, which in this case arguably doesn't need to be spent. Ultimately, that situation usually plays out like this: You're having a rough week at work, your track day is in two days, and you just don't feel like swapping pads and discs when you get home from work. You'd rather have a beer and play Call of Duty. It happens to everyone. Separate discs and pads for street and track is a great philosophy, but it rarely gets implemented consistently.

The more common, and likely easier solution, is to only swap pads for the road and track and run them both on the same set of discs. I've had discs on my road/track cars for very long periods of time during which I was constantly going back and forth between street and track mode. As long as that process is managed properly, it's completely doable for the life of the discs. At the bottom of this post is a video we created on the process. The goal of this video is to show one how to avoid uneven pad deposits in the first place.

I wouldn't bother with OEM pads again unless you are really tied to them for some reason. The Ferodo DS2500 is going to be considerably better in so many ways that it's hard not to justify the extra $60 they'll cost you. OEM pads are designed for stop-and-go traffic, not canyon runs, autoX, or light track duty. The Ferodo DS2500 can handle all of those environments without issue, all while providing superior feel. As you noted, one of the DS2500's biggest advantages are that they can be mated to one of Ferodo's higher mu track pads, eliminating the need to manage disc bedding (and un-bedding). The compounds are so similar that they can all be laid down on top of each other without fear of judder and vibration. When you're lazy like me, that is a big bonus!

In terms of the track compound, choosing Ferodo DS1.11 or DS3.12 would depend on your wants/needs (we can help you make that choice). Both compounds haven proven themselves a million times, and are some of the premier track pads on the market today. Either one is capable of scraping the discs clean if you run them around town cold for a few weeks as you suggested (the DS3.12 will make less freight-train noises while doing so). The only risk you run is contaminating your track pads with the pad material that is coming off the disc face. That typically isn't a huge issue though. As such, that would likely be the cheapest, easiest, and least time-consuming solution vs. having your current discs turned by your friend or buying new ones.

BTW, I wish I had a nickel for every time I've heard this phrase, "I have completed my first HPDE and I am hooked." Welcome to the fold, and I hope that you have many years of safe and fun trips to the track!

[Tiss'er]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Are the DS3.12s available for the 2018 M2s?

[jritt@essex]

Originally Posted by Tiss'er

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Are the DS3.12s available for the 2018 M2s?

Ferodo just released the DS3.12 for the 2016-2018 M2 that uses the base brakes (blue calipers). We will have those up on our site next week, and we have an order in with Ferodo for them, so they should be here soon. You can call us to reserve a set if you'd like. Part numbers will be:

FCP4611G= front
FCP4663G= rear

Pricing will be almost identical to the DS1.11 pricing on our site:
https://www.essexparts.com/my-vehicl...W/M2/F87%20All

Thanks!

[pointy]

Originally Posted by jritt@essex

Below are some considerations for you. These recommendations are based on our previous discussions with about 17,000 other people who have been in your precise situation before.

Having separate track and road pads and discs is absolutely the 'cleanest' solution. We have some clients who swap discs between street and track, but the number is relatively low. The main reason is that's it's a bit of a hassle to frequently remove your calipers and discs. Extra discs also cost money, which in this case arguably doesn't need to be spent. Ultimately, that situation usually plays out like this: You're having a rough week at work, your track day is in two days, and you just don't feel like swapping pads and discs when you get home from work. You'd rather have a beer and play Call of Duty. It happens to everyone. Separate discs and pads for street and track is a great philosophy, but it rarely gets implemented consistently.

The more common, and likely easier solution, is to only swap pads for the road and track and run them both on the same set of discs. I've had discs on my road/track cars for very long periods of time during which I was constantly going back and forth between street and track mode. As long as that process is managed properly, it's completely doable for the life of the discs. At the bottom of this post is a video we created on the process. The goal of this video is to show one how to avoid uneven pad deposits in the first place.

I wouldn't bother with OEM pads again unless you are really tied to them for some reason. The Ferodo DS2500 is going to be considerably better in so many ways that it's hard not to justify the extra $60 they'll cost you. OEM pads are designed for stop-and-go traffic, not canyon runs, autoX, or light track duty. The Ferodo DS2500 can handle all of those environments without issue, all while providing superior feel. As you noted, one of the DS2500's biggest advantages are that they can be mated to one of Ferodo's higher mu track pads, eliminating the need to manage disc bedding (and un-bedding). The compounds are so similar that they can all be laid down on top of each other without fear of judder and vibration. When you're lazy like me, that is a big bonus!

In terms of the track compound, choosing Ferodo DS1.11 or DS3.12 would depend on your wants/needs (we can help you make that choice). Both compounds haven proven themselves a million times, and are some of the premier track pads on the market today. Either one is capable of scraping the discs clean if you run them around town cold for a few weeks as you suggested (the DS3.12 will make less freight-train noises while doing so). The only risk you run is contaminating your track pads with the pad material that is coming off the disc face. That typically isn't a huge issue though. As such, that would likely be the cheapest, easiest, and least time-consuming solution vs. having your current discs turned by your friend or buying new ones.

BTW, I wish I had a nickel for every time I've heard this phrase, "I have completed my first HPDE and I am hooked." Welcome to the fold, and I hope that you have many years of safe and fun trips to the track!

I took this exact advice from Essex last year (also happily bought from them) and wouldn't look back. Best setup for street and track driving.

Street Setup: DS2500 all round
Track Setup: DS1.11 front, DS2500 rear